A Walk up La Rampa

While this part of Havana is now official referred to as the Municipality of Plaza (after the Plaza of the Revolution), everyone calls it Vedado. Vedado is the modern and urban part of Havana - wider streets and more trees than Central and Old Havana, it is more crowded and active than Miramar and Playa. While there is no actual "downtown" in Havana, one major thoroughfare would have to be 23rd Street and when it slopes up from the Malecón, it is know as "la Rampa."

1. Starting at the bottom, this is one of the busiest sections of the Malecón. On warm winter evenings, hundreds of Cubans may congregate down here to enjoy the cool breeze coming off the ocean, to listen to wandering troupes of guitar players, and maybe share a plastic up of amazing Cuban rum. Above the fountain at the corner, you can see the imposing Hotel Nacional rising above the stone escarpment. Enjoy a Mojito on their beautiful rear terrace.

2. On the left hand side while walking up, there is the large green building that used to be General Motors headquarters in Cuba before the Revolution, and now houses the Ministry of Foreign Commerce