Day 5 -- Havana

After breakfast we set out to walk to the Museo de Revolucion. On the way we passed a beautiful art deco building “Bacardi Building”. It was built in the 30s and was the headquarters of the rum company until they moved to Puerto Rico in 1959. We went in and admired the decaying splendor. We spent 2 hours in the museum going through the minute details of the Cuban revolution. The museum is housed in the imposing building of the former presidential palace. Unfortunately, like most fabulously beautiful buildings in Havana, it’s in a state of decay. Some of the facades are renovated, some are being restored, but the interior is very sad with crumbling walls, boarded windows, and fading exhibits in glass cases with explanations typed on a typewriter. All the historical charts and information only goes to 1990. After the museum, we walked to the lively Plaza de Armas and then to lunch in our favorite sandwich place, O’Reilly Café. We took a cab to the Morro-Cabana fortress across the bay where there is an art exhibition called Zona Franca, part of the Havana Bienal. It was immense – 190 contemporary Cuban artists in this huge outdoor/indoor space. It was very well organized and there were many interesting, young artists exhibiting. It was also pretty well attended even though they required to buy a ticket to the fortress to see the exhibits. We spent a lot of time looking at all the exhibitions. For dinner we went to the recommended best restaurant in old Havana – Café Oriente --a very fancy French style place with exquisite table settings, good service and wine but mediocre food.