The Hotel Telegrafo is the oldest hotel in Habana, but has been moved and renovated (phew!) since opening in 1860. Now, located at the edge of the old town along the wide Avenue de Prado, it is a great base from which to explore Habana.
We check into the modern looking lobby, get our room assignment, order our dinner (at the hotel tonight) and head to our room. We are on the 3rd floor, Maggi and Richard on the 1st. So, we separate, agreeing to rendezvous in the awesome looking bar at 6:30 for pre-dinner drinks.
Our room is awesome – those 20 foot high ceilings, big double beds (no marital beds in this room) and overlooking the Prado where we can stand at the window and watch the world (and the old cars go by!).
 Hotel Telegafo |
 | View from our room | |||
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We get organized then head out onto the street! Liberating! We’re in Habana and we can just wander around and go do whatever we want. Totally awesome! So, we head out – to find 270 Industria – the building where our girlfriend Tisa’s father worked before the Revolution. We’ve heard the stories all our lives about leaving Cuba with only suitcases and $50, and to be right here where Jerri and Kal were all those years ago is pretty amazing. Even more amazing – the building is not 3 blocks from the hotel! Could not believe it! So – we wandered, took pictures for Tisa and then headed back to the Prado for an afternoon stroll.
 270 Industria |
We pass a little CUC (Cuban Convertible Pesos) store and notice they have beer and wine. OK – so we decide to stop here for supplies. After getting a little confused by a woman who I think was asking for or talking about converting Cuban Pesos to CUCs, but I wasn’t quite getting the words, we finally get past her and figure out how to sidle up to the counter to get served. Nothing is out in the open – everything is behind a glass counter. This place has a wide variety of beverages, food, including meats, salads, cheeses, as well as basic necessities. I’m finally first in line and manage quite nicely to buy a bottle of white wine (6 CUCs) and 4 beers for Ed (1 CUC each). Yay – supplies!
We drop our purchases off at the hotel and stroll down the Prado to the Malecon. The Prado is a 6 lane avenue with a gorgeous, wide marble promenade down the middle. Very reminiscent of Barcelona’s Las Ramblas, especially as this is Sunday and artists line the promenade displaying their wares. It’s a beautiful afternoon for a stroll – still warm, but cooling down a bit, the sun starting to dip down behind the tall buildings in the East.
It is here that we get our first taste of the state of Cuban architecture. The buildings that line the Prado (and the Malecon) are fabulous Spanish Colonial structures with beautiful balustrades and balconies. And while some are in good shape, others are in disrepair. The State just can’t keep up with the maintenance and repairs, for numerous reasons, so some of these beautiful buildings are just crumbling or are empty facades.
People still live in these buildings, although as the State starts renovation (as they are in the Malecon), they are moving people out into housing projects while they do the repairs (more on that later too!).
We reach the Malecon and manage to run across the 6 or 7 or 8 lane waterfront boulevard. (Hey, we’re experts at this after Vietnam! We just follow a local! LOL). We watch people fishing (this is the only way they can get fish – it is not sold in the Cuban Peso or CUC stores) and walk down a bit to look at the fort across the Bay of Habana.
Back up the Prado, we watch all the old cars zip past us until we reach the hotel. Showered, fresh and clean, we meet Maggi and Richard in the bar downstairs – which is like an open air ruin looking thing – it’s not ruins, but there are arches and tile and marble all around, and a winding marble staircase that we use all the time to get from our rooms downstairs.
We will spend a lot of nights here – it’s a great place, great atmosphere, and tonight there is a 10 foot screen where they are playing MTV videos or a Michael Jackson tribute or something like that – so there’s music too!
On to dinner. We all arrive at 7 sharp, and are seated right away – the tables are all for 4, so it’s not really too communal. We’ll have plenty of time to meet and great others during the next 7 days – no worries. Dinner begins with soup (of course – and veggie so good for Maggi!), for our main meal Ed and I chose the chicken, which is quite good, Richard had the beef, also a good choice, Maggi had the fish which was not so good. We think because of the pre-ordering and the size of our group that possibly it sat under the heat lamp too long. Unfortunately others in our group felt the same, and were quite vocal about the quality of their meal. Sigh…we just drank more! (Oh yes, beer, because wine isn’t included with our meal but a beer is – so – well – we ARE trying to budget our dollars – it’s not JUST me being cheap, no, no, how could you ever think that?)
Dinner finishes with, yep, you guessed it, Helado. That’s a wrap! We head to the bar for night caps and the Michael Jackson tribute on the big screen! Phew! That’s only day 1! Wow – this is going to be a fun-filled, activity packed trip!
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