Days 14 & 15: My heart's still in Havana

It may seem strange to do a hop-on-hop-off bus service on the last day but to get to the outer reaches of Vedado, it's no more expensive than a taxi and you get the whole day to view the city from upstairs. Vedado is the leafy suburb where the flashy hotels were the haunt of Hollywood stars and mafiosi in the 1950s. Celebs still hang out here; I'm not sure about John Lennon but a statue of him sits on a bench where an unofficial curator supplies glasses but will remove them for safe keeping. Another stop on the tour takes me to Plaza de la Revolucion, a giant parade ground with a famous neon sculpture of Che Guevara, for whom the term "iconic" might have been invented.

Back in Havana Centro, I visit Parque Trillo for the final time. This is an oasis of greenery a few blocks from Maria Antonia's. Maybe it's cheating to take photos of people on their phones but this illustrates the fact that few houses have their own Wifi so ordinary people have to use public Wifi zones. It's also a popular place for people to communicate without the use of phones, or just to work out before the sun gets too hot.

And so it's time to leave. Cuba is a remarkable island where people make do with what they don't have and put up with what they do have. I wish them all the best . For some reason at the airport they accept only hard currency for food and drinks so I still have some CUCs left over---for another visit perhaps.Read more