Definitively founded in 1519 in the shade of a leafy tree, a Ceiba, Havana, the capital of Cuba, became a cosmopolitan city full of travelers from all over the world eager to learn more about it. A delicious atmosphere, in the best style of the Tower of Babel, is breathed in its streets where people from any of the five continents walk, speaking their language, but blending in with the capitalists with an inherent value of Cubans: cordiality. Here you can see the main benefits of tourism, such as unification and common understanding of different cultures and peoples.
ESSENCE OF A CITY IN MOTION
Cuba, and Havana as the essence of essences, represents a very mixed people, where the main origins are Spanish and African, but Chinese, Haitian, German, French, Hebrew and many other parts also come together. The Villa de San Cristóbal de La Habana, as its name really is, was founded on November 16, 1519 on the shores of Puerto Carenas, after it had an initial settlement further south in 1515. This first city in the western island zone is defined by experts as a place of greatness due to its monuments and a human scale related to its unique heritage values with five centuries of history. The bay was the meeting point for the entire Spanish fleet on its journey to the metropolis with riches from the entire western hemisphere, under the custody of warships against the siege of pirates and other adventurers. Given its particular appeal as a city invaded in 1555 by pirates and in 1792 by the English fleet, its walls and shelters preserve pieces, stones and vestiges of great value. All its wealth deserved a prize from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) when it was declared a World Heritage Site in 1982. It is the capital of the Republic and extends over 732 square kilometers with 15 municipalities, nine of which are totally urban, of which 4.5 square kilometers belong to the old part, the most interesting (with 2.2 kilometers in the recreational- historical). It is the main center of attraction for the visitor of tourism in Cuba, since more than 90 percent of all travelers who arrive for rest, business or medical attention walk through its streets. The territory’s economy responds to industry, commerce, services and tourism, with 47 percent of the country’s hotels installed in its space (Cuba has more than 80 thousand rooms in around 300 hotels). It is possible to speak of an old Havana and a modern one, if seams are delineated between wide and narrow streets, each one with a particular vivacity and an effect on the people who come to visit it. Walking through them you can breathe the merriment of salsa, but also the softness of son and danzón, two native Cuban genres, whose way of dancing “in a single brick” differs from the hectic movement of La Timba (musical genres), for example. Cubans carry music in their blood, which is why everything has rhythm in Havana, the hustle and bustle of the neighborhoods, the passing of the passenger buses, even a simple group of schoolchildren chatting after school. Then the colors also vibrate in some way and the contrasts of light and dark in the corners, matching the buildings of yesteryear, make a garland that constitutes perfect inspirations for painters and sculptors, especially for photographers.
WONDER CITY
Havana was selected in December 2014 as one of the seven wonder cities of the world, within the New 7 Wonders initiative. The president of the organizing foundation of this initiative that emerged in 2011, Bernard Weber, visited Havana to understand the spirit of the city. The other cities chosen were: La Paz (Bolivia), Beirut (Lebanon), Doha (Qatar), Durban (South Africa), Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) and Vigan (Philippines). The finalists reached the podium from a list of 14. Weber, a renowned Swiss filmmaker, said at the ceremony held in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, that the election was carried out among 1,200 candidates from 220 countries. The territory of the capital occupies the sixteenth place in extension among the provinces, with 726.75 square kilometers, 0.7 percent of the total area of the country. Its name arises from the fusion of the name of the saint chosen as patron (San Cristóbal) and the name by which it was known in its first settlements: Havana. The province is crossed
by several rivers, although the Almendares is the largest, with an extension of 49.8 kilometers and 402 square kilometers in its basin called Almendares-Vento. It is born in the municipality of San José de las Lajas, in the neighboring province of Mayabeque, and crosses eight municipalities of the province: Cotorro, Arroyo Naranjo, Diez de Octubre, Boyeros, Cerro, Marianao, Playa and Plaza de la Revolución. They are followed in importance by Quibú, Santa Ana,
Jaimanitas, Cojímar, Bacuranao, Tarará, Boca Ciega or Itabo, Guanabo, Peñas Altas, Mordazo, Santoyo, Orengo and others of lesser volume. Havana is the largest city in the Cuban context and in the insular Caribbean area with a metropolitan environment of over two million inhabitants and although it does not reach the level of Megacities such as New York, Tokyo or Mexico City, which exceed 10 million, and some up to 20, in the Antilles there is no more populated city than Havana. The province of Havana is currently made up of 15
municipalities: Old Havana, Centro Habana, Plaza de la Revolución, Playa, Marianao, Diez de Octubre, Cerro, Regla, San Miguel, Cotorro, Arroyo Naranjo, Guanabacoa, Boyeros, East Havana and La Lisa. In addition to its great tourist scope, the city is the venue for several international cultural events such as the Havana Ballet Festival, the Havana Film Festival, the Jazz Plaza Festival and
the International Book Fair. The José Martí International Airport, the Plaza de la Revolución, the Havana Malecón, the Tropicana cabaret, Calle 23 (La Rampa), the five squares of Old Havana, the Colon Cemetery, El Capitolio, the National Museum of Fine Arts, are its main attractions.
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