2) Playa Larga, Cienfuegos and Playa Ancon

We drove from Havana towards Playa Larga with just a short stop when Franzi was annoyed by sitting all the time. Playa larga was nice for a first swim, but we were a bit disappointed by the grayish beach. First I thought about diving here, but the water was not very clear. At a restaurant I tried a local crab dish. Not bad, but not great either. The owner of the restaurant then told us where we could stay this night. A cozy casa particulares. A walk at the evening made us aware of the nearby swamp that is a source for many mosquitoes^^ The next morning (19.04.) we drove along the coast including Playa Giron towards Cienfuegos. It appears that most beaches at the southern coastline are not too pretty. In Cienfuegos we parked our car at Parque Jose Marti. Quickly a local came and wanted money for watching our car... we told him that parking was free and went to the city. Cienfuegos is a charming little city. We walked the Paseo El Prado down to the Palacio de Valle. On the way we came across Palacio Azul. 

next to Paseo El Prado

Franzi in front of Palacio Azul

Palacio de Valle

Next to Parque Jose Marti - great graffiti are to be found everywhere in Cuba

 As Cienfuegos was rather small, we decided to continue to La Boca to search for a place to stay near Playa Ancon. When the sun set during our drive, we recognized how difficult driving at night in Cuba is. No street lights, no reflector signs and in the villages bikes and pedestrians are almost invisible. But worst have been the crabs that cross the streets after sunset. They are huge... up to the size of a football! The shells are hard and we were told that they penetrate the wires of your car if you are unlucky. Thus, this became an adventure drive to La Boca^^ In La Boca we found a nice casa particulares. They had a huge dog that Franzi was afraid of... but the owner and I helped to keep the dog in place. The pink room was funny, the lady super friendly. The next morning (20.04.) we received a massive breakfast before we visited Playa Ancon. Probably the best beach at the southern coastline.

beautiful Salamander next to our breakfast dish in La Boca

Playa Ancon

1) Havana, Cuba

After stories from our parents and grandparents Franzi and I were eager to visit the world's last officially communistic country. At the 16th of April we took a flight from Berlin via Paris and arrived at evening in Havana, Cuba. We stayed at Casa Haifa in Havana's quarter Vedado. As it was late, we just took a short walk to the famous promenade "Malecon" and to see, hear and smell the sea :)
The next morning we took a taxi to Havana's old town "Habana Vieja". Visiting Havana is like time-travel. Plenty old cars you might have seen in museums are driving through all Havana, the houses have the typical appearance of colorful Spanish colonial buildings with interior mix from American 60s and Europe's eastern block 80s. A lot of things you know from movies and we know from the old flats of our grandparents.
We walked through the modernized and colorful streets of Habana Vieja around Calle Obispo and Mercaderes to Plaza Vieja. It didn't take long, when the first musicians were posing for a photo with us and were asking for money... but when we were weak to give a few cents to one, each other of the group demanded! the same... as we were to learn throughout our trip, this is Cuba's downside.

Everywhere in Havana: cars up to a century old

Old cars seen at Havana's Malecon

The first Cuban tourist trap we ran into^^

Plaza Vieja

Cathedral de San Cristobal de La Habana

La Bedeguita Del Medio near Calle Bispo

From Habana Vieja we went to Centro Habana and have been surprised by a movie making in front of the Museo de la Revolucion^^ A truck drove towards the museum and hit a sharp break in front of it... soldiers jumped off and started firing towards the building. Luckily all simply film effects :P
The streets of Havana are filled with great impressions. Especially the beautiful Prado, a main street connecting the Malecon with the Capitol. Apart from all the lovely old cars, Prado had the most impressive scenery of colonial buildings. Some new painted and renovated, others almost fallen apart even with trees growing out of it. Interestingly, sometimes you find this scenery within ONE building!

Old cars for the film making at the Museo de la Revolucion

Scenery at the Prado

Old and new facades next to each other.

Next we went on top of the Edificio Barcadi overlooking Havana. One could quickly see that all those colors down there are simply facades, the city looks sadly gray from above.
An amazing building is the Capitol which is a replicate of the Washington Capitol, just slightly larger. With all the setting around it feels like we traveled back in time... we were stunned.

View from Edificio Barcadi

Havana's Capitol

 After a nice Italian lunch (Cubans love Italian food!) we went back to our Casa and took a taxi to the airport as we were to fly to Santiago the Cuba. At the airport we checked in and waited for the flight... and waited when it was announced to be delayed... and were confused when all people were getting chatty and nervous. It turned out that the flight was delayed for 9!! hours. With 3 other Germans we decided to go back to the city and have some dinner and drink there instead of wasting our time at the airport.
A Mojito at the rooftop bar Ambos Mundos, later Italian dinner and Cuba libre near the Cathedral San Cristobal. We drove to the airport again to wait another 3h before we got to know that the flight was now canceled. Without flight and sleeping spot at midnight in Havana... when the clock turned 2 we were really tired. 2 taxi drivers brought us to some shady but clean private housing. A little rip off, but once you are desparate... the next morning (18.04.) we "checked out" by giving money to the cleaning boy. On the street another tourist trap collected us: first nice chatting, then asking us to give him our clothes and then trying to overprice us for a drive to a car rental shop we were advised to go from the owners of our first Casa. Although expensive, we decided to rent a car to be independent from the taxi drivers and other tourist rip offs^^

Cuba libre after Italian dinner