257 Mercaderes St.. between Amargura St. & Brasil St. (Teniente Rey) ,
Havana, Cuba
(+53) 78633838
yes
About
Meson de la Flota
The Meson de la Flota is not strictly speaking a hotel but a bar with a few rooms above it which are more than occasionally used, one suspects, by clients of the hostelry who find the prospect of walking a straight line to their more distant accommodation a little too challenging to contemplate.
The establishment is designed around a maritime theme in celebration of Havana’s salty, swashbuckling history and is liberally decorated with signal flags, model ships, barrels, ships’ wheels, lanterns and other seagoing paraphernalia.
There’s a good selection of wines and some excellent tapas at the bar, along with exuberant performances of Cubano-Flamenco music every day.
Calle Brasil esq. Compostela, Habana Vieja, La Habana
Farmacia Habanera Museum
A few steps towards Calle Brasil from Plaza del Cristo Square is where the 1886 Museo de la Farmacia Habanera is located. Founded by the Catalonian José Sarrá, it is a shop-museum and nowadays still functions as a pharmacy. The museum displays the history of pharmacies in Havana and their evolution in Cuba. This Pharmacy preserves its original Neo-gothic furniture with Moorish influences, and host a large collection of medicine bottles and medical tools, extracted from archeological excavations in the old city, as well as a book collection with valuable prescriptions for the study of Cuban pharmacopoeia. The museum also exhibits an elegant scale model of an old pharmacy with captivating historical explanations.
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.
Calle Mercaderes No. 160 e/ Lamaprilla y Obrapia, Habana Vieja, La Habana
Simón Bolívar Museum
The Simón Bolívar Museum is situated within an old Neoclassical palace dating back to between 1806 and 1817., right in front of the bronze statue of Latin America’s liberator, in Old Havana. This museum in honor of Simón Bolívar was opened July 24th 1993, coinciding with the anniversary of his birth. It has permanent exhibitions dealing with the history of the Bolivarian nation and its main figures of independence. The museum also houses a great library with important book collections and Latin-American documents.
Ave Carlos Manuel Céspedes y Santa Clara, Habana Vieja, La Habana
Nuestra Señora de Kazán Orthodox Cathedral
The Catedral Ortodoxa de Nuestra Señora de Kazán (Nuestra Señora de Kazán Orthodox Cathedral), declared World Heritage Site by UNESCO, is one of the newest constructions in Havana, being built in 2000. This Russian Orthodox church is Byzantine in style. It has six beautiful domes, two of which (the biggest and smallest) are gold-sheeted, and the rest are made of bronze. Its staircase entrance calls our attention and is considered the second largest staircase of all outside Russia. From the interior, its golden altar stands out, built in Trinidad and the San Sergio Monastery, Russia; and the murals adorning its walls.