Visitors to Havana can find US-Cuban connections everywhere

[Judi Lynn]

Visitors to Havana can find US-Cuban connections everywhere

Beth J. Harpaz, Ap Travel Editor

Updated 11:09 pm, Monday, July 20, 2015

HAVANA (AP) — This week's reopening of embassies and resumption of diplomatic relations between the United States and Cuba opens a new chapter in the countries' complicated relationship.

But any visitor to the Cuban capital can see that connections between the two nations run long and deep just by taking stock of all the attractions showcasing American culture and history. Despite decades of hostility, some of these sites even seem to celebrate Americans, while others reflect an anti-U.S. point of view.

Here's a look:

HEMINGWAY

American writer Ernest Hemingway lived in Cuba on and off for years and worked on some of his most famous books here, including "For Whom the Bell Tolls" and "The Old Man and the Sea." One of Havana's biggest tourist attractions is his estate at Finca Vigia, visited by literary pilgrims from around the world and Cubans alike. You can't enter the home, but large open windows provide a good look inside. Liquor bottles and magazines artfully placed amid sofas and tables suggest Hemingway will be back at any moment. Also onsite is Hemingway's boat, the Pilar.

Photos of Hemingway posing with trophy fish and with revolutionary leader Fidel Castro decorate many bars and hotels, including the Ambos Mundos hotel in Old Havana, where you can tour a room Hemingway lived in. And two Havana bars attract a steady stream of tourists in part thanks to Hemingway's famed drinking declaration: "My mojito in La Bodeguita, my daiquiri in El Floridita." The handwritten quote, allegedly scribbled by Hemingway himself, is framed over the bar at La Bodeguita del Medio. The Floridita features a Hemingway statue.

More:
http://www.chron.com/news/world/article/Visitors-to-Havana-can-find-US-Cuban-connections-6396167.php