Back to the old town

Saturday and Sunday 7th and 8th April 2007
Had a good last beach day at Trinidad yesterday – it was a beautiful day, the Caribbean was at its turquoise best. Then a total repack of the case before an early dinner because we had a 6am call booked for this morning to catch the 7.30 bus to Havana. We really enjoyed our stay at the beach as we’d not done much ‘just beach time’ at all on this trip – even in French Polynesia we were cycling, sight seeing around the two islands or on trips. Got back to Havana early afternoon and checked into the Palacio O’Farrill, a really nice courtyard hotel right in the heart of the old city. A change and a contrast form the Nacional but equally nice. Spent the afternoon just wandering around the squares, having a drink in pavement cafes, and listening to the music everywhere. It was really good to get our bearings as most of the time we spent in old Havana on the last visit was with a guide and we were just following. This afternoon we really got a feel for the place, particularly as it’s Sunday and all the Cubans were out just having family time and fun. You don’t get any feeling at all that this is an oppressed people.
Laughter everywhere, happy friendly people, wandering around in the glorious sunshine. Tonight we’re going to The Tropicana as we passed on that last time to hear the Buena Vista Social Club. More on that tomorrow. I’m going to post this now and try to put on the photos from the past few entries that I couldn’t do before. We’ll see!