The Necropolic Cristobal Colon (Columbus Cemetery) covers 56 hectares and contains more than 500 major mausoleums, chapels, vaults, tombs, and galleries, in addition to countless gravestones embellished with all assortment of angels, griffins, cherubs, and other flamboyant ornamentation.
Today a national monument, the cemetery was laid out in 1871 in 16 rectangular blocks, divided by social status. Nobles competed to build the most elaborate tombs, with social standing dictating the size and location of plots.
Havana's largest plaza, Plaza de la Revolucion (Revolution Plaza), spans 11 acres and was laid out during the Batista era. It forms the administrative centre for Cuba with all the major buildings dating back to the 1950s. Huge rallies are held here on May 1st (International Workers Day) as well as at other times. The area is under close surveillance and loitering is discouraged.
The massive Memorial Jose Marti is on the south side of the square and sits atop a 30-metre tall base that is shaped as a five-pointed star. It is made entirely of grey granite and marble and was completed in 1958. To each side, stairways lead to a grey-white marble statue of national hero Jose Marti sitting in a contemplative pose, like Rodin's The Thinker.
This is the Ministerio del Interior (Ministry of the Interior, MININT, in charge of national security), built in 1953. On one side, which is a windowless, horizontal block, there is a soaring "image" of Che Guevara and the words Hasta la victoria siempre ("Always towards victory").
A visage of Comandante Camilo Cienguegos is on the facade of the Ministry of Communications building. It's accompanied by the words Vas bien, Fidel ("You're doing fine, Fidel"). Cienguegos's famous response was in reply to Fidel's question "Am I doing all right, Camilo?" at a rally in 1959.
The landmark Hotel Nacional is perched atop a cliff overlooking the Straits of Florida. Now a national monument, this grande dame hotel was opened in 1930 in the midst of the Great Depression.
Officially known as Avenida Antonio Maceo, or more properly the Muro de Malecon ("embankment" or "seawall"), Havana's seafront boulevard "The Malecon" winds along the Atlantic shoreline. What is now a six-lane road was originally designed as a jetty wall in 1857. The Malecon is lined with once glorious houses, each very distinct from the next. Unprotected by seaworthy paint since the Revolution, they have proven incapable of withstanding the salt spray that crashes over the seawall. Most buildings are quite derelict and many have collapsed.
Along the shore are the worn remains of square baths hewn from the rocks below the seawall. These Banos del Mar preceded construction of the Malecon. Each is about four metres square and two metres deep, with rock steps for access and a couple of portholes through which the waves wash in and out.
The Malecon offers a microcosm of Havana life: the elderly walking their dogs; the shiftless selling cigars and cheap sex to tourists; the young passing beer and rum among friends; fishers tending their lines; and always, scores of people out walking. The Malecon is known as "Havana's sofa" and acts, wrote Claudia Lightfoot, as "the city's drawing room, office, study, and often bedroom." It is also a barometer\ of the political state of Havana. During times of tension, the police presence is abnormally strong and the Malecon becomes eerily empty.
Walking along The Malecon, looking west across Bahia de la Habana (Havana Bay)
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