Cuba - Lonely Planet [76]
PARQUE CENTRAL & AROUND
Diminutive Parque Central is a scenic haven from the belching buses and roaring taxis that ply their way along the Prado. The park, long a microcosm of daily Havana life, was expanded to its present size in the late 19th century after the city walls were knocked down, and the marble statue of José Martí (1905) at its center was the first of thousands to be erected in Cuba. Raised on the 10th anniversary of the poet’s death, the monument is ringed by 28 palm trees planted to signify Martí’s birth date: January 28. Hard to miss over to one side is the group of baseball fans who linger 24/7 at the famous Esquina Caliente (see boxed text,).
On the park’s southwest corner is the ornate neobaroque Centro Gallego (Paseo de Martí No 458), erected as a Galician social club between 1907 and 1914. The Centro was built around the existing Teatro Tacón, which opened in 1838 with five masked Carnaval dances. This connection is the basis of claims by the present 2000-seat Gran Teatro de La Habana ( 861-3077; guided tours CUC$2; 9am-6pm) that it’s the oldest operating theater in the Western hemisphere. History notwithstanding, the architecture is brilliant, as are many of the weekend performances (Click here).
Just across the San Rafael pedestrian mall is the Hotel Inglaterra, Havana’s oldest hotel, which first opened its doors in 1856 on the site of a popular bar called El Louvre (the hotel’s alfresco bar still bears the name). Facing leafy Parque Central, the building exhibits neoclassical design features in vogue at the time, although the interior decor is distinctly Moorish. At a banquet here in 1879, José Martí made a speech advocating Cuban independence, and much later US journalists covering the Spanish-Cuban-American War stayed at the hotel.
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LA ESQUINA CALIENTE
To the uninitiated, the sight of 30 or more Cuban men remonstrating loudly in a Havana park probably appears more like a malevolent mob than a spontaneous gathering of sports enthusiasts. But ask any of the aggrieved fist-shakers who frequent the boisterous Esquina Caliente (literally ‘hot corner’) in Parque Central what they’re arguing about and you’ll get back a rather innocuous reply: baseball.
While the Canadians debate hockey and the Brits bore each other with cricket statistics, the Cubans seek solace in baseball, a sport that inspires more saber-rattling than a May Day rally.
Havana’s key baseball rivalry revolves around Los Industriales (the silverware-hogging Manchester United) and Los Metropolitanos (the less successful Manchester City), though the biggest debates are reserved for when the boys from Santiago roll into town and Havana’s two sets of opposing supporters form a formidable – if temporary – alliance.
The ‘hot corner’ is the place to go if you want to discuss form, home runs or the chances of Liván Hernández making a Cuban comeback. It runs from dawn till dusk 365 days a year and, in contrast to cricket, rain never stops play (instead the group reconvenes under the porch of the adjacent Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes).
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A detour along Calle San Rafael, a riot of peso stalls, 1950s department store and local cinemas, gives an immediate insight into everyday life in economically challenged Cuba.
MUSEO NACIONAL DE BELLAS ARTES
Cuba has a huge art culture and its dual-site art museum rivals its counterpart in San Juan, Puerto Rico, for the title of ‘best art museum in the Caribbean.’ You can spend a whole day here viewing everything from Greek ceramics to Cuban pop art.
Arranged inside the fabulously eclectic Centro Asturianas (a work of art in its own right), the Colección de Arte Universal ( 863-9484; cnr Agramonte & San Rafael; admission CUC$5, children under 14 free; 10am-6pm Tue-Sat, 10am-2pm Sun) exhibits international art from 500 BC to the present day on three separate floors. Highlights include an extensive Spanish collection (with a canvas by El Greco), some 2000-year-old