March 4, 2016

Another beautiful day in Old Havana. This is the street where we are staying. The blue building is the Casa Blue Colonial

After another great breakfast we are off by bicycle taxi to the Plaza Veija for exploration and some painting

Laid out in 1559, Plaza Vieja (Old Square) is Havana's most architecturally eclectic square, where Cuban baroque nestles seamlessly next to Gaudí-inspired art nouveau. Originally called Plaza Nueva (New Square), it was initially used for military exercises and later served as an open-air marketplace.

During the Batista regime an ugly underground parking lot was constructed here, but this monstrosity was demolished in 1996 to make way for a massive renovation project. Sprinkled liberally with bars, restaurants and cafes, Plaza Vieja today has its own micro-brewery, the Angela Landa primary school, a beautiful fenced-in fountain and, on its west side, some of Havana's finest vitrales (stained-glass windows)

this was where I and my fellow artists setup for a paint out

                                

 
      these birds are looking for me ..........I must hide




 There is an art installation in the square, now these cats look much safer that some I have seen

                                        

YIKES a giant rooster!  there is danger everywhere for this small Esperanza

 AHA, I have found safety , they will never find me here

I was gladly rescued  and rejoined my artist friends for a relaxing lunch at La Vitrola, a retro restaurant, full of memories for my friends (I of course am much younger as only being a week old, I had no memory of those glory days they laughed and talked about over lunch)

   

 This seemed like a good perch while they were having lunch, good music coming from the old radio, and a cool pair of saddle shoes.

this is James Deans motorcycle


After lunch we climbed to the Camera Obscura tower to have a look over the whole city,

as seen from the highest vantage point in the square

the location of the camera obscura

Havana’s camera obscura sits three floors above the Plaza Vieja, the Old Plaza, and overlooks the entire city.

Of the 70 or so giant camera obscura around the world, Havana’s is the only one in Latin America. Havana’s camera obscura uses a rotating turret atop the building to provide a 360-degree view of the city. The camera operator rotates the turret and changes the angle of the mirror with one hand while pointing out sights near and far with his other hand. His humorous narrative is bilingual–switching seamlessly between Spanish and English.  The magic of the camera obscura experience is that you think you are looking at a still photograph–until you notice the motion of flags waving in the breeze and people walking on the street.

My painting friends

A great vantage point of the harbour

after a short walkabout and some beautiful music by a local musician , we headed home, to our casa, I am done for the day, but my compatriots went out for pizza and a walkabout in the evening. and shared these images with me later.

the Plaza Cathedral

       

the Plaza San Francisco

my friends photobombing a statue