For the buildings that do still stand, the long process of restoring Habana Vieja has begun. City Historian Eusebio Leal Spengler – who has been working in the city since 1982 when the district gained World Heritage status from Unesco – set up a holding company called Habaguanex […]
Rather than the cobbled streets, lively squares and colourfully painted colonial era homes and public buildings from tourist brochures, my first experience of Habana Vieja (old Havana) was that of dilapidation. I walked through narrow, sewage-laden alleys with crumbling buildings that looked like they could topple at any […]
Towering 25-storeys high, the Habana Libre hotel is a distinctive landmark on the Cuban capital’s skyline. Although a short taxi ride from the cobbled old town – a Unesco World Heritage site – it is still a popular place to stay for tourists visiting this beautiful Caribbean island. […]
Guest blog by Oliver Clark On my first visit to Sydney I was keen to see what remained of the city’s early colonial past, after all this was where the first European settlement of Australia began back in 1788. I had little time for research but assumed that there […]
Thanks to everyone that supported Pastinthepresent.net during 2014. Over the past 12 months I’ve had great fun uncovering history in Britain and beyond – and I’ve really enjoyed sharing my adventures with you on these pages. Given that I live and work in London, most of my blogs […]
Past In The Present 