Looking west where the Malecon runs down to Vedado. Middle-left high rise is the classy Havana Libre hotel – once the Havana Hilton in the Roaring Fifties. The big guy to its right is the opulent Hotel Nacional, a super swanky place that hosted many movies stars in its time. Coup leaders holed up there in the 30’s and it was shelled and assaulted by the army. I walked there from Habana Vieja to take it in but unfortunately that was when the food poisoning started to kick in so I just malingered in the lobby for awhile before fleeing back to my room.