Hotels - El Comendador

About  El Comendador

This comfortable little hotel, which shares some facilities with the adjoining Hostal Valencia, is housed in an eighteenth century building which belonged to the family of Don Pedro Regalado Pedroso y Zayas, who was a ‘Comendador de la Orden de Isabel la Católica’. The Hostal Valencia has become so popular that it is often frustratingly fully booked, but the Comendador is, if anything, even better, and certainly quieter, although it is slightly more expensive.

The rooms are very comfortable indeed, and unlike the Valencia they have air conditioning – indispensable in the summer months. Highly recommended, whether you choose a high-ceilinged room on the upper floor or a more cosy one on the mezzanine. The right-hand back room on the top floor has a charming view of the Diana, Princess of Wales Garden and the ships coming and going in the harbour. The tapas bar on the ground floor is excellent and is much frequented by European residents of Havana.

The Comendador was restored and is now run by the Office of the City Historian of Havana, so all its profits are reinvested in the restoration of the city’s historical centre.

 

Oficios No.13, La Habana

Automobile Museum

The Museo del Automóvil (Automobile Museum) is located in an 1892 Neoclassical construction in Old Havana. This museum is divided in two exposition rooms, which share the entire collection composed by 30 promenade cars, two rigid trucks, a funeral carriage, a special vehicle, seven motorcycles, a semaphore, three fuel pumps and two didactic imitations. This museum has a very well preserved and interesting collection of old automobiles, among which are the noteworthy Thunderbird, Pontiac, and Ford T, among others. The oldest vehicle in the collection dates from 1905, and the latest one comes from 1989. Most of them are North American, although some cars were made in Italy, Spain, Germany and Great Britain. It houses automobiles related to specific people and others antiquated vehicles. An example of this is the Cadillac used by Ernesto Che Guevara when living in Havana, the 1930 Fiat from Flor Loynaz, or the 1959 Oldsmobile used by Commander Camilo Cienfuegos.

Calle Oficios, esq Muralla, Plaza de San Francisco de Asís, La Habana

Alejandro de Humboldt Museum

The Museo Alejandro de Humboldt (Alejandro de Humboldt Museum) is located in a Colonial house in Plaza de San Francisco de Asís Square, in Old Havana, Cuba. Its name comes from the German scientist Alejandro von Humboldt, who is seen as the second person to discover Cuba. This is a scientific museum dedicated to biology and its main objective is to preserve research and promote the historical Humboldt’s legacy. This institution enhances the labor of Cuban and international personalities whose contributions are considered relevant for the development of culture in general terms. It exhibits the historical trajectory of the scientific and botanic data he compiled throughout the island at the beginning of the 19th century, as well as a botanic exhibition which is fundamentally made up of ferns. In this museum there is a perfect copy of a Kritosaurus skeleton found in the desert and donated by the Mexican government, as well as an enormous Pterosaur skeleton, which is around 10 meters length. The House also has a conference room with capacity for 100 persons and a specialized library on German literature.

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.

San Ignacio No.61 (Plaza de la Catedral), Habana Vieja, La Habana

Colonial Art Museum

The Museo de Arte Colonial (Colonial Art Museum) is housed within the oldest construction in Old Havana, the Condes de Casa Bayona Palace, a mansion rebuilt in 1720 by Cuban Governor, Don Luis Chachón. The palace’s Classical patio and coffered ceiling made intricately of wood stand out within this construction. The palace boasts a wonderful location, right in front of the San Cristóbal de La Habana Cathedral. This small museum has a Colonial furniture and decorative art exhibition, amongst which will stand out some pottery with Colonial Cuba motifs, as well as several scenes of Colonial dining rooms and a fantastic collection of ornamental flowers.

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