Havana, Cuba – Day 1
Today, we arrived in Havana, on the island of Cuba.
Actually, it was mostly a sea day, since we didn’t arrive at Havana until just gone 5pm, so I was a little puzzled as to why I hadn’t been asked to give my first class of the new cruise. I didn’t remain puzzled for too long, however; instead, I took advantage of the free day to enjoy a couple of lectures (Stephen Smith and Steve Ragnall), to catch up on the Blog, and to read.
Sailing into Port was nothing short of spectacular; views into the city were quite expansive, and lit by a sumptuous late afternoon sun. Even from the top deck of the Voyager, we could clearly see many of the old 50s classic cars that give the city one of its unique qualities… we were to see many more before our visit was over…
The buildings in and around the port of Havana are quite old and in a state of disrepair, and the berths are quite short. A huge MSC cruise ship that I’d guess carries around 3000 passengers (compared to our modest 500) was already docked, with its back end sticking out quite a long way. The berth to which we’d been assigned already had a Greek yacht tied up to the quayside, which needed to be moved along a short way in order to fit us in. Actually; we already fitted in without them moving, but the Port Authority insisted that we use their raised gangway to disembark, which we had problems aligning ourselves with. The Greeks move their yacht, but very slowly, much to the apparent annoyance of our Captain who gave him a couple of loud blasts on the Voyager’s horn to hurry him along (how to make friends and influence people).
Once we were settled in and the ship was cleared, passengers could go ashore. Before they could do this, however, everyone had to fill out a Cuban Tourst Visa form, which cost an extra £15. This needed to be presented to the Immigration on disembarkation, along with passports.
We decided to have dinner on board ship before taking our first walk on Cuban soil. By that time, the sun had set and Havana had gone into night-time mode.
Our first impressions were extremely good. After exiting the terminal, we instantly found ourselves in a small square, with a church down one side and old, quite ornate buildings down two of the others. Alongside this, and between the square and the terminal, the main road ran, which was absolutely teeming with old 50s style classic American cars, their chrome gleaming bright in the streetlights.
As we walked through the narrow, pedestrianised streets of the old town, where people sat out drinking and eating at tables, music whafted out of old bars and grand hotel entrances, ornate streetlamps illuminated iron benches and cobbled road surfaces, I think I can positively say that we were completely seduced by the place. Along with Nessebar and Istanbul, Havana instantly took its place alongside all those places that we absolutely love and will always look forward to revisiting again.
We spent about an hour and a half meandering through the old town before returning to the ship; we’re staying in Havana overnight and both Tracey and I are on tour tomorrow. It’ll be great to see how it looks in the daylight…
