Walking Tour of Old Havana

After breakfast, Tony came to get us for our walking tour around Old Havana. There were four squares to visit - Cathedral Square, Old Square, Main Square, and St Francis Square. Of the four squares, Old Square stood out because a band of stilt walkers paraded around the square. They were accompanied by a bizarre figure in a blackface and big butt costume. I cringed when I saw the costume. It got me wondering about race relations in Cuba, which is something I didn’t get a strong feel for during my time there.

The other highlight of the Old Square was a statue of a naked woman with a fork riding a rooster. This statue has an Atlas Obscura entry: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/viaje-fanta…

Old Havana varies between pretty and gritty, and, most importantly, it is still lived in, so the entire landscape felt authentic. While there were vendors selling tourist trinkets and stuff, there were also many locals intermingled with the tourists. It reminded Jeff and I of Getsemani in Cartagena, albeit a less gentrified version.

We stopped for lunch at an Italian place and I was surprised when I was given the option of ordering grilled seafood for lunch. My ears perked up in disbelief when the word “lobster” was uttered. While our package cost a pretty penny, I never imagined that lobster would be included. The a la carte price was $12, I think, which is a steal by any standard. Anyway, the meal was fantastic. It included a grilled lobster, two large clams, a fillet of fish and lots of shrimp, along with some pasta.

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