Retro-post: The last days in Havana

During our last two days in Havana we again ventured into Havana vieja

We among other things experienced one of few remaining camara oscuras in the world that projects a live image of Havana using only a system of mirrors and natural light. 

From the roof of the camara oscura we also had some very nice views over Havana vieja.

Tilda got her daily dose of music while we had a beer at a micro brewery in Havana vieja.

Our last day we continued with the habit of nice early morning walks along the sea before we went to the palacio the la artesania, a handicraft market. 

Vlora tried to sell her old hat in order to buy a new one. Judging by the expression of the lady selling the second had it was not a very interesting deal and Vlora walked away with both the old and the new hat.

We also got some instructions on the classical Cuban musical instruments and we bought a few simple ones to take with us to Sweden.

Retro-post: My first steps in Havana

Tilda had previously taken few very uncertain and cautious steps but one could not really claim that she had started to walk. Well, that changed in Havana the 23^rd of October 2013. On a small square close to the building where we lived she finally let go of our hands and took her first real steps, walking without support for at least 20 meters.

After that performance we all took a well deserved rest in the shadows of the trees in the garden of the spectacular Hotel Nacional.

Ready to depart from Sweden once more

After three relaxing and nice days in Malmö we are ones more ready to depart, heading of to Austurias in the north of Spain. We had time to do what we wanted in Malmö, visiting a lot of old friends and meeting some new ones. We relax with Lina and Ronnie and their son Nils and Tilda played a lot together. Our stay included the mandatory Thai food at Möllevångstorget and we even had time to revisit to the climbing gym in Malmö, some running and Vlora was totally absorbed by sewing baby clothes for Tilda with Linas great support. Not bad for a few days.

Retro-post:The aquarium

Tilda is growing an increasing interest in animals. Every street-dog in Havana is greeted with laughter, applauses and “Titta, titta!!” and not a bird flies by without Tilda noting it. Taking her to the aquarium in Havana was definitely one of the highlights of the trip.

She really enjoyed looking at all the fishes, lobsters, giant turtles etc.

The real highlight however was the dolphin show. Tilda was spellbound during the entire show.

After the show we got the opportunity to get to know the dolphins closely and actually touch them. This was something new for all of us and Tilda was fascinated by being so close to these magnificent animals and touching their smooth skin.

Retro-post: Havana vieja by night

In Havana we quickly started something that became somewhat of a tradition during our time there. Each morning we started with a morning stroll along the sea and el Malecon before the heat came on and the air was still fresh.

During lunch we visited a local shopping mall where Tilda besides from riding the mechanical toys also, as always, charmed the staff of the restaurant where we had lunch.

In the afternoon and evening we again went into Havana vieja.

We visited another famous tourist trap, the bar La Bodegita del Medio, claimed to be the birthplace of the Mojito and another place where Hemmingway and others hanged out.

We finished the evening on a square in the beautiful warm evening and had a drink while Tilda slept peacefully in her trolley.

Retro-post: Not even canon fire could wake her up

The third morning in Havana we woke up to an old-fashioned bi-plane flying around our building as the same height as our apartment and really close to our window. Apparently it was spraying the city with repellents or likewise to suppress mosquitos and other bugs. 

After breakfast we took one the Havana-classical old taxis from the 50s. Not one of the super maintained luxury ones you find for tourist in the city center but one rather funky one that the Cubans themselves use as public transport. Actually it was a smooth and nice ride, although quite environmental unfriendly.

We spent the day strolling around the center of Havana, including the Museo de la Revolucion.

We also made a pit stop at another tourist-trap, la Floriditia. This is the bar where Hemmingway had his favorite drink, the Daquiri. and sure these boys now how to make an excellent Daquiri.

In the evening we went to the fortrest outside of Havana. The drive included some very nice Havana by night views and ended up with the ceremony of firing the old canon at 9 o’clock as they do every night in Havana. This canon is heard all over city but although Tilda was sleeping only meters from the canon when it went of she did not wake up. She didn’t even move.

'

Back in Sweden and ready for new adventures

As most of you have already noticed the blog has been very dead since we went to Cuba for the simple reason that Internet access was non-existing in Cuba. But there has also been some other interesting development of our trip. Once we arrived in Cuba we quickly realized that our initial plan was too ambitious and we had underestimated the situation of being with little one-year old Tilda in such a completely different environment. Additionally the heat was worst then we had thought and Tilda was suffering quite a lot from it. It was not possible for us as a family to relax and enjoy and it became too much of a struggle, so we decided to shorten the trip and change our plans. We stayed one fantastic week in Havana full of genuine experiences and then we stayed two weeks at a classical tourist all inclusive hotel with some smaller local adventures. It was the right decision and all-in-all it turned out to be a different but very memorable trip. We have now been back in Sweden for a few days and will today go back to Malmö for a few days. After that we will fly to Asturias in Spain to visit friends from when we lived down there. After two weeks there we will then continue down to Gran Canaria where we will stay in an apartment for three weeks. We will try to retroactively post photos and stories from the Cuba trip on this blog together with posts of the continued trip to Spain and Las Islas Canarias.