Hemingway146;s havana

A Hemingway tour is essential for any visitor to the Cuban capital8212;so you hop from the author8217;s fifth-floor corner room in the painstakingly restored Ambos Mundos Hotel which has stunning views of the Catheral San Cristobale and the sea beyond to the bars in Old Havana and end with lunch at a waterfront terrace restaurant at Cojimar.

All the bar-restaurants have a lively house band, a 8216;designated Hemingway8217; stool, and till his death a few years ago, visitors had the opportunity of meeting the fisherman who reportedly was the inspiration for The Old Man and the Sea8212;a living landmark, as it were.

Then, there8217;s the serene 15-acre precinct of the 8216;Lookout Farm8217; or Finca Vigia, believed to have been 8216;the most permanent home he would ever have8217;8212;Hemingway lived in the estate for 22 years till his death. Perched on the top of a hill, with a striking, panoramic view of Havana city from the terraced garden as well as from the 8216;Lookout Tower8217; after which the farm is named, the estate provided an ideal environment for Hemingway to write, surrounded by his 57 cats and four dogs.

Incredibly disciplined as a writer, Hemingway8217;s mornings were devoted to his craft and afternoons were spent marlin fishing in the Gulf Stream. His garage had three cars to convey him to Old Havana in the evenings, where he was first seen at La Floridita the cradle of daiquiris downing daiquiris and then at La Bodeguita el Medio for mojitos.

The estate, known as the 8216;Museo Hemingway8217;, has been preserved almost exactly as it was left by Hemingway and his last wife, Mary, when they embarked on their trip to the US and Spain.

A lush growth of tropical figs, palms, bamboos, flowering orchids and frangipani greets the visitor at the entrance. The house opens onto the surrounding garden on all sides, with a swimming pool, tennis courts, guest cottage for his sons and the 8216;lookout tower8217;. Although visitors are not allowed to enter the house, the layout allows you to look into all the rooms, and sometimes through it onto the garden on the other side. Instead of the usual doorbell at the entrance, a large ship or church8217;s brass bell is attached above the porch.

An airy and spacious main drawing room runs almost the length of the building. Look around and you see painting reproductions, travel mementos; a vast range of slightly unsettling animal skins, heads and safari trophies, and his collection of 8,000 books, many annotated on the margins; photos of friends and family; opened liquor bottles, all arranged exactly as they had been when the Hemingways lived there. On a bookshelf in his bedroom is the typewriter on which he worked standing up every morning. Unopened mail still lies on the large, unusually carved desk in his study. On it is his famous stamp which says 8216;unsolicited mail would be returned unopened8217;.

Beyond the swimming pool, as a testimony to the high esteem in which Hemingway continues to be regarded in Cuba, is his fishing boat8212;the 8216;Pilar8217;8212; carefully preserved in a dry dock next to the pool on the Finca Vigia estate after being brought here from its anchorage at Cojimar after his death. Hemingway spent most of his afternoons marlin-fishing on the Gulf Stream on the boat, which he fitted with guns and ammunition for patrolling the islands of the Gulf Stream during the Second World War.

When Fidel Castro took over Cuba in 1959, Hemingway, unlike most Americans, chose to stay. He was even photographed with Castro8212;an image found in most souvenir stores even today. According to a story, Castro is believed to have said that he had carried For Whom the Bell Tolls into the Sierra Maestra mountains during his guerrilla days, and read it thrice. You also find memories of the author away from the museums and the heritage sites.

Travel to the ancient mining village of El Cobre, located amongst the spectacular hilly landscapes of eastern Cuba. In the 19th century basilica located at the top of a hill, a center of pilgrimage known as the 8216;Santuario de la Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre8217; or the sanctuary of the 8216;patron saint8217; of Cuba, is a surprising treasure8212;Ernest Hemingway8217;s gold medal, awarded in 1954 with the Nobel Prize for Literature. Instead of giving his medal to a local church, as is commonly believed,

Hemingway made the journey to Santiago de Cuba, close to some of the best areas for marlin fishing in the country, to place the medal in the sanctuary8212;another public relations move that established his place as a cultural hero of Cuba.