Havana | What It’s Like Following a Tour Guide’s Itinerary

Asked the hotel concierge (an elderly gentleman) to help arrange a 1952 Tiffany-blue Mercedes classic car for a day trip in Havana 🚙. The two-hour drive came with a "natural air conditioner"—wind so strong it gave me a headache, mixed with occasional whiffs of gasoline. Luckily, I don’t get car sick, so it felt pretty cool, but those prone to motion sickness should think twice. 📍 Puente de Bacunayagua Cuba’s tallest bridge, standing 110 meters, known as one of Cuba’s Seven Wonders. 📍 Havana’s Four Great Squares Plaza de la Catedral: Once housed Columbus’ remains; shorts are not allowed inside. Plaza de Armas Plaza de San Francisco: A former slave-trading site. Plaza Vieja 📍 Havana Castle of the Royal Force Said to be an emblem of Havana. 📍 La Bodeguita del Medio Hemingway’s favorite "five-cent tavern." Tiny in size, with lively bands playing. A Mojito costs 750 pesos (using local currency), which is just over $2 USD. 📍 Hotel Ambos Mundos Room 511 in this pink hotel was where Hemingway often stayed before buying his mansion, penning many masterpieces including The Old Man and the Sea (for which he won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954). You can take the manual elevator to the top floor for a view of Plaza de Armas. The guide mentioned new rules starting the next day—you’d need to make a purchase to go upstairs. Not sure if it was a gimmick to please us. Later, when I said I wanted to go to the Kempinski rooftop for a drink, he called it "the most expensive place" and advised against it, probably to stick to his itinerary. When we got there, he spoke to the doorman, and I was told the rooftop restaurant was closed that day—sadly, no Jay Chou-style rooftop photos for me. 📍 National Capitol Building 📍 National Theatre 📍 Revolution Square 📍 Fort of San Carlos of the Cabin The guide took us to a government-run cigar shop—way too expensive! 📍 La Cabaña de Che Guevara Overlooking the Malecón waterfront from the Christ statue. Got ripped off buying a coconut here: agreed on a price, but after the old woman handed the money to an old man, who then chopped the coconut, the price jumped from 600 to 750 pesos. Too embarrassed to object, we went to the restaurant the guide recommended. Figuring most posts rave about the same few spots, why not try something else? Lunch was at a dimly lit bar, surprisingly lively. It had a USD menu, which was definitely pricey, but at $100 (10% tip auto-added), it was comparable to Canadian dining standards. Their baguette dipped in salty garlic sauce tasted exactly like Beijing’s "guan chang" (fried sausage)—gone in seconds! It moved me to tears 🥹. Driving by, we spotted other sights: Morro Castle (the guide claimed it only opens at night), what’s supposedly the world’s only Chinatown without Chinese people, the North Korean Embassy, and finally the Malecón—filming location for Jay Chou’s Mojito MV, Fast & Furious, and a drama starring Song Hye-kyo’s boyfriend. It’s Havana’s most famous road. #CubaTravel #Havana