The Hotel Presidente towers over the Avenida de los Presidentes in a slightly forbidding fashion, but don’t let that put you off. It is a delightful oasis whose proximity to the Malecon is another big plus, if you enjoy blowy blue afternoons sitting on the sun-warmed wall, gazing out over the waves with a cold beer in one hand and a warm friend in the other.
It is also close to another of our favourite Havana eccentricities – “the monument to the shoes.” This consists of a massive classical plinth upon which reclines a well-endowed lady in robes – and on top of the plinth there’s nothing but a diminutive pair of bronze shoes. These belonged to the first president of the Republic of Cuba, Tomas Estrada Palma, whose keenness for Cuba to be annexed by the United States resulted in his being unceremoniously removed, leaving only his footwear behind. A monument to shoes could not be more appropriate in Havana, a city where just about everybody has an extraordinary passion for purchasing footwear and there are more shoe shops per square kilometer than anywhere else we know.
But we digress. Inside, the Hotel Presidente is impressive, with a large, marble-panelled lobby full of antiques and madly grand chandeliers. It’s usually thronged with people, coming and going, drinking coffee or cocktails and meeting or working at little tables. There’s a baby grand piano, Louis XV style furniture, elaborately draped curtains and a beautiful pair of nineteenth century Japanese vases over a metre high standing on carved pedestals inlaid with mother-of-pearl. Parents be warned: this is not an environment for small children. We shudder to think of the expensive havoc that might be wrought in the lobby by over-excited under-fives.
Further sophisticated attractions at the Presidente include a smart restaurant with a promising menu, another large, light buffet restaurant and an elegant swimming pool which looks particularly pretty when floodlit at night. The tenth floor of the hotel is reserved for privileged clients – if you need peace, quiet and kid-glove treatment, request a room or book into one of the wonderful suites on that level. At the time of writing hurricanes and salt-water floods have played havoc with the trees, shrubs and lawns in the area of the Presidente and everything is looking less than lush, but a good hot, humid Cuban summer ought to put matters to rights.
