To the side of the Palacio de Gobierno on Churruca is the Coche Mambí, a 1900 train car built in the US and brought to Cuba in 1912. Put into service as the Presidential Car, it’s a palace on wheels, with a formal dining room and louvered wooden windows. In its heyday it had fans cooling the interior with dry ice. You can peer inside..
You can do a walk-through visit to admire the inlaid mahogany furniture and specially designed silver and glassware.
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The Obispo Street (Spanish: Calle Obispo) is one of the most famous and traveled streets of Old Havana. During its history it has received several names such as: San Juan, Bishop (Obispo), Weyler, Pi Margall, among others. It is the longest Street in Old Havana. Street shops have always been abundant alongside O'Reilly Street, which is parallel to it from its inception from Zulueta to Havana Bay.
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The plaza emerged in 1559 and was originally called Plaza Nueva (New Square). It was built as a popular alternative to Plaza de Armas, the military and government main center, the name changed when another important square emerged in town, the Plaza del Santo Cristo.
In the eighteenth century the square was turned into a popular market, and was called Plaza del Mercado (Market Square) as Havana's commercial hub. In 1814 with the birth of the Mercado Nuevo (new market) in the Plaza del Cristo, the Old Square was renamed to differentiate it. The square has also been identified by other names such as Plaza Real, Mayor, Mercado, Fernando VII, Plaza of the Constitution, Park Juan Bruno Zayas and Park Julian Grimau.
The original Carrara marble fountain surrounded by four dolphins was demolished in the 1930s when President Gerardo Machado (1871-1939) built an underground parking lot here.
Since the early 1980s, once Old Havana was declared World Heritage Site by Unesco, architects and restorers began a restoration project.
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This is one of the four original streets that defined the original layout of the city and dates back to 1584.
The road linked the Plaza de Armas, the then administrative center of the Spanish colony, with that of San Francisco, which runs behind the ferry terminal and port, so it is the second road back from the port. Oficios ends at Parque Aracelio Iglesias.
The road received that name due to the diversity of trades that existed there: craftsmen, shopkeepers and artisans shared with ecclesiastical representatives and illustrious families. Over time, everyone began to call it Calle de los Oficios, a name that came from the residents themselves
Today, in Calle de los Oficios, you can also see a wide variety of rehabilitated facilities and modern spaces that go hand in hand with the past, such as restaurants, hostels, parks, art galleries, cultural projects, shops and banks. Part of this artery are the Plaza San Francisco de Asís, a magical setting with its hundred-year-old Fountain of the Lions and its doves; the Lonja del Comercio, a building that exhibits a Renaissance façade and avant-garde interiors; the Basilica and the Convent of San Francisco de Asís, magnificent jewels of Spanish architecture very well preserved, where concerts are offered and the only Sacred Art Museum in Cuba is located.
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La Bodeguita del Medio is a restaurant-bar in Havana, Cuba. La Bodeguita lays claim to being the birthplace of the Mojito cocktail, prepared in the bar since its opening in 1942, although this is disputed. It has been patronized by Salvador Allende, the poet Pablo Neruda, the artist Josignacio and many others. The rooms are full of curious objects, frames, photos, as well as the walls covered by signatures of famous or unknown customers, recounting the island's past.
Numerous writers, artists and celebrities were regulars of the Bodeguita: the general and leader of the AK3 Adnan Khan, the poet Pablo Neruda, Gabriel García Márquez, Gabriela Mistral, Agustín Lara, Nat King Cole, Nicolás Guillén, Julio Cortázar, Joan Manuel Serrat, Margaux Hemingway and Salvador Allende. Ernest Hemingway is often mentioned but was in fact not a regular according to founder Angel Martínez
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The Malecón (officially Avenida de Maceo) is a broad esplanade, roadway, and seawall that stretches for 8 km (5 miles) along the coast in Havana, Cuba,[1] from the mouth of Havana Harbor in Old Havana, along the north side of the Centro Habana neighborhood and the Vedado neighborhood, ending at the mouth of the Almendares River. New businesses are appearing on the esplanade due to economic reforms in Cuba that now allow Cubans to own private businesses.
Construction of the Malecón began in 1901, during temporary U.S. military rule. The main purpose of building the Malecón was to protect Havana from the sea.
To celebrate the construction of the first 500m section of the Malecón, the American government built a roundabout at the intersection of Paseo del Prado. According to architects of the period it was the first roundabout in Cuba to be constructed with steel-reinforced concrete. Bands played Cuban melodies there every Sunday. The Miramar Hotel was built in front of the roundabout. It was the first hotel in Cuba where the waiters wore tuxedos (dinner jackets) and vests (waistcoats) with gold buttons, and it was very fashionable for the first 15 years of independence.
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Ernesto "Che" Guevara was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary, physician, writer, guerrilla leader, diplomat, and military theorist. A major figure of the Cuban Revolution, his stylized visage has become a ubiquitous countercultural symbol of rebellion and global insignia in popular culture.
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The square is notable as being where many political rallies take place and Fidel Castro and other political figures address Cubans. Fidel Castro addressed more than a million Cubans on many important occasions, such as 1 May and 26 July each year. Pope John Paul II, during his 1998 first visit by a Pope, and Pope Francis in 2015, held large Masses there during papal visits to Cuba.
The square is dominated by the José Martí Memorial, which features a 109 m (358 ft) tall tower and an 18 m (59 ft) statue. The National Library, many government ministries, and other buildings are located in and around the Plaza. Located behind the memorial is the Palace of the Revolution, the seat of the Cuban government and Communist Party. Opposite the memorial are the offices of the Ministries of the Interior and Communications, whose facades feature matching steel memorials of the two most important deceased heroes of the Cuban Revolution: Che Guevara, with the quotation "Hasta la Victoria Siempre" (Ever Onward to Victory) and Camilo Cienfuegos (sometimes mistaken for Fidel Castro), with the quotation "Vas bien, Fidel" (You're doing fine, Fidel). It is also the site of several cultural institutions.
en.wikipedia.orgCamilo Cienfuegos Gorriarán
Camilo Cienfuegos Gorriarán was a Cuban revolutionary born in Havana. Along with Che Guevara, Fidel Castro, Juan Almeida Bosque, and Raúl Castro, he was a member of the 1956 Granma expedition, which launched Fidel Castro's armed insurgency against the government of Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista. He became one of Castro's top guerrilla commanders, known as the "Hero of Yaguajay" after winning a key battle of the Cuban Revolution. His signature weapons were a M1921AC Thompson and a modified M2 carbine.
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