Well fortified by another plentiful breakfast and encouraged by a break in the weather we headed off with our driver Boris to Finca la Vigia. It was about a 30 minute drive to this villa that Hemingway purchased in the 1940's and where he lived here until 1960 at the beginning of the revolution. Some hypothesize that his realization that he could never return to Cuba was the reason for his suicide one year later.
This Spanish Colonial villa was built in 1887 and has a wonderful view of Havana. It was here that Hemingway wrote "The Old Man and the Sea", "Islands in a Stream", Across the River and into the Trees" and "A Moveable Feast". He was here in 1954 when he learned that he had received the Nobel Prize.
His wife at the time, Martha Gelhorn, has a four story tower built so that he could write without disruption and enjoy the view. He, however, liked being in the house and continued to sit at his desk.
Visitors cannot enter the house itself but view the rooms through the windows and doors of the surrounding patios. The house has been left as it was in Hemingway's time. The furnishings include his library of over 9,000 books, the antlered heads of animals shot on African safaris and his personal possessions.
A short walk down a lovely sloping path through the garden took us to the now empty swimming pool (where according to legend, Ava Gardner swam naked) and the pavilion built over the former tennis court to house Hemingway's fishing boat the Pilar.
This Spanish Colonial villa was built in 1887 and has a wonderful view of Havana. It was here that Hemingway wrote "The Old Man and the Sea", "Islands in a Stream", Across the River and into the Trees" and "A Moveable Feast". He was here in 1954 when he learned that he had received the Nobel Prize.
His wife at the time, Martha Gelhorn, has a four story tower built so that he could write without disruption and enjoy the view. He, however, liked being in the house and continued to sit at his desk.
Visitors cannot enter the house itself but view the rooms through the windows and doors of the surrounding patios. The house has been left as it was in Hemingway's time. The furnishings include his library of over 9,000 books, the antlered heads of animals shot on African safaris and his personal possessions.
A short walk down a lovely sloping path through the garden took us to the now empty swimming pool (where according to legend, Ava Gardner swam naked) and the pavilion built over the former tennis court to house Hemingway's fishing boat the Pilar.
Another 30 minute drive took us to what is known as Fusterlandia at Calle 226 and Avenue 3. The ceramic artist Jose Fuster has turned his home and neighborhood into a tiled masterpiece. The installations are reminiscent of Gaudi's ceramic work and with artistic references to Picasso and Brancusi with just the right touch of Fuster's playfulness thrown in.
We were back at Calle 20 by 2 pm and decided to take it easy this afternoon. Both we and our digital devices needed our batteries recharged. This evening we will go out for dinner and to enjoy the music and see the art at the Fabrica de Arte Cubano just six short blocks from here.
We were back at Calle 20 by 2 pm and decided to take it easy this afternoon. Both we and our digital devices needed our batteries recharged. This evening we will go out for dinner and to enjoy the music and see the art at the Fabrica de Arte Cubano just six short blocks from here.