Cuba - Havana

Arriving in Cuba, I had to wait for about 5 hours for Muni, but somehow you always manage to pass the time :) My first thought was, 'Wow, these people are unfriendly,' every cashier at home is friendlier and more motivated :D Okay, stay cool and just kill them with kindness. Well, the people here are really stubborn, I could only get a small smile out of one person, woohoo. So off to the hotel that two guys at the airport had already warned me about. Well, thanks, it could be fun :) But it wasn't as bad as I feared. But the absolute highlight of the hotel was its own disco. Awesome, you come down the stairs and the first thing that comes to mind is 'Hello sex tourism.' The prostitutes sit nicely in a row, just waiting to please a nice gentleman :D

Travel guides are nice and all, but we first took a hop-on, hop-off bus to get an overview. After that, you can decide what you really want to see.

Havana Vieja neighborhood:

Here, there are great historical buildings from the colonial period and it has even been declared a World Heritage Site. Various squares with palaces, several museums, beautiful cathedrals, and much more. Plan enough time ;)

A must-visit is the famous bar 'La Bodeguita de Medio,' where Ernest Hemingway once enjoyed his Mojito. The complete walls are decorated with thousands of quotes and signatures. I also found the replica of the Washington Capitol building quite amusing. At first, I thought, 'Huh, something is not right here' :D

Otherwise, America hasn't really arrived here yet, no stupid McDonald's or Starbucks. But not yet...

Vedado neighborhood:

The more modern part of Havana. We didn't visit Plaza de la Revolucion again, we had seen it during our tour and thought that was enough :D First, we made our way to John Lennon Park, which we eventually found more by luck. 'Should we take this street?' Oh, it'll be fine. And there he was, sitting on his little bench :) But without his iconic glasses, as they have been repeatedly stolen in the past. So, there is a security guard here who puts sunglasses on him to give him the authentic John Lennon look. After that, we went to the 'Cementerio de Colon' cemetery. Look at a cemetery? Why not, the size alone was impressive. 4 km long and it takes about 2-3 hours to see it completely. Fascinating, isn't it? Okay, I'm into that stuff anyway :D It was also raining that day and the sky was gray...perfect backdrop. Then we went to Coppelia ice cream parlor, which is famous for its ice cream. Well, the excitement quickly faded when we arrived there and experienced reverse racial segregation. Okay, you want to eat ice cream? Yes, preferably outside, it's so nice to sit here. You're not locals? Uh, no, hard to miss. We were then led by a nice gentleman to a, let's call it, 'storage room' that had no windows. Uh, I think I don't feel like having ice cream after all. Thanks :D

In the evening, everyone here sits outside on a wall and drinks their own alcohol. It has something, it was definitely cozier than in any overcrowded bar. But those annoying street musicians... 'Should I play something for you?' Before you could even say no, they would already start playing and of course, they would expect a small donation afterwards. After the third or fourth one, it started to get annoying. So, I just did what the locals did: turn towards the sea, chat with each other, and completely ignore them :D sry