April sun in Cuba
"Experience Cuba Tours exceeded our expectations, providing a comprehensive tour of Old Havana and close surrounds. Our guides were extremely engaging and erudite young men and related well to both age groups. Both shared an expert knowledge in Cuban history, politics, culture, architecture and music, were very easy going and were able to determine our tastes and cater to our interests extremely well.
Experience Cuba is an exceptional company that due to their personal connection go out of their way to cater for your needs but also ensure that you experience the real Cuba."
Tour Itinerary Highlights
DAY 1
Havana
Arriving in Havana. “Even the way people walk down the street has rhythm".
“Even the way people walk down the street has rhythm,” says Zoe, an art and photography teacher.
“There’s just Cuban music everywhere. It starts spilling out of the cafes at 7am and carries on in the bars and the restaurants until after midnight. The musicians are amazing.”
Amazing enough to get the whole family on the dance floor.
The family’s photo albums overflow with musicians on street corners, in cafes and hotels plucking harps, strumming pink guitars, flicking double basses and keeping time with bongos and maracas.
The music was all part of the romance of a visit to Cuba that Louise had always imagined. “My dad was a fan of socialism and Fidel and Che. It’s been a lifelong dream to go; I had this romantic idea of Cuba but it’s so much more than I imagined.”
The family spent their first night in a Spanish colonial apartment in Old Havana. “It was on the top floor with high ceilings and a wraparound balcony,” remembers Louise. “There was a beautiful dining room with furniture made by the owner’s grandfather. Music was coming out of the bar below, and we followed it for mojitos, Cuba Libres and a simple dinner of baked chicken.”
DAY 2
Old and Modern Havana
“The guides brought so much knowledge that we wouldn’t otherwise have got”
“We woke with the music,” says Louise. “Then the owners arrived to cook us a breakfast of fresh fruit, eggs and coffee. It was just magic.”
Breakfast was followed by a walking tour of Old Havana in the company of Experience Cuba Tour guide, Alejandro, who just happens to be civil engineer and architect volunteering with a co-op to restore the crumbling buildings of Old Havana.
“Every day the guides brought so much knowledge that we wouldn’t otherwise have got,” says Max. “Alejandro pointed out the restorations that were being done in the traditional method, with pulley systems built out of windows to haul up wheelbarrows.”
The afternoon took the family into the modern part of Havana in a classic convertible.
“They call them Frankenstein cars,” says Max. “The sanctions meant they couldn’t get parts, so there’s a real art to keeping them on the road. Across the road from our apartment they were making car doors. The lights would dim as they drained power for the tools. Wherever you go in Cuba, they’re doing whatever they can whenever they can. It’s not a nine-to-five city.”
DAY 3
Hemingway
An exclusive tour of Hemingway’s house, Finca Vigía.
A highlight of the family’s Hemingway day was an exclusive tour of Hemingway’s house, Finca Vigía. “That’s the sort of thing we were offered because we weren’t part of a busload of tourists,” says Max. “We had an exclusive insight, and we learned a lot about Hemingway and his connection to Cuba.”
DAY 4
A Personal Adventure
A day exploring the city of Havana and a meeting with El Caballero de París
Having got their bearings of Havana, the family choose to spend the fourth day exploring the city on their own. Their wanderings took them to the Almacenes San José Artisans' Market. Cass and Zoe loaded up on art that now hangs in their home in Goolwa, South Australia. Louise treated herself to some peal and silver earrings and a bracelet fashioned from 1952 coins.
The family also passed the El Caballero de París (the Gentleman from Paris), a statue of an articulate Spanish drifter. Before he died in 1985, the “Parisian” Gentleman himself roamed Havana in a cape, making gifts of his drawings to strangers. The beard of the bronze statue is polished gold by those who stroke it, because it is said that so doing will bring you back to Havana.
DAY 5
Mariel: a Taste of Cuba
Visiting a local family, enjoying good food, drink and Cuban hospitality.
Anyone reading our reviews on TripAdvisor will know that our signature excursion attracts rave reviews. For our founder, it’s a highly personal experience because Mariel is her home town.
“We visited a family, who told us straight away, ‘My house is your house’,” says Louise. “Then he opened a bottle of special cider and the day took off from there. We talked through lunch and dinner, snacked on homemade plantain chips.”
Music again played its part; this time with Zoe sharing some of her favourite Australian bands on Spotify.
“It was like hanging out with your own family,” says Zoe. “The father showed us his mango tree, which has been in the family for generations. We helped in the kitchen, and we shared their dinner table. They taught us dominoes — there are a lot of rules. We drank rum and mojitos; and it felt like we’d known them all our lives.”
DAY 6
Return from Mariel
Exploring more of Old Havana, art and salsa dancing for the whole family.
A short but pleasant drive home to Old Havana then a day to revisiting what seem by now old haunts in the local neighbourhood, including favourite cafes and stuffed bookshops.
More art for Cass and Zoe; more salsa dancing for the whole family.
DAY 7
Rum and Cigars
“It’s like a wine tasting but with cigars,” says Louise of their cigar factory tour.
“It’s like a wine tasting but with cigars,” says Louise of their tour of the cigar factory.
“The cigar sommelier shows you how coffee and rum change your palate. You start with coffee then you smoke this cigar — they taught you how to light it — then a sip of rum which coats your tongue and it tastes different. Apparently, the cigar puts a lining on your tastebuds so you can theoretically drink more rum.”
DAY 8
Departure
On the day they left, the family knew they would return to visit more of Cuba.
On the day they left Cuba, the family knew they would return to visit more of the island. It’s a promise to themselves that they intend to keep.
On the one year anniversary of their trip, they got together to relive the adventure. And in the meantime, Cass has bought himself a Cuban tres guitar, so the family can still surround themselves with the sounds of Cuba even at home in South Australia.
All the photographs on this page were taken by Louise and her family during their trip in Cuba.
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