Day Four

Just a quick post this morning at 7:15 am. We're stopping at a hotel to check our email (only available at the major hotels) before taking a bus to Viñales for one night. We're staying with a friend of Carmen's.
On Day Four we visited the Castillo del Morro de la Rocca across the channel into the Havana inner harbor. We took a small ferry over, walked up to the Christ statue and then through the military reservation. The outdoor Museo de Fortificaciones y Armas displayed historic military vehicles and some very big guns. The signs gave a history of the American Russian Cuban conflict. The Castillo itself guards the channel entrance (with the Castillo de San Salvador across the way. It's an enormous fort designed by Giovanni Battista Antonelli, one of a family of brilliant Milanese family of military engineers. They also designed the San Felipe Fort in Cartegena and the Castillo San Felipe in San Juan, Puerto Rico (and a huge number of other fortifications). There was a very comprehensive exhibit of their history and works in the fort in Spanish and in English. 
That evening, after a very nice dinner with Carmen's family at the Casa, we attended the opening performance of Acosta Dance Company at the Gran Teatro de la Habana Alicia Alonso. It was fabulous, one of the best dance evenings Scott and I have seen for a long time. The company was uniformly brilliant and all six of the pieces were riveting. The theater itself is very beautiful and perfectly restored. 

The view as we approached the ferry landing.

The marble Christ Statue overlooking the harbor by sculptor
Jilma Wood

In the continued fortifications along the channel was the
Museo de Fortificaciones y Armas with a variety of
missiles - one of which was labeled as (supposed to?)
containing nuclear missiles.

View from the Castillo over to the Malecon in Vieja Havana

Fortifications on the land side of the Castillo

A series of these very informative texts
formed an exhibit on the
Antonelli family and Spanish
military history through the defeat of the
Spanish Armada. There was another exhibit
on the British victory over Spain and
subsequent brief occupation of Cuba.

The lighthouse

We have been walking an average of 23,000 steps a day and
Scott is happy to sit down for a minute.

There is a beauty contest here in Havana and this young
woman was trying to have a photo shoot - too much wind
though.

It's a huge fort and we toured it all. Then
returned to the city center by taxi.

Artist Duvier Del Dago had a wonderful exhibit here of his
works. We met the artist who was working on a new project
there. 

The artist's statement in both Spanish and English

View over the channel into Old Havana. The Battery along the shore. There is a tunnel for cars under the channel and passenger ferries as well.

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