Page 82 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Cuba

80  HA V ANA AREA B Y AREA

has now been restored to its
original appearance.
The plaza is surrounded by
arcades and a number of historic
buildings from four different
centuries. The most important
of these is the Casa del Conde
Jaruco. This was the home of
|the Countess de Merlin, a Cuban
romantic novelist who became
a French citizen and also wrote
a travel book about Cuba. The
edifice of the building is a fusion
of Baroque and Spanish Moorish
styles. While parts of the house
The cloister of the convent of Santa Clara, filled with tropical plants are inaccessible due to structural
r Alameda 1924 Dodge, and four Harley issues, the Galeria Diago on the
ground floor has a small art and
de Paula Davidson motorbikes. There poster shop.
is also a Bel-Air Chevrolet that Next door are two 17th-
This short waterfront promenade, once belonged to Che Guevara. century buildings, and at the
built in the 18th century and corner of Calle Muralla and Calle
later restored, forms part of E Museo Automóvil Inquisidor is the eye-catching Art
the rebirth of the Havana Avenida del Puerto. Tel 7863 9942. Nouveau Hotel-Palacio Cueto. It
bayside area. Lined with trees, Open 9:30am–5pm Tue–Sat, was first built as a hotel in 1908,
benches and balustrades, the 9am-1pm Sun. Closed 1 Jan. & 8 then later turned into apartments
promenade is marked at its and is now being restored as a
southern end by the Iglesia five-star hotel. Diagonally oppo-
de Paula. This small church t Plaza Vieja site is the Centro de Desarollo de
once served as the chapel of Map 4 E3. las Artes Visuales (Center for the
a 17th-century hospital. Today, Development of Visual Arts), one
it functions as a classical music This square was laid out in 1559 of the main venues of the Bienal
concert venue. Across the road and was originally called Plaza de La Habana (see p38).
is Havana’s largest craft market, Nueva (New Square). In the 19th A fountain designed in 1796
the Antiguo Almacenes San José. century, after the widening of stands in the middle of the
Near the market is the Museo Plaza de Armas and the creation square. It bears the crest of the
Automóvil (Automobile of other urban areas, it lost its city and of the Count of Santa
Museum), located in a water- role as the city’s main public Clara, then the city’s governor.
front warehouse. It boasts an square and was renamed Plaza Nearby are a camera obscura,
eclectic selection of cars, such Vieja. From the 1950s to the an important photo gallery and
as a 1927 Chevrolet Capitol, a 1990s it was a car park, but it a high-tech planetarium.

Façade of Casa del Conde Jaruco, with typical mediopunto stained-glass windows on the first floor
For hotels and restaurants in this area see p256 and p270

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