We travelled by coach to Ernest Hemingway’s Cuban home, Finca Vigía. After his death, his wife Mary donated the property. Visitors crowded around its open windows, and from the setting it was easy to understand why the landscape and sea inspired The Old Man and the Sea.
We ate lunch at Terraza de Cojímar, another seaside place Hemingway visited frequently. His table still stands in the corner as though he might return at any moment.
Back in Havana we went to El Floridita, where a life-size statue of Hemingway occupies his famous place at the bar. Rum and cola and mojitos had become the journey’s unavoidable drinks. A visit to Cuba also seemed incomplete without cigars, so we did our shopping. At the Havana Club museum we learned how rum is made and, naturally, bought some as well.
Dinner was at El Cocinero beside Fábrica de Arte Cubano, an old factory transformed into a contemporary art and cultural venue that Anthony Bourdain also visited. We ended the night at Tropicana. Created in 1939 as a casino and once frequented by mafia figures and celebrities, it offered an unforgettable two-hour open-air show among the trees, performed by a cast of roughly one hundred people.