The culinary scene in Havana......

We tried to visit as many Paladares as possible while in Havana.

 We had a long list of potential places with excellent recommendations but unfortunately in our remaining 3 days there is only so much one can eat!
We had lunch in the new and up and coming Paladar Starbien.

This was even difficult for our driver to find and involved asking at least three separate sets of people on the street for directions! However it was definitely worth finding...... and was excellent value for lunch....

....the food was creative and tasty.....

It also had a Nespresso machine.....

......with a Nespresso double the price of a Cuban coffee......

...a visit to the loo was interesting.....

One evening we went to La Fontana......definitely an 'IN' place...... and surprisingly good!

Fresh fish......this one had presumably  been swimming around with its friends above until recently!

...and waiting for a table was no problem.....

..with a mojito in hand.....

Another lunch was at Paladar Vistamar... again not to be easily found!

Fortunately this time the driver knew where to go........

We were taken upstairs to our table on a balcony...with a view towards Miami!

This had been a contemporary, Eichler, type of house in the 50's surrounded by other places with pools...

The food was again excellent...... and beautifully presented...

Another evening we were supposed to go to La Guarida.....

of Fresa y Chocolate fame ( a great movie)..... a definite on my list and I had booked early...

This would have been a super place to eat .....I did check it out.

However it is up on the third floor, with high ceilings in between..... so we opted out and I can't give feedback on the food!
Instead we tried Esto no es un cafe..... a nice informal place ....

just off the Cathedral square....

and before we ate we did do a little more art viewing... the Taller Experimental de Grafica.....great....

Art Havana......

I had arranged for an artist studio tour of Havana .....however when the guide appeared she had been told we just wanted a tour of the city in a car! But she did make some calls and we did visit a studio or two......just not what we had anticipated......
We went to the Callejon de Hamel......

This was quite interesting.......started by a local artist Salvador Gonzales....

 ...even the roof tops held interest...

It was all very colourful....and used a lot of old scrap objects....

We watched a dance performance while there.....

Then we went to the Casa de Los Americas, but could only visit the top floor.....

....the lift blended in well.....

Then an art gallery with top world artists...... the Galeria Habana....

...this was a little out of our league...in the past they represented Wifredo Lam..... I had been thinking emerging artists, with corresponding prices! And I think they got rather tired of pulling out drawers to see what might tempt us!! Mentioning artists, presumably famous, that we had never heard of!

....en route we were able to see parts of the city not seen beforehand....

We passed by the Capitol building which is closed at the moment, undergoing renovation.....

The Art Deco Bacardi building is interesting to see.....

and we did see some graffiti art on the street!