I´m used to write a
few words about each tour. I love keeping those moments, a phrase, a question,
a discovery. But this time I better share the words of someone else. Her name
is Nora and she came to Cuba with
her husband and her daughter.
We had never been to Cuba, and in 2012 decided
to visit around Christmas because the temperature should be the least hot, and
therefore the best, around that time. We did not know a lot about Havana and
thought that taking a tour with a guide would be a great way to get to know
something about the city and about Cuba in general. John had been trying to
book one or two nights in a “casa particular” for the first nights in Havana
and had found a highly rated B&B which unfortunately was already booked.
However, the owner of Casa Maura managed to
arrange other lodgings for us, and she brought us in contact with a guide,
Madelein. We did a tour that was customized to our interests starting at 2 pm.
She knows a great deal about the city, and anything else you might be
interested in. We are originally from Holland, and for us Havana and Cuba were
“something else”. So we had lots of questions ranging from the naïve “why is
there a line of people there?” to the practical “how do you negotiate with a
street artist on the price of a piece of art?” and Madelein answered them all.
We toured the old city and admired the
different styles of buildings and visited, among others, a famous pub where
everyone leaves their autograph “la Bodeguita del Medio” and a Greek orthodox
church. I really admired the sculpture of a family in which each member was
“doing their own things”, but in the spirit of being together. It would seem
that families in Cuba are very much like families everywhere…
The entire day was one of the highlights of our
trip and we never ran out of interesting topics of conversation. At the end of
the day, we invited her to dinner, and she suggested a place that is very
popular and gives value for your money. When we parted company in the evening
we wished we could have had more time.
We can highly recommend this tour.
