Cuba - Lonely Planet [75]
Constructed with white Capellanía limestone and block granite, the entrance is guarded by six rounded Doric columns atop a staircase that leads up from the Prado. A stone cupola rising 62m and topped with a replica of 16th-century Florentine sculptor Giambologna’s bronze statue of Mercury in the Palazzo de Bargello looks out over the Havana skyline. Directly below the dome is a copy of a 24-carat diamond set in the floor. Highway distances between Havana and all sites in Cuba are calculated from this point.
The entryway opens up into the Salón de los Pasos Perdidos (Room of the Lost Steps, so named because of its unusual acoustics), at the center of which is the statue of the republic, an enormous bronze woman standing 11m tall and symbolizing the mythic Guardian of Virtue and Work. In size, it’s smaller only than the gold Buddha in Nava, Japan, and the Lincoln Monument in Washington, DC.
REAL FáBRICA DE TABACOS PARTAGáS
One of Havana’s oldest and most famous cigar factories, the landmark neoclassical Real Fábrica de Tabacos Partagás ( 862-0086; Industria No 520 btwn Barcelona & Dragones; tours CUC$10; every 15 min 9:30-11am & 12:30-3pm) was founded in 1845 by a Spaniard named Jaime Partagás. Today some 400 workers toil for up to 12 hours a day in here rolling such famous cigars as Montecristos and Cohibas. As far as tours go, Partagás is the most popular and reliable factory to visit. Tour groups check out the ground floor first, where the leaves are unbundled and sorted, before proceeding to the upper floors to watch the tobacco get rolled, pressed, adorned with a band and boxed. Though interesting in an educational sense, the tours here are often rushed and a little robotic and some visitors find they smack of a human zoo. Still, if you have even a passing interest in tobacco and/or Cuban work environments, it’s probably worth a peep.
PARQUE DE LA FRATERNIDAD
Leafy Parque de la Fraternidad was established in 1892 to commemorate the fourth centenary of the Spanish landing in the Americas. A few decades later it was remodeled and renamed to mark the 1927 Pan-American Conference. The name is meant to signify American brotherhood, hence the many busts of Latin and North American leaders that embellish the green areas – including one of US president, Abraham Lincoln. Today the park is the terminus of numerous metro bus routes, and is sometimes referred to as ‘Jurassic Park’ for the plethora of photogenic old American cars now used as colectivos (collective taxis) that congregate here.
The Fuente de la India (on a traffic island opposite the Hotel Saratoga) is a white Carrara marble fountain, carved by Giuseppe Gaginni in 1837 for the Count of Villanueva. It portrays a regal Indian woman adorned with a crown of eagle’s feathers and seated on a throne surrounded by four gargoylesque dolphins. In one hand she holds a horn-shaped basket filled with fruit, in the other a shield bearing the city’s coat of arms.
Just east of the sculpture, across Paseo de Martí is the Asociación Cultural Yoruba de Cuba ( 863-5953; Paseo de Martí No 615; admission CUC$10; 9am-4pm Mon-Sat). A museum here provides a worthwhile overview of the Santería religion, the saints and their powers, although some travelers have complained that the exhibits don’t justify the price. There are tambores (Santería drum ceremonies) here on alternate Fridays at 4:30pm. Note that there’s a church dress code for the tambores (no shorts or tank tops).
A little out on a limb but well worth the walk is the Iglesia del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús (Av Simon Bolivar btwn Gervasio & Padre Varela), an inspiring marble creation with a distinctive white steeple, where you can enjoy a few precious minutes of quiet and cool contemplation away from the craziness of the street. This church is rightly famous for its magnificent stained-glass windows, and the light that penetrates