So I managed the flights without too much hysteria.  I can’t say I loved the experience but with a drip feed of white wine and the whole series of The Night Manager to distract me it was relatively pleasant.

We were greeted at Havana airport by Ariel, our guide who took us to our hotel.  We’re in Old Havana overlooking the Capitiolo.

Havana is just how we imagined.  Busy, beautiful, and very hot!

The view from the roof terrace.

This morning Ariel took us on a walking tour of the old town then in the afternoon we were driven around the newer side in an old open top dodge.  Havana is a city of contrast.  Old and new, crumbling architecture but a dogged refusal to let these buildings fall down so it seems like a city in disrepair yet repair at the same time.  Ariel told us many stories about the Spanish conquest, the Mafia and the revolution with the architecture, monuments and plazas as a visual reference to these tales of greed and glory.

The car ride wasn’t as glamorous as it looks.  Plastic covered seats in 35 degree heat and a choking smell of exhaust fumes don’t make for a comfy journey, but I’d recommend it over an air-conditioned tour bus any day, it was a glorious way to cruise around Havana.  

Plaza Vieja, beautiful square but strangely manufactured.  Feels like you’re in a Disney version of Old Havana.  The statue is of a naked bald woman in high heels carrying a huge fork and riding a chicken.  Each to their own….