Cuba - Lonely Planet [85]
Turn right on Agramonte and detour down Ánimas for Havana’s – and perhaps Latin America’s – most emblematic art-deco building, the kitschy Edificio Bacardí (5; Click here), a vivid and highly decorative incarnation of this popular interwar architectural genre garnished with granite, Capellanía limestone and multicolored bricks.
On the northwest corner of Parque Central, the royal blue Hotel Telégrafo (6; Click here), renovated in 2002 by the City Historian’s office, retains many features of an earlier hotel constructed on this site in 1886. Take a peep inside its airy lobby to admire the funky furnishings and intricate bar mosaic.
Eclecticism meets neobaroque at the flamboyant Centro Gallego (7; Click here), erected as a Galician social club in 1915 around the existing Teatro Tacón. Facing it across leafy Parque Central is the equally eclectic Centro Asturianas (8; Click here), now part of the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, with four separate rooftop lookouts and a richly gilded interior. According to in-the-know locals, these two Spanish social clubs entered into silent competition during the 1910s and ’20s to see who could come up with the most grandiose building. And the winner? You decide.
Centro Havana’s Capitolio Nacional (9; Click here), built between 1926 and 1929, captures Latin America’s neoclassical revival in full swing with sweeping stairways and Doric columns harking back to a purer and more strident Grecian ideal.
Few travelers venture down Calle Cárdenas behind the Fuente de los Indios, but those who do quickly fall upon some of Havana’s most engaging art-nouveau and art-deco townhouses. For pure artistic cheek, check out the pink-and-white wedding cake structure on the southeast corner of Calles Cárdenas & Apodaca (10) before doubling back along Calle Cienfuegos to the Parque de la Fraternidad.
Avenida Simón Bolívar, better known to locals as Calle Reina, is another architectural mish-mash that will leave modern-day urban designers blinking in bewilderment. It also contains one of Havana’s finest Gaudí-esque buildings, an outrageously ornate apartment dwelling on the southwest corner of Av Simón Bolívar & Calle Campanario (11).
Go north on Campanario, right on Salud and left on San Nicolás, and you’re in the Barrio Chino, Havana’s bustling Chinatown. Calle Cuchillo (12) is the main drag here, a short, narrow pedestrian street with plenty of color, but few buildings of architectural note. Merge into Zanja and proceed one block southeast to the next junction. Here on the corner of Calle Zanja & Av de Italia (13) is one of Havana’s zaniest art-deco creations, a narrow turreted townhouse with cubelike balconies and sharply defined vertical and horizontal lines.
Turn left on Av de Italia (Galiano to locals) and stroll three blocks north to the Teatro América (14; Click here), one of a trio of classic art-deco rascacielos (skyscrapers) put up in the 1920s and ’30s to house new shops and apartments. Continue north on Av de Italia for six more blocks and turn right at the Hotel Deauville into the Malecón (15; Click here). Havana’s storm-lashed sea drive is a museum of brilliant eclecticism, with each building differing defiantly from the next. The style reaches its apex two buildings from the junction with Prado (and your starting point) in the faux Egyptian Centro Hispano Americano de Cultura (16; right). Admire the gaudy granite gargoyles before heading off for a well-earned drink.
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COURSES
Aside from Spanish-language courses, Havana offers a large number of learning activities for aspiring students.
Language
Universidad de La Habana (Map; 832-4245, 831-3751; dpg@uh.cu; www.uh.cu; Edificio Varona, 2nd fl, Calle J No 556, Vedado) offers Spanish courses 12 months a year, beginning on the first Monday of each month. Costs start at CUC$100 for 20 hours (one week), including textbooks, and cover all levels from beginners to advanced. You must first sit a placement test to determine your level. Aspiring candidates can sign up in person at the university or reserve beforehand