Travel Tuesday: Cementerio Cristóbal Colón, La Habana, Cuba

 

For today’s holiday: All Saints’ Day!

Take care!

 

My Cuba calendars are available at the stores

Do you remember the Cuba calendars with photos of mine? They are back for 2015 – yeah!

Here are the ISBN numbers for ordering the 2015 calendar showing some of the fantastic vintage cars from Cuba as well as some insights into the old town of Havana. They are available in 5 country editions: Germany, Austria, Switzerland, United Kingdom and USA.

According to the publishing house, the ISBN numbers are internationally valid, and you should be able to get your copy by ordering it at a bookstore where you’re living. At least you can order them via amazon.de (*), amazon.at, amazon.ch and amazon.co.uk. At amazon.de you can also find an option for global delivery. So, take you chance!

German Edition:

2015	La Habana / Havana	Havana Portrait	Cuba Cars
Wandkalender DIN A4	978-3-660-71359-6	978-3-660-71493-7	978-3-660-69920-3
Wandkalender DIN A3	978-3-660-71357-2	978-3-660-71491-3	978-3-660-69919-7
Wandkalender DIN A2	978-3-660-71360-2	978-3-660-71494-4	978-3-660-69921-0
Tischkalender DIN A5	978-3-660-71358-9	978-3-660-71492-0	978-3-660-69922-7

US-Edition:

2015	La Habana / Havana	Havana Portrait	Cuba Cars
wall calendar DIN A4	978-3-660-90709-4	–	coming soon
wall calendar DIN A3	978-3-660-90708-7	–	coming soon
wall calendar DIN A2	978-3-660-90710-0	–	coming soon
table calendar DIN A5	978-3-660-90707-0	–	coming soon

UK-Edition:

2015	La Habana / Havana	Havana Portrait	Cuba Cars
wall calendar DIN A4	978-1-325-01576-4	–	978-1-325-01516-0
wall calendar DIN A3	978-1-325-01577-1	–	978-1-325-01517-7

AT-Edition:

2014	La Habana / Havana	Havana Portrait	Cuba Cars
Wandkalender DIN A4	978-3-660-90700-1	–	978-3-660-90488-8
Wandkalender DIN A3	978-3-660-90701-8	–	978-3-660-90489-5
Wandkalender DIN A2	978-3-660-90699-8	–	978-3-660-90491-8
Tischkalender DIN A5	978-3-660-90702-5	–	978-3-660-90490-1

CH-Edition:

2014	La Habana / Havana	Havana Portrait	Cuba Cars
Wandkalender DIN A4	978-3-660-99897-9	–	978-3-660-99845-0
Wandkalender DIN A3	978-3-660-99896-2	–	978-3-660-99842-9
Wandkalender DIN A2	978-3-660-99898-6	–	978-3-660-99843-6
Tischkalender DIN A5	978-3-660-99895-5	–	978-3-660-99844-3

(*) this link brings you to an amazon partner shop, showing a certain subset of the regular basket of good at amazon.de. You get the regular amazon.de prices, but I’m able to compile only these certain products for you.

 

 

 

My calendars are available at the stores

Do you remember? Recently I wrote here about 3 calendars being published, containing some of my photos taken in Cuba.

Here are the ISBN numbers for ordering the 2014 calendar showing some of the fantastic vintage cars from Cuba as well as some insights into the old town of Havana. They are available in 5 country editions: Germany, Austria, Switzerland, United Kingdom and USA.

According to the publishing house, the ISBN numbers are internationally valid, and you should be able to get your copy by ordering it at a bookstore where you’re living. At least you can order them via amazon.de (*), amazon.at, amazon.ch and amazon.co.uk. At amazon.de you can also find an option for global delivery. so, take you chance!

German Edition:

2014	La Habana / Havana	Havana Portrait	Cuba Cars
Wandkalender DIN A4	978-3-660-26955-0	978-3-660-27463-9	978-3-660-22007-0
Wandkalender DIN A3	978-3-660-26954-3	978-3-660-27462-2	978-3-660-22006-3
Wandkalender DIN A2	978-3-660-26956-7	978-3-660-27464-6	978-3-660-22004-9
Tischkalender DIN A5	978-3-660-26953-6	978-3-660-27465-3	978-3-660-22005-6

US-Edition:

2014	La Habana / Havana	Havana Portrait	Cuba Cars
wall calendar DIN A4	978-3-660-26920-4	–	978-3-660-22011-7
wall calendar DIN A3	978-3-660-26922-8	–	978-3-660-22008-7
wall calendar DIN A2	978-3-660-26921-1	–	978-3-660-22009-4
table calendar DIN A5	978-3-660-26919-8	–	978-3-660-22010-0

UK-Edition:

2014	La Habana / Havana	Havana Portrait	Cuba Cars
wall calendar DIN A4	978-3-660-26917-4	–	978-3-660-23194-6
wall calendar DIN A3	978-3-660-26918-1	–	978-3-660-23193-9
wall calendar DIN A2	978-3-660-26915-0	–	978-3-660-23195-3
table calendar DIN A5	978-3-660-26916-7	–	978-3-660-23196-0

AT-Edition:

2014	La Habana / Havana	Havana Portrait	Cuba Cars
Wandkalender DIN A4	978-3-660-26985-7	–	978-3-660-23274-5
Wandkalender DIN A3	978-3-660-26986-4	–	978-3-660-23273-8
Wandkalender DIN A2	978-3-660-26984-0	–	978-3-660-23275-2
Tischkalender DIN A5	978-3-660-26987-1	–	978-3-660-23276-9

CH-Edition:

2014	La Habana / Havana	Havana Portrait	Cuba Cars
Wandkalender DIN A4	978-3-660-26982-6	–	978-3-660-23278-3
Wandkalender DIN A3	978-3-660-26986-4	–	978-3-660-23277-6
Wandkalender DIN A2	978-3-660-26984-0	–	978-3-660-23279-0
Tischkalender DIN A5	978-3-660-26981-9	–	978-3-660-23280-6

(*) this link brings you to an amazon partner shop, showing a certain subset of the regular basket of good at amazon.de. You get the regular amazon.de prices, but I’m able to compile only these certain products for you.

 

Update:

I attached the official catalog pages for you as a preview.

Leaving Havana

This is my last post on Havana, but not the last of my series on Cuba. Have a look back on the skyline and fantastic sunset.

Now, we’re starting our trip to explore other parts of the country. Different cities, different insights, different landscapes, but always interesting. Havana is Cuba, but Cuba is much more than Havana. So, be prepared for more interesting insights into Cuba.

For now, you could have a look back on the other posts on Cuba, which are already online to shorten the time until my next post on Cuba appears here.

Take care!

 

public transportation in Cuba

In my last post, I wrote about the Cuban taxes business. Today I want to introduce you to the busses.

It’s really amazing, what kind of vehicles is used for being a bus. in Cuba. As you can see, most busses were intended to be a lorry. But after some small reconstructions they can be used as a bus.

Take a lorry, attach a ladder or a staircase and put some benches on the cargo area. At last put a roof above the cargo area and the bus is ready.

Enjoy the drive 🙂

There are already some other posts on Cuba online. While waiting for the next post, you could have a look on them.

Take care.

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More on taxis

In case, you get lost in Havana, you might take a ride at a taxi. They have government operated cabs / taxis with a fixed tariff and a taximeter, private taxis without taximeter and tariff but a wonderful old car, tuktuks (cuba taxi), motorbikes and bike taxis.

The government taxis are cars build in the 1970s or (a bit) younger. Most of them were built in (former) Eastern bloc countries, i.e. Czech Republic or Soviet Union. The really young cars are of chinese production.

The private cabs are private owned vintage cars, build in the USA in the 1950s or earlier, as I mentioned in my last posts on cuban cars. Yellow eggs on 3 wheels and even regular motorbikes are used as a taxi.

Parts of the old town of Havana (and other cities, too) are closed for cars and only pedestrians and bikes are allowed here. So, bike taxis are cruising in these areas and offering their service for the people. Here, you also have to negotiate the price with the driver. In case, you got lost or running out of time, they will be happy to bring you to any place you want: back to your hotel or to a restaurant or any other place.

Even the locals use such vehicles. I saw i.e. private taxis with up to 10 people inside (I noticed them entering the car). It was really enormously, how many people were sitting in such a car without thinking about safety, although they also have busses as a kind of public transportation.

Take care.

And, while waiting for my next post, you might have a look on my previous posts on Cuba!

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Rolling, rolling, rolling

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I saw many vintages cars over there, for which Cuba is famous for. You know, when the Cuban Revolution took place in the late 1950s, they created a new government model following communistic ideas. As a result, Cuba was isolated and had serious problems getting modern technical equipment. So, the people took serious care i.e. for their cars. As a matter of fact, today still hundred-thousands of cars build back in the 1950s and earlier are still in use. So, they are more the 60 years old and are still rolling. OK, here we also have such old cars on the streets, but they aren’t in daily business anymore. Instead, they are pampered and well-tended, but used only for rare showcase events, because they are so precious (because they are so rare).

In Cuba, I saw many of them in the street, operating as private cars or as private taxis. Yes, although Cuba is a communistic country, they allow private businesses. Most of the cars, I’ve seen, were in perfect optical shape. Well-kept. But, according to our guide, the engines aren’t. They were replaced by Diesel engines by i.e. Toyota  back in the 1970s.

If you want to take a ride, you can hire a car for a certain destination or for a certain time. You only have to negotiate the price with the driver,  who usually is the owner of the car. There are also government operated taxis in the streets working on a fixed tariff and having a taxi-meter.

There are also other kinds of taxis in the streets, but I’ll show them in my next post.

So, enjoy some of the wonderful, old cars, I attached here.

While waiting for my next post, you might have a look on some past post.

A few days ago a photo calendar was publish, containing some of my photos. Currently you can order a german, an US and an UK version of the calendar. An austrian and a swiss version are on their way and need a few more days. I’d also put up a french and a spanish version, but I’m unable to write the  marketing texts in that languages 😦

In case, you’re interested, here are the ISBN numbers for the calendars and a link to a special partner shop at Amazon:

Cuba Cars 2014 (DE)

• A5 = 978-3-660-220005-6
• A4 = 978-3-660-220007-0
• A3 = 978-3-660-220006-3
• A2 = 978-3-660-220004-9

Cuba Cars 2014 (US)

• A5 = 978-3-660-220010-0
• A4 = 978-3-660-220011-7
• A3 = 978-3-660-220008-7
• A2 = 978-3-660-220009-4

Cuba Cars 2014 (UK)

• A5 = 978-3-660-23196-0
• A4 = 978-3-660-23194-6
• A3 = 978-3-660-23193-9
• A2 = 978-3-660-23195-3

Update:

Cuba cars (CH Version)

• A5 = 978-3-660-23280-6
• A4 = 978-3-660-23278-3
• A3 = 978-3-660-23277-6
• A2 = 978-3-660-23279-0

Cuba cars (A Version)

• A5 = 978-3-660-23276-9
• A4 = 978-3-660-23274-5
• A3 = 978-3-660-23273-8
• A2 = 978-3-660-23275-2

According to the publishing house, the ISBN numbers are internationally valid, and you should be able to get your copy where you’re living.

Take care.

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Visiting Cementerio Cristóbal Colón

Why to visit a cemetery during a vacation, I already wrote about last year. So, I don’t want to repeat it here.

On Cuba we also visited a cemetery: the cemetery of Habana. It’s really huge: 56 hectare with more than 20 kilometres of streets  and more than a million funerals the biggest cemetery in whole America. According to Wikipedia you can find more than 53,000 family graves, mausoleums and chapels in the necropolis.

Even the cemetery is that big, that you usually need a map to find a certain grave,  I was able to find a celebrity: the grave of Ibrahim Ferrer Planas (20.02.1927 – 06.08.2005), the voice of Buena Vista Social Club.

Here you can find a huge variety of graves and mausoleums. I was kind of surprised of the elaborated construction of the graves and the lack of poverty graves (at least, I didn’t find one). Most of them were in very good shape and rich decorated. My expectation was much different, regarding the cultural state of Cuba.

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el peluquero

or “the hairdresser” in English.

This project in Havana is meant to give the poor an opportuntiy to earn their own money by teaching them to become a hairdresser. On the other hand old and poor people can get a free haircut by being a volunteer for the trainees. So, both side can profiting.

You, as a tourist, can visit the school and the regular salon. It’s a complete (even small) street between

The castle

Havana is located at the coast, but it also has a big bay that is used for the harbor. This bay has a small passage to come in. The city with the old town is located on one side of this entrance and an old castle is located on the other side: 

Walking aroung in the old town of Havana II

This is the second post on the old town of Havana. I don’t want to write much, but show photos. I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoys being in Havana.

This time I show you photos taken at the former governors palace. You know, Cuba was founded by the Spanish conquistadores and Havana was the capital (as the successor of Santiago de Cuba, the originally capital).

Our local guide also told us about the place in front of the palace: the ground is covered by wooden tiles instead of  stones. That’s because of noise. In that time, it was common to have a siesta, a rest time during the noon times, because the sun is too hot at that hours.

Walking around in the old town of Havana

Havana is the capital of Cuba. The complete name is Villa San Cristóbal de La Habana.

The city was founded back in the early 16th century by the spanish conquerors. You can still find many old buildings in Havana, i.e. strongholds and churches from that time.

The Cuban government is currently doing many renovations. Houses, streets and places are undergoing a renovation process to get rid of broken facades and holes in the streets. Houses are also freshly repainted, i.e. the houses around Plaza Vieja are all bought by the government, renewed and repainted. Now