24 Hours in Havana!

The fiance and I decided to take a Norwegian cruise (more on that in another post) to Havana, Cuba. We were lucky we traveled when we did because less than a week after our return, the government shut down travel to Cuba via cruise line.

The experience was wonderful. While I would have liked more time in Cuba to visit different areas, I am thankful we had this experience.

Our ship arrived early on a Tuesday morning. We had a 3.5 hour excursion booked for 12:30p so we decided to get dressed and have breakfast on the ship before deboarding. This worked in our favor as we quickly got off the ship and exchanged money before meeting our tour guide across the street. I'm compelled to caution you in regards to exchanging money during a 24 hour trip to Cuba. Be very strategic about what you exchange and ensure that you spend most to all of it. We exchanged too much money and were not able to change it back to dollars because all the exchange places had closed. We brought it back to the States and have been unable to exchange it back for dollars.

We booked our excursion through AirBNB Experiences and I would highly recommend them. We booked a 3 hour car ride in an old school car with a photoshoot. Our photographer/tour guide was Dayan and he was great. He was a wealth of knowledge in regards to each place we visited. In addition to this, he was able to speak to the history of certain landmarks we passed in route to our destinations. It was very evident that he had a strong passion for his country, which translated into the informative manner in which he dispensed information to us. He was also a great photographer. He had a wonderful eye and we were all pleased with our photos. We were a group of four (two couples).

We met Dayan at the San Francisco de Asis Square, right across from the cruise port terminal.

Dayan took us on a great tour of the city pointing out government buildings such as the Capitol and landmarks, like the hotel Beyonce stayed at during her visit. We visited the Christ of Havana, the Havana forest, the Perdado area, passed by a military base and stopped for great pina coladas while en route! Dayan was full of information for each place we visited as well as while we were driving. We of course saw some cool cars while on the way. Enjoy the pics!

After a long day in the sun Dayan dropped us back to the square where we walked a little and did a little bit of shopping. Stopping to get a few pics of our ship and a lady selling beautiful headbands.

Later that evening after showering and eating on the ship we ventured back out to check out the nightlife of Havana. After a long day in the sun we did not make it back outside until about 10pm. We found a cool bar near the plaza where we listened to live music and drank mojitos. The fiance had a Cuban sandwich but said it was just okay. We walked around a bit more in the area and headed back on the ship around 1am. All in all a fun filled day, thank you Havana!