-----> Havana harbour
Image courtesy: Wikipedia
Trains are invariably late in Havana and they are always crowded and the crime rate is high.
Railway stations lack modern facility.
Roads in Havana are poorly maintained and traffic rules are seldom obeyed.
Car hijacking is common in Cuba.
City also faces problem of parking space and lack of petrol pumps, even no emergency breakdown assistance is available.
I am sorry to start this blog post on a negative note but this what is reported in Havana travel guide. If it is so, then why go to Havana at all?
Here are some attractions as reported:
Airport provides facilities of restaurants, tourist information, hotel reservation, rest room, luggage room, duty free shops and executive lounge.
Most of the hotels offer all the luxuries of the western world that included A/C, fitness center, TV, DVD player, room service and bar etc.
There are a number of avenues, forts, palaces, museums, churches, music festivals and ballets.
Havana nightlife is vibrant and exciting. A number of bars, pubs, casinos and clubs operate through out night wooing dance lovers.
Ok, enough of reporting. I cite a few references from my friends' visit to Cuba.
Havana is one of the oldest cities founded by Europeans in the Western Hemisphere. It was first established in 1515.
Havana enjoys a pleasant year-round climate.
Many of the city's most famed restaurants are in Old Havana. The most popular is La Bodeguita del Medio, once a hangout of Ernest Hemingway and known as best making mojitos.
Botanical Garden Caribbean species, particularly those of Cuba. There is a Japanese Garden, with fountains and waterfalls.
Showing indifference to the negative side of Cuba, given an opportunity, I will definitely visit Cuba.
2 comments:
Anyone traveling to a foreign country, especially one where they do not know the language or culture, should take appropriate precautions.
Cuba is no different in that respect from any other country.
Having traveled to Cuba close to twenty times in the past decade, I'm pleased to read that you intend to travel there despite some of the negative publicity.
For the past seven years I've operated a Yahoo news group about Cuba which has sent out over seventy thousand items, from, about or related to Cuba which readers here might find of interest.
Personally I'm very favorable toward Cuba, but it has many problems and the CubaNews group sends out a wide-range of materials, favorable and otherwise. There is also a searchable database which anyone can use, even if not subscried.
Thanks,
Walter Lippmann
Los Angeles, California.
My father and his parents lived in Cuba during World War II.
I was in Cuba, as a young teen, before the revolution. I remember it well. When with my father on a weekend outing from the Florida Keys. We put in at Havana, and toured the shops in central Havana--my first trip out of the states. The next year Castro took over. We never went back. A lovely country too good for communist. Thanks again for the plug.
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