Bronnie's Travels: HAVANA CUBA 304.11

30.4.11

We head off on our new adventure to Cuba flight leaves at 10.00am, a 2.15 hr. flight wit Copa Air, which was very pleasant. It is the Panamanian Airline.

One thing I will miss from US an Panama are the automated loos and handwashing facilities!! Loo flushes automactically, love it!

Also spotlessly clean! I lovd the Bristol Hotels business cards they made for us so we just showed the taxi driver the card and he knew where to take us. Even had our name printed on it!!

Arrive in Havana and a pretty easy customs passage, just had to show my travel insurance, they didn’t even want to see the forms we had filled in on the plane, which I might add, were in Spanish!! (Had to get the form checked by the flight attendant just in case I got it wrong) Actually I was quite impressed with myself as I was able to decipher it pretty well!

So we are met by Alberto who is our guide for our time here and taken to our Hotel Saratoga. This is the best in Havana and was completly refurbished 5 years ago by a Swiss company and the government.

Here is where the movie stars use to come and stay and even Churchill. It is very grand in 1930s style. Our rooms are large as is the bathroom with tiled floors and dark timber cupboards

We head upstairs to lie by the pool, which is on the rooftop with a magical view of the city.

Lovely to have a relax!

Alberto picks us up at 8.00p.m and takes us to La Torre which is a government restaurant 33 floor up in a tower near the ocean and city lights view

Well here not many lights the city is very dark but we are placed in a section where the lights shine!

It really is very dark and after Vegas quite a dramatic difference.

So the meal is soup vegetable or mushroom and choice of fish chicken and pork and dessert. Now this is all that is going to be offered here for the next 8 days!!! In the government rests the food is frozen but when we go to the Paladar we will have fresh food! These are private restaurants and only a few of them here as 95% are managed by the State.Hence hard to get into as they have creative cuisine!!! Will keep you posted on that one, as we haven’t been as yet!!