文章基本信息

标题：If you only have a day in Havana: a new cruise-ship option allows Americans to legally visit Cuba's capital
作者：Lorraine Shapiro
期刊名称：Cruise Travel
印刷版ISSN：0199-5111
出版年度：2001
卷号：Dec 2001
出版社：World Publishing Co.

If you only have a day in Havana: a new cruise-ship option allows Americans to legally visit Cuba's capital

Lorraine Shapiro

Part of the lure of Cuba, the largest and most fabled island in the West Indies, is its mystery and history. At the crossroads of the Caribbean and Latin America--and just 90 miles south of Key West, Florida--travelers will discover a country known for revolution, rum, and rhumba, sugar, cigars, and coffee. With a new passage to the island by ship, we found that Havana, the capital city, teems with balconies, bicycles, crowded buses belching smoke, vintage American cars, and narrow cobblestone streets lined with towering royal palms and historic residences.

Unlike typical Caribbean cruise ports, Havana evokes visions of an exciting bygone era, populated by the likes of Ernest Hemingway. Keeping the allure alive, many of Hemingway's haunts are much as they were in the '30s--his room at the Hotel Ambos Mundos, the Bodeguita del Medio (where he drank mojitos, a potent rum drink), and the Art Deco Floridita Bar (for the daiquiri, the national cocktail). There's even a Hemingway Museum at his home, maintained as it was when he died in 1961.

Closed to U.S. citizens by embargo since the early '60s, Cuba now can be visited legally by Americans on an Italian cruise ship, Valtur Prima. Although the ship started calling on Cuba in 1998, since last May new arrangements for the cruise allow U.S. citizens to travel to Cuba on a "fully-hosted" program. About 600 U.S. citizens sailed on the Valtur Prima last year.

Because this "fully hosted" plan requires that no money be spent by U.S. citizens while in Cuba, many of the pleasures we've come to expect and enjoy while visiting foreign countries are forbidden. Consider that, you'll have no strong Cuban coffee while relaxing at a cafe, no cocktails at the nightclubs and buy no souvenirs or gifts--or cigars.

Your experience will include meeting the people, sightseeing, and picture-taking--mostly you're a voyeur! For us, it wasn't a sacrifice. We didn't see much to buy, and as the meals on the ship were satisfying, we weren't tempted to eat ashore.

Arriving by ship is a highlight of a Havana visit. Entering the narrow inlet to the Bahia de la Habana, a deep, natural bay on the northwest coast of Cuba, one is immediately struck by four forts guarding the harbor. At the mouth of the channel, the commanding fort of Castillo de los Tres Reyes del Morro, built into the rock palisades (constructed from 1589 to 1629), faces the equally ancient Castillo de San Salvador de la Punta in La Habana Vieja (Old Havana), on the western side of the bay. Designed to thwart continual attacks upon the city by the English, French, and privateers, their deadly cross fire could destroy enemy ships entering the half-mile-wide channel. As more defense was needed, the Castillo de San Carlos de la Cabana, said to be the largest fort in the Americas, was built from 1764 to 1774. It faces the Castillo de la Real Fuerza, the earliest fortification, whose construction started in 1558.

In remarkable repair, these fortresses are now museums that can be toured daily and are often used for commemorative purposes, not protection. A ceremony is staged at the fortress Castillo San Carlos de la Cabana every night at 9 p.m. Soldiers in 18th-century costumes fire a historic cannon, as stories unfold of conquest and victory, battles won and lost. Happily, the Valtur Prima is greeted dockside weekly with song and dance!

Arriving in Havana about 3 p.m. on Sunday and departing on Monday at 11 p.m., there's plenty of time to explore the city firsthand by day and night. The ship docks just a quarter-mile from La Habana Vieja attractions dating back to the 17th century.

A morning tour, in an air-conditioned bus, visits the forts and other important landmarks near the cruise-ship terminal and farther west in the Central and Vedado sections of Havana. In the afternoon, one can take a leisurely walk in La Habana Vieja.

With five centuries of history and the finest surviving Spanish colonial complex in the Americas, La Habana Vieja was declared a "Cultural Heritage Of Humanity" by UNESCO in 1982. Beyond neglected streets and crumbling facades, there is ongoing rebuilding and restoration of the oldest structures of touristic interest for museums, hotels, restaurants, and shops. You'll be surprised by the beauty and bustle of this cosmopolitan city.

The city bus tour starts by driving through the four-lane half-mile Tunnel de la Habana, under the mouth of Havana's harbor. Built in 1958, it connects Old Havana with communities to the northeast. At Castillo de los Tres Reyes del Morro, one can clearly see the old city--definitely a photo opportunity.

Continuing the four-hour tour, the bus weaves through Old Havana to the Palacio Presidencial and Parque Central, the busy square that's central to Havana's social life. At El Capitolio we stop for photos of the former legislative building, designed after the U.S. Congressional structure. It stands beside the Gran Teatro de la Habana, built in 1837 and still used for ballet and orchestral performances. Old taxis parked outside the square form a veritable auto museum of Americana. Around the corner is the tree-shaded Parque de la Fraternidad, known for its bust of Abraham Lincoln. A less serious, but necessary, stop at the Fabrica de Ron Bocoy rum factory, show room, and tasting bar, introduced us to their Legendario.

At Vedado, a western section of Havana, the bus stops again at the Plaza de la Revolucion, Havana's largest plaza, with its Monumento y Museo Jose Marti. This centerpiece is a statue of Marti, Cuba's national hero, atop a 100-foot base. Behind the statue towers a 350-foot vertical structure, the highest point in Havana. This granite and marble monument is a reviewing stand and podium for public functions.

The tour ends with a guided walk through the streets neighboring the Plaza de Armas near our ship and Catedral Colon, completed in 1767, in the Plaza de la Catedral.

After a quiet lunch onboard the Valtur Prima, we strolled along the shoreside parks of Old Havana. Returning to the Plaza de la Catedral, tables are set in the square, where locals and tourists relax over drinks and listen to local musicians.

Continuing our leisurely walk to Parque Cespedes along the waterfront, an arts & crafts market is in progress. We're fascinated by the lilt of vendors' rapid Cuban-Spanish, which combines Castilian and Andalusian Spanish. While bright and bold oil paintings, drawings of landscapes and life, folksy dolls, T-shirts, and gimcracks are for sale, we admire, not acquire.

Other sites worth viewing, within walking distance, include the Monumento al General Maximo Gomez near the harbor point and the Palacio Presedencial with an interior decorated by Tiffany. Today it's the Museo de la Revolucion showcasing military equipment in the former palace gardens.

Always in view from Old Havana's harbor area is the 50-foot-tall Statue of Jesus Christ, across the channel near the Castillo de San Carlos de la Cabana. Erected in 1958, the Italian Carrara white-marble statue, sculpted by Jilma Madera, shows Christ blessing ships passing below.

The Valtur Prima is now offering United States citizens the opportunity to visit Havana, legally, to get the real Cuban experience before the megaliners arrive when the embargo is lifted.