My Havana trip-part 1

If you read my blog then you know that I was jetting off for a romantic two day getaway to Cuba with my husband recently. Well we are now back and I wanted to share my experience and some of the pics we took 🙂

So here we go…

We left on a Sunday evening which got us into Havana somewhat late to do anything super fun (plus it was raining cats and dogs..seriously I think I saw a dog drop from the sky lol) so we decided to hit up our hotel, have a drink and food and go to bed.

We were staying in the Hotel Sevilla and by the end of our trip we were in love with it. Wonderful views, great pool and lovely rooms. Highly recommend it.

Here is the exterior at night.

The hotel has been around since the late 1800s and they had all these old pics of the building thru the years all over the hotel and it really has not changed that much.

The lobby

We were staying on the 7th floor but one floor below us was the floor that the famous gangster “Al Capone” stayed in the 1920s. According to the sign below, he rented out the whole floor! Wow!

My husband all excited to be standing at the door lol!

After a good nights sleep we ventured up to the rooftop restaurant for our breakfast and I literally lost my mind when I saw where we were eating.

What??!! Seriously insanely beautiful. It was an old ballroom now converted into their fancy restaurant. I could just see all the fancy parties that were held there in my head (along with the fantastic dresses…of course!). The colours of the wall reminded me of the St. Lawrence Hall in Toronto where my wedding was held. That building was built-in the 1850s and it had a very similar feel. Here are some more pics.

After I finished drooling over the hall we got ready to wander the city but first we realized we forgot our toothpaste..crumb. Emergency purchase done but I don’t think this is Spanish 🙂

It was while brushing my teeth that I fully realized that we had a seriously good view from our room AND the windows opened which allowed you to hear the hustle and bustle of life below (which I loved). Here is the view from our room.

In the above pic of you look to the back of the pic you can see we had a view of the fort in Havana..cool!

It was raining in the am..a lot (had to make another emergency purchase of an umbrella) and so this pic is right as the weather turned and a big boat was coming in.

Now that I had an umbrella we ventured onto Obispo street which is filled with restaurants and shopping and is one of our fav places to walk around in. We were on a mission for a Mojito and a bucanero beer (our fav) from the last hotel we had stayed while on our honeymoon at “Ambos Mundos“. There was a piano player playing and he was really really good, in fact every piano player we saw was really good. So we just sat back and enjoyed the show and waited for the rain to stop.

Okay rain done, off to explore the streets of Havana, well to be truthful we were on another mission….to find our favorite brewpub we enjoyed last time (because to be honest, on this trip all I wanted to do was eat, drink and explore the city with my husband).

Bingo mission accomplished! Love this place and there was a band playing too, double yay!

One of these tall drink things for your beer was only $12! Holy cow!

Interesting beer cocktails avail..

So we had a few beers and some food and this was the price of our visit…cheap!

After we ate I needed a pic in the square with random sculptures and wooden people cut outs 🙂

I don’t think the cut-out solider is impressed, he is giving me the “eye” lol

Part of our plan while we were in Havana was to just wander the city and see what we see. Loved doing this because we got to enjoy life in Havana without a tour book. Here are some of the pics of what we saw and then I will end part one because I have a million more pics and this blog post is long enough already 🙂

How do I take this car home?

Artwork on the side of the building, we thought was beautiful.

Stayed turned for part two!

Liz 🙂