It's Wednesday morning on the 4th of July as we continue on our second sea day, traveling south-southeast toward Aruba, where we are scheduled to arrive at 11am tomorrow.  The weather is still fine, slightly overcast, but there is some sea swell with 4-6 foot waves.  It's enough to finally make us feel we are really at sea, but not enough to be bothersome or interfere with our main activities (ie, eating and napping).  The sea day gives me another chance to spend time at the computer (I brought my Apple laptop with me, it weighs so little), and update the blog with Monday's visit to Havana.

2 July 2018:

Havana, Cuba

There is a boondoggle and delay of about one hour as we wait to leave the ship and start our shore excursion.  The delay is partly caused by the 3000+ passengers of the Royal Caribbean mega-ship emptying at the same time as the roughly 400 passengers from the Insignia, as well as the turtle-like pace of the Cuban immigration officials who insist on looking at everyone's passport and visa, and taking photos of each passenger.  

Royal Caribbean Mega-Ship Blocking the View of the ms Insignia

Once ashore, however, everything goes much more smoothly.  The tour bus is very new, exceptionally clean, with good air-conditioning and sound systems.  The tour guide is a young graduate of Havana University, who earned his degree in Language Studies; needless to say, his English is excellent.

While a short visit can hardly give the visitor a full sense of what Cuba has to offer, our 3-1/2 hour bus tour allows us to see several different sections of Havana that would be difficult to access on our own.  Our guide provides brief but helpful introductions to many aspects of daily life in Havana, including work and economic conditions.  One of the biggest problems Cuba faces is its aging population, combined with younger people leaving the island.  Real estate and car ownership are both very expensive and beyond the reach of most of the population.

Our tour begins in the well-restored historic center of Havana, a Unesco Historic Heritage Site.  The ship is docked just a few steps from its main square, St Francis Assisi.  Before our bus heads west through "modern" Havana, developed mostly from the 1920s through the 1950s, we take the under-harbor tunnel to two major fortification sites that have guarded the harbor from pirates and attacking navies for over hundreds of years. 

The two forts we visit are parts of the largest fortification system in all of the Western hemisphere.  El Castillo de Los Tres Reyes del Morro was built by the Spanish from 1589 to 1640.  As in other parts of the city, the omni-present taxis are all restored American cars from the 1950s and early 1960s.  There are over 150,000 of these beauties throughout Cuba.  Most were originally brought here by the car companies for testing before selling them in the US.  Although they are a big draw for tourists, the cars are expensive to run and keep up (parts are especially difficult to come by).  Locals refer to these taxis as "Frankensteins," because of the mix-and-match method of repairs.

A second defensive fortress is Fortaleza de San Carlos de la Cabana, which is also home to a shop selling authentic Cuban cigars, rum, and coffee--for American dollars (otherwise difficult to use in Havana).  There are extensive views of Havana skyline and harbor from both forts.

Two other highlights of this part of Havana are first, the outdoor military museum, celebrating the 1962 Missile Crisis and the Bay of Pigs Invasion.  We do a quick drive-by on the way to the second, the iconic El Cristo de la Habana.

We then head back under the harbor to "Modern" or "Republican" Havana, developed during the first half of the 20th century.  Although this is also a designated Unesco site, only 40% of the buildings have been restored; among the rest there are three to six partial collapses every day.

As we head west, we pass block after block of extraordinarily beautiful domestic architecture in horrible states of decay.  Sometimes the interiors are remodeled by individual investors, but the outsides of the buildings are left to the government for restoration, and the government is not doing a very good job.

We pass the neoclassic buildings of Havana University, where our tour guide spent "the five best years" of his life, as we head toward the Christopher Columbus cemetery, site of several important national monuments.  Many of the major mausoleums were designed as miniature replicas of their inhabitants' former mansions.  The monument dedicated to firemen who died in one of Havana's worst fires is a highlight of the cemetery--no monument may be built higher than this one.

A View of the Main Stairs at Havana University

Medical College of the University

Italian-Design Gateway to Christopher Columbus Cemetery  

A Typical "Mansion" Mausoleum

The Firemen's Monument

A Detail from the Top of the Firemen's Monument

Central Chapel of the Cemetery 

I planned to continue with more of Havana (it's only around noon), but I still have the newer part of the city--site of former luxury hotels, soviet-style apartment blocks, and the current American Embassy--to describe, as well as the drive along the Malecon (seawall) as we head back to the ship.  So I will save all that for the next blog and also include my own walking tour of the Historic Center after the excursion ends and Will re-boards the Insignia.  So, hopefully, more of Havana tomorrow as we head to our afternoon adventure in Aruba.