Cuba Trip: Part 7 - Varadero Town and Staying in Casa Particular

We arrived in Varadero two days earlier than planned due to the fact that we could not deal with hot smoggy Havana and the jineteros / street hustlers anymore.

Immediately we were relieved to see clean cheerful streets with cafes and restaurants.

Pleasant area with plants and benches above the shopping mall / centro comercial 

There are nice parks in Varadero like this one - Central Park / Parque Central

The main street, 1st avenue / Avenida 1ra is full of horse carriage taxis

There are regular taxis as well

Rare glimpse of communist imagery

Despite the fact that many people consider Varadero not to be "real Cuba" because of its section of large all-inclusive hotels, we were able to see the real side of Varadero by staying in the town part.

Our casa particular Hostal el Villareño was located among other local houses with patches of green grass between them where it was the roosters and chickens domain. These chickens reminded me of my grandparents' village in Russia. So they were a welcome sight even though the roosters woke us up early every single morning.

The casa is run by a family and they were very personable and nice at the same time being professional and efficient. We had several interesting conversations with Lazaro, his wife Nereyda and their son-in-law Victor. 

The terrace of our casa particular / B&B "Hostal el Villareño" where every morning we had breakfast al fresco.

The view of the bay from the terrace

Sometimes we read on the lounge chairs after returning from the beach.

Right next to our casa were nice green patches with grass and trees where the neighborhood dog and chickens hung out.

Neighbors' dog which we called the "Bear dog". It was nice and quiet, never barked or bothered us.

One day a lovely puppy was following us around for a while. We felt sad yet relieved when the Bear dog didn't let it go too close to our casa when we went to our room.

He is the cutest puppy! I could stare at this face all day long!

There are many colorful classic cars on the streets of Varadero.

As well as some Russian cars like this yellow Moskvich

For dinners we tried several restaurant in Varadero including Salsa Suarez, La Rampa and Don Alex. Our favorite was La Casona del Arte. Here is our dinner at the restaurant with pork ribs, ropa vieja, moros y christianos, chicharritas de platano and maduros. Everything was delicious and reasonably priced.

Evenings are pretty quiet with fewer cars and some street cleaners.

And let's not forget about the beach and what a magnificent beach it is! Read about Varadero beach in the next entry.

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