La Bodeguita del Medio

We're back from a new trip, this time to Cuba. Once again the flight was with Blu Panorama (an airline I don't much love), but this time I must say they kept to schedule both outbound and return. There's still the handicap of seats that are too cramped, and on an eleven-hour flight you feel every bit of it. We landed in Havana and not Varadero, and we still had another two and a half hours by coach, and finally we arrived at the village. Unfortunately the weather didn't help us, since it was nice for only two days and even then with a cold wind. We'd brought light clothes because we knew it was supposed to be hot, and instead we should have brought winter stuff, no joke. We swam only once because it took courage to get into the water (freezing).

The Las Morlas village in Varadero is run by Eden Viaggi: not big, but acceptable, clean, with very helpful Cuban staff, tourists mostly Italian. We met two young people from Rovigo, Enrico and Michela, whom I greet if they see this site, very nice, and we spent the holiday in their company. As for the restaurant, one remark: the food wasn't bad, but if you arrived a bit late you risked finding nothing left, because they didn't put back the food that had run out. The beach is beautiful; there's no white sand, but it's enormous. A lovely sea, seen only on the two days we went to the beach; the other days it was always very rough. We went to see Havana, new and old. The new part, if we can call it that, is dirty and depressing, with crumbling houses and buildings. Everyone wants to sell you something, but they're not insistent. The old part, as it's called, is a fairy tale.

All the colonial palaces restored, streets perfectly clean. Cubans say that with Fidel Castro nothing is lacking; that may well be true, but we saw things worth talking about. Once again the holiday is over; let's hope we're luckier (weather-wise) next time. Bye and happy travels to whoever has to set off.