Havana through the eyes of a tourist

We came to Havana via a 200 km long bike tour across the country, which included several, stops: Viñales, where we visited a tobacco plantation and a dance course, learning how to dance Salsa. In Pinar del Río we visited the Friedrich Engels School for two days and had a Gala in the evening, where all of us learned how to dance modern Salsa and other Latin-American dances.  Finally, a one and a half hour bus ride brought us to Havana, the highlight of Cuba.

Havana was colourful, very colourful!
As I walked through the streets of Havana on the first day we arrived, I felt like I was in one of the documentaries I watched before the trip. Narrow streets, occasionally larger main roads, old run-down houses and colourful vintage cars. In the old town, where we mainly stayed, musicians played their own music as well as internationally known hits, such music from the Buena Vista Social Club. Every other shop was a restaurant for the tourists in the city and every next shop sold handcrafted souvenirs and paintings. One difficulty that we all navigated quite well was getting food. We got 500 pesos (2€) per meal to buy lunch. Most of the restaurants were usually as expensive as European ones or in other words just too expensive for us with our 500 pesos. So most people settled for alternatives such as a simple pizza for 170 pesos or bread for 50 pesos.

On the last night at the Hotel in Havana, we went to a Sports Bar to watch the Super Bowl Match: 49ers versus Chiefs. The match was very exciting and the atmosphere was good, which made for a very nice ending from our visit to Cuba.