Galloping across Cuba :)
Having visited the Dominican Republic in 2010, this time I again wanted to go to the Caribbean. We leave the children to the grandmother, we go together with my wife. Options Mexico and Cuba. As a person born in the USSR, brought up in the spirit: Glory to labor! Viva Free Cuba! Fidel and Che, the heroes of the Cuban revolution, decided to plunge a little into this entourage. I read reviews about the country, looked at photos of tourists. Decided - Cuba! In addition, I came across an interesting review on the net (forgive its author for not indicating the link - I didn’t save it), which describes my stay in three different places in Cuba. Without reinventing the wheel, I followed the same path: through ICS I ordered an Aeroflot tour Havana (2 nights) - Cayo Largo Island (5 nights) - Varadero (5 nights). I’m not going to the beach! ) to the National Museum Hotel
Havana met with a very long passport control procedure and rain. In the Dominican Republic, it seemed to me that the locals were very leisurely. So, compared to the Cubans, they are sprinters : ) Thus, having landed at 18.00, they boarded the bus after 2 hours. We were at the hotel around 21:00. There was a small queue at check-in and finally we were handed the keys. We go up the elevator, open the room and... lo and behold, thanks to the senorita from the reception, who gave us a two-room suite with a view of the Malecon instead of a standard room.
We throw things in the room and go outside, to the Malecon. A crowd of locals, among which pale-faced tourists are rarely found. We walked a little, even though the bioclock let me know that I want to sleep.
In the morning for breakfast, a short meeting with the Cuban guide (Ivan introduced himself), a friendly, unobtrusive fellow, did not tell us anything new. Therefore, armed with maps printed out at home, we set off on an independent trip around the city to the Havana Vieja area. On the shoulder is a backpack with a couple of oranges, a bottle of water, a camera. Morning, but already hot. Construction here and there. But where are they not building now? Dust! After half an hour, we are looking for a shadow to rest. I photograph every corner. Old Havana is the right place for beautiful plans. I need better optics than mine. We went to Floridita for lunch, fresh, beautiful, spent about two hours there. We swung and got drunk : ) We listened to live music. While we were sitting, buses with tourists drove up every 10-15 minutes, quickly drank prepared cocktails, an on-duty photo with Hemingway, and tsygel-tsygel... on the bus.
After Florida, we continued our trip to the sights of the city. Small soft toys were seized from Russia, and they were handed out to local babies and mothers with children. To be honest, I was afraid that this might offend the locals. But no, smile, thank you!
Having trampled on the streets, tired, we boarded the TurBus and made an evening promenade through modern Havana, which was not particularly remembered for anything. In the evening, tired returned to the hotel. It was already too lazy to go somewhere, so we had dinner at the hotel restaurant.
Heavy rain in the morning, with short breaks. We went to the nearest neighborhood, bought a couple of bottles of rum and coffee. Although we were warned that prices in Havana were lower than those for Varadero and Cayo Largo, we didn’t load up, because we had a flight on domestic airlines (weight control - 20 kg / person). I’ll run in advance, the prices for Varadero were exactly the same, but for the island is only 10-20 centavos higher.
We were picked up from the hotel only at lunchtime (which, of course, spoiled the mood). For more than an hour we rode around the hotels collecting tourists. Out of a group of 40, we were the only ones with pale faces.
To summarize: of course, Havana is dirty, the air is heavy from the smell of salar and heat, beggars who now and then offer cigars, rum, weed. I knew this before the trip, so I was ready for this and it did not affect the general mood. Indeed, on the other hand: beautiful architecture, vintage cars, Cubans smiling at you (despite the fact that they live in poverty, in a country of continuous shortage).
Arrived at the island of Cayo Largo around 18.00. From the plane they did not go through the airport building, but through the side gates. Then a tractor came and brought the suitcases. A strict Cuban customs officer checked our boarding passes and only after that began to hand over our suitcases. There is no representative (as well as representative office) of ICS on the island. A representative of Kubatur rushed in a small car, in Russian it’s not boom-boom, in broken English he said that we need to go to the parking lot in front of the airport, now a bus will arrive and take us to the hotel. It looked something like this: there was a crowd of 200-300 people on the square in front of the airport (four more planes had landed before us). The bus is coming. The driver shouts Sol Cayo Largo from the bus, part of it separates from the crowd and, accordingly, we go to the bus. The initial impression is that you will have to ride standing up. Therefore, he sent his wife to the bus to take seats, and he took up loading the luggage.
At the hotel, having stood in another queue (the wife began to really heat up, he himself continued to restrain himself, reminding himself that he himself wanted such a trip), they received the keys and set off with the handed hotel card to look for their house.
The territory of the hotel is large, it may seem to someone not very green, but the hotel is located on the dunes. Go to the sea along wooden paths (3 pcs). The beach line is not very wide. On the first day, there was a strong wind from the sea, so the water reached the sunbeds. We didn’t go to borrow sunbeds in advance, despite the fact that there were many tourists in the hotel, they were dispersed throughout the island. During the day they walked along the coast, went far away, where they were completely alone. We rented a scooter for a day, swept to the parking of yachts and catamarans. There would be a fishing rod, there such specimens swam in the shade of the piers. One day spent on the beaches of Paraiso and Siren - beautiful places.
Meals at the hotel: breakfast and dinner were good. Especially for dinner. Lunch is weak, maybe we ate too much?!
Bottom line: on the island - relaxation. You see people only during breakfast and dinner. White sand, beautiful picture of the sea. Pleasant live music performed by local VIA. Knowledge of English is mandatory on the island, the only person who spoke broken Russian was the porter.
I didn't want to leave the island. Apparently that's why we were forgotten in the morning at the hotel. While we were having breakfast, a bus arrived, loaded the tourists to the airport. Our delay of 2 minutes had to be decided by ourselves - a taxi for 5 Cook. Varadero was waiting for us.
Upon arrival at Varadero airport, the representative of Kubatour (again, not ICS, and not a firstein in Russian) I call the hotel - Occidental. She goggled her eyes (like I either made a mistake with the country or the hotel), spreads her hands - No! I say - Allegro! A smile appears: Alegro! OK!
The hotel is a modest four, in my opinion. The rooms are clean and refurbished, but with various bugs. The food is normal (as many say - you won't stay hungry), I didn't like dinner. We went to an Italian restaurant. The menu is the same as in the main restaurant, only laid out differently. Served tiramisu - a banal cupcake. If you want delicious cocktails at the hotel, remind yourself with a tip. The territory is big, even too much. If you settle not in the main building or in the Cayo Largo bungalow, but in Cayo Coco, you will be like out of the way! Tourists: forty percent are Russian-speaking and Canadians (mostly students). I didn’t like the beach at all - gray sand, garbage, people like in the hot season in Anapa. We went to Varadero a couple of times, mostly for souvenirs and at the same time for a walk. Personally, Varadero seemed to me an undeservedly promoted resort. By the way, if we lived in Varadero for seven days, then we would probably rent a car and go for a couple of days to the south of Cuba in the Trinidad region (which many did, I personally witnessed)
General impressions: I would go to Cuba again, but only without Varadero.
Havana - National Habana 5*
o. Cayo Largo - Sol Cayo Largo 4*
Varadero - Occidental Allegro varadero 4*
