Leafy "Arms Square" is Havana´s oldest - built in the 1520s - was designed as the home of the colonial government and military, with its main building the Palace of the Captains General (above left), now home to the Museum of the City. Other notable structures include the compact Castillo de la Real Fuerza, considered the oldest stone fort in the Americas; El Templete, a neoclassical 1827 monument to the first Christian mass said in the newly founded colony, in 1519 (and in front of it is a famous ceiba - silk floss tree - under which said mass was celebrated, sacred to the island´s Afro-Cuban santería religion, which holds that walking around it three times brings luch and prosperity); the Hotel Santa Isabel; and La Mina restaurant. And in the middle of it all is a small park usually ringed by booksellers. (Fun fact: the street directly in front of the palace is paved with wood rather than stone, so as to muffle the sounds of horses and carriages that might disturb the delicate ears of the colonial captains general aka governors and their families.)
Read more in Tripatini contributor Lowest Flight Fares´ post What Definitely Not to Miss in Havana.
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