Hotels - Palacio O'Farrill

About  Palacio O'Farrill

The Hotel Palacio O’Farrill is a terrifically grand neoclassical mansion standing on the corner of Cuba & Chacon Streets near the port of Havana. Its owner, Don Ricardo O’Farrill y O’Daly, made his fortune in the slave trade, & owned several large sugar mills. The entrance hall of his house is almost ludicrously impressive, with a toweringly high ceiling, & vast iron-studded polished mahogany doors. Also not to be missed, are two small but elegant black marble seats in the hallway or the idiosyncratically double-scrolled archway leading into the courtyard.

The general aesthetic of the O’Farrill is Cuban colonial; Hibernian it is not, but as if to rectify the situation the colour green has been applied with a liberal hand throughout the establishment. On occasion enthusiasm for the Emerald Isle seems to run amuck, such as in the stinging viridian in the stained glass fanlights & the startling lime-green walls of the sitting rooms in the suites.

The faces of visitors drinking pre-lunch cocktails in the courtyard also acquire an interesting hue from the greenish tinge of the canopy which shades them from the sun. However the restaurant and snack bar break with the chromatic norm, & the latter, decorated in mahogany with terracotta furnishings, proves welcomingly cool relief after a morning of sightseeing in what can sometimes feel like the blast furnace, albeit the very picturesque one, of Old Havana.

A particularly attractive feature of the Palacio O'Farrill building is the way in which the mahogany detailing has been left unpainted, being simply varnished to show the beauty of the wood. Throughout the building there are pieces of good old Cuban furniture as well as numerous reproductions, but the latter are so well made in exact imitation of traditional pieces that the overall impression is one of pleasing visual harmony.

 

Plaza de Armas, Habana Vieja

The Templete

The Templete, a small neo-classical style construction, was built in the second half of the 18th Century. It is located in Plaza de Armas. This was the site where the first public mass was celebrated and also the site of the first town council of the nascent town of San Cristóbal de La Habana. The Templete resembles a Doric temple and houses three commemorative canvasses by the famous French painter Juan Bautista Vermey. One of the walls exhibits the plate that declares Old Havana a World Heritage Site.

Trocadero e/ Zulueta y Monserrate, Habana

National Museum of Fine Arts

The National Museum of Fine Arts houses Cuba's most important art collections, as well as paintings dating from the 18th to the 21st century and ancient art. The exhibition areas treasure collections of Cuban and European painting, which harmonize with works of art of ancient Greece, Egypt, and Rome. Its valuable assets are divided into two buildings: Cuban Art, just a short walk from the Museum of the Revolution, and Universal Art, in the magnificent building that was once occupied by the Asturian Centre, opposite the Central Park.

Fortaleza de San Carlos de La Cabaña, Carretera de La Cabana, Habana del Este

The Cannon Blast Ceremony

The Cannon Blast ceremony (El Cañonazo de las Nueve) is one of the oldest and attractive traditions of Havana. In colonial days, the shots signalled the closing of the gates of the walled city and the rising of the chain across the entrance to the harbour. The tradition of firing a cannon every night at 9:00 pm was kept even after the wall was torn down and is still used for checking your watch.

Calle San Ignacio 54 (Plaza de la Catedral), Habana Vieja, La Habana

El Patio Restaurant (Marquis of Aguas Claras Palace)

This is a 1760 Baroque palace venerated for the great beauty of its Andalusian patio. It has a fountain surrounded by tropical vegetation where you will find several tortoises. Before the Revolution, this monumental building was the headquarters of the Industrial Bank; nowadays it houses the El Patio Restaurant. Although it offers traditional Cuban food, it speciality is meat and crustaceous, dishes as the Cathedral Mixed Grill (a varied grill) and skewers of lobsters and shrimps. The bar serves a collection of wines beers, rums and cocktails. It is currently possible to buy souvenirs in the craftworks shop located in the former Casa de Baños House, on the western side of the Cathedral square.

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