Havana - the capital of Cuba and the zeitgeist of any trip here. The city is wonderful, with lots of beautiful old buildings of various heritage, plenty of parks and plazas in which to do plenty of sitting and restaurants serving good food. We arrived on Thursday evening and went straight to a Casa that had been recommended to us. It's right on the Malecon (the road running along the seafront) and looks very much like a derelict building. Inside, however, it'...

So, into Santa Clara we go. First impressions were that this is an actual town, as we understand the concept - with shops and restaurants and everything. Venturing out the next day we saw that it was indeed more of a town than previous places we had been - but also ridiculously busy. There are people absolutely everywhere, looking like they have somewhere to be - a rarity thus far in Cuba. And queues absolutely everywhere - a queue to get into the bank, then o...

Greetings from Trinidad! This place is so utterly different to Mantanzas that we could be in another country altogether. Named as a UNESCO world heritage site in 1988 the town is full of cobbled streets, beautiful Spanish colonial buildings, horses and music. The main activity to take place here appears to be sitting and watching the world go by. We spent one night at a beautiful Casa Particular (a private house that is licensed to rent rooms) in a colonial bu...

We spent 3 days in Matanzas and are quite glad to have escaped the mayhem! It was a lot more lively than Guanabo, with lots of hustle and bustle on the streets, people everywhere and constant noise. We spent a couple of days exploring the town, taking in the atmosphere, drinking a few beers and eating some of the worst food we have ever encountered. Trying to eat here is like entering a victoria wood sketch. One evening we were taken to a restaurant by a local...

Well we have made it to Cuba safe and sound! First stop was Guanabo - a tiny town just East of Havana where there was nothing much to do but lie on the beach - Joe coped ok with that. It was a bit of a culture shock for us - the whole 'dual economy' thing is unfathomable, nothing has a sign on it to tell you what it is or what it sells, Madeleine's Spanish is being tested to it's limit (which, let's face it, was never much) and it's about a million degrees from ...