recapitulating cuba: havana, day 3, antes del almuerzo

much of today was spent being shuttled to various sites in vedado, the magnificent twentieth-century (1900-1960) neighborhood west of the old city --- it was a day for listening to the voice of cuba, as it were.

from habana vieja, we drove to vedado via el malecón, which is one of my favorite things about havana --- begun in 1901, it is a spectacular sea-side promenade that stretches for several miles from la punta, opposite el morro at the mouth of havana harbor, through el centro to vedado and the mouth of río almendares

the hotel habana riviera (1957) is one of the best of the many fine pieces of mid-century modernist architecture in havana -- the original interior, which i saw last time, remains almost as completed for meyer lansky to a design by igor polevitzky

the day began with the international director of the national association of cuban jurists, housed in a small, non-descript, mid-century building on calle 21 --- she was an ebullient woman who talked about the cuban legal system (judges elected for life, e.g.) and the changes in the legal situation in the last couple of decades (since the so-called "special period" when cuba nearly starved to death after the collapse of the soviet union) --- she summarized their electoral process (which our cuban guide later reiterated), which sounded great (where's the dictator, i kept wondering) --- according to her and contrary to my sketchy understanding, all private property was not nationalized by the revolution, only industry and the property of those who fled the country --- although it was until recently illegal to buy and sell property, some private property rights remained intact (a very weird real estate market) --- she also claimed that cuba stood was always willing to pay indemnities for confiscated property, but u.s. intransigence toward the castro regime has prevented any negotiation --- knowing that propaganda works both ways, i am not sure of the reality, but i am sure there will eventually be an enormous, international legal row over the entire issue --- she talked about taxation and private enterprise, too, and the transition that is underway as cuba stumbles away from more-or-less total state control --- castro will be gone one day and the u.s. embargo will be lifted one day, but how well the country is able to protect its socialist character as all of that plays out remains to be seen ---

the next stop was on calle 17, headquarters of the cuban institute for friendship between people (ICAP), "founded in 1960 to strengthen the bonds of friendship and solidarity between the peoples of the world" --- i'm not sure what we learned from that

stupidly, i neglected to take any photographs of the house except for this little folly in the back yard 

and this magnificent pair of great danes at the front steps --- in bronze by georges gardet (1866-1930)

from icap, we went to la torre, a restaurant at the top of edificio focsa, completed in 1956 and, at 39 stories and nearly 400 feet, the  tallest building in cuba --- said to be the second largest concrete building in the world when it was completed ---

magnificent views to the north and west

view northeast toward el morro, with the rear of the legendary hotel nacional in the foreground --- completed in 1930 to a design by mckim, mead, and white

views to the west and northwest