We decided that we would return to staying in hotels after our 7 day stint of staying in Casa Particulares. Varadero as a beach area seemed interesting once I found that the du Pont mansion is now being run as a very small 8 room hotel, the Mansion Xanadu! All the other hotels there seem to be 300+ roomed complexes on an 'All Inclusive' basis! Too large for us!
The house was splendid!
We were booked in on a 'semi inclusive' basis....breakfast and dinner. The only choice!
Which was fine as it is considered the best choice of restaurant in the area.
Casual lunch was possible next door at the Varadero golf 19th hole!
Arriving at the door of our room we felt like the owner's guest..... it didn't look as though anything had been changed since the DuPonts left after the revolution.....
...the room itself was enormous...
...with a walk in dressing room.....
...and a very large bathroom......probably larger than the casa particular room we had stayed in the night before! The walls were Carrara marble up to around 7 feet! The large bath looked very inviting....until we discovered that the taps didn't work! There appears to be a lack of plumbers/plumbing supplies in present day Cuba!
We had a superb view from our balcony.....
.....particularly at sunset...
and the view from the roof bar was also great!
.....as were the mojitos!!
The main rooms were quite formal........ but in a beautifully preserved condition....
The original dining room now seems to be reserved for private parties..... or perhaps for windy days when eating on the terrace is not possible....
...the original name Xanadu was from the DuPont era......
We obviously had dinner there both nights as we had prepaid for it..... and the food was indeed excellent.
We were surprised that we were not restricted on what we could choose to eat from the menu...the lobster was very good .....and it was an expensive choice......
we were, of course, serenaded at dinner..... this seems to happen in just about every restaurant in Cuba!
Service at breakfast was a little slow!
but we weren't in a hurry..... given the view....
The original Otis lift was still working......most of the time....
as long as one closed the doors......
The beach just beside the house was also very nice...it was serviced by the Melia Las Americas.....
......just past the jetty where the DuPonts, arriving from Florida, used to dock....
....and where they had a spectacular view of their home on arrival......
We did check out the Melia complex...mainly to use their internet, sadly the Xanadu didn't run to wifi!
We would have liked to have a drink from the bar at the Melia as everyone was traipsing around with a mojito in hand! However there was no possibility of external guests buying as everyone there had free access to all they could drink.... we definitely didn't want to draw attention to ourselves and be turned out before we had checked our email!
The house was splendid!
We were booked in on a 'semi inclusive' basis....breakfast and dinner. The only choice!
Which was fine as it is considered the best choice of restaurant in the area.
Casual lunch was possible next door at the Varadero golf 19th hole!
Arriving at the door of our room we felt like the owner's guest..... it didn't look as though anything had been changed since the DuPonts left after the revolution.....
...and a very large bathroom......probably larger than the casa particular room we had stayed in the night before! The walls were Carrara marble up to around 7 feet! The large bath looked very inviting....until we discovered that the taps didn't work! There appears to be a lack of plumbers/plumbing supplies in present day Cuba!
.....particularly at sunset...
and the view from the roof bar was also great!
.....as were the mojitos!!The main rooms were quite formal........ but in a beautifully preserved condition....
We obviously had dinner there both nights as we had prepaid for it..... and the food was indeed excellent.
and we definitely could not say 'no' to dessert as it was included!
We were surprised that we were not restricted on what we could choose to eat from the menu...the lobster was very good .....and it was an expensive choice......
Service at breakfast was a little slow!
as long as one closed the doors......
The beach just beside the house was also very nice...it was serviced by the Melia Las Americas.....
We did check out the Melia complex...mainly to use their internet, sadly the Xanadu didn't run to wifi!
We would have liked to have a drink from the bar at the Melia as everyone was traipsing around with a mojito in hand! However there was no possibility of external guests buying as everyone there had free access to all they could drink.... we definitely didn't want to draw attention to ourselves and be turned out before we had checked our email!
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