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Hemingway Was Here

Ernest Hemingway instantly fell in love with Cuba when he sailed there in 1932 to go on a fishing trip. The American Pulitzer and Noble Prize winner roamed the world, from Chicago and Milan to Paris and Key West, but nowhere did he spend as much time as he did here: he lived in Cuba for almost quarter of a century. Following in the trail of the most famous Cuban import.

Arts & Culture

Havana, 古巴

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Hotel Ambos Mundos

Hemingway’s first house: Hotel Ambos Mundos

The dark hallways of Hotel Ambos Mundos, inaugurated in 1925, just exude history. This is where Hemingway lived for 7 years in the 1930s, before settling in his own house in Cuba. He wrote one of his best novels in room 511: ‘For Whom the Bell Tolls’, which in 1943 was made into a film with Gary Cooper and Ingrid Bergman. The hotel bar, the turtle pond in the lobby, the antique cage elevators are still exactly the way they were in the days of Hemingway, and his framed bar tab hangs on the wall. Room 511 has been transformed into a miniature museum.

La Bodeguita

Hemingway’s favourite bars in Havana

‘Mi mojito en La Bodeguita, mi daiquiri en El Floridita’ – the saying still graces the wall of La Bodeguita del Medio, in Hemingway’s handwriting. The booze expert knew exactly where to go for the best mojito in town. He loved to drink those in La Bodeguita, a tiny bar that was also visited by writer Gabriel García Márquez and poet Pablo Neruda. For his daiquiri Hemingway would head over to El Floridita. Both bars claim to have invented the respective cocktails.

Hemingway’s desk

Visiting Hemingway: Finca Vigía

Martha Gellhorn, Hemingway’s third wife, got tired of living in a hotel room. That’s why she looked for a real house: Finca Vigía. Hemingway would live here for 21 years. It was in this house on a hill 11 kilometres outside of Havana that he wrote 2 of his classic novels: ‘Islands in the Stream’ and ‘The Old Man and the Sea’. After Hemingway left Cuba, Fidel Castro, a great admirer of the writer, immediately transformed the house into a museum.

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Arts & Culture

Nightlife

Beach

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Nature

Active & Outdoor

Culinary

Arts & Culture

Houston and Dallas may be bigger and more famous, but Austin is in fact the capital of Texas. It’s also the least Texan city in Texas. And the weirdest city in the country. This is something its residents take pride in, as evidenced by the Austin motto of Keep Austin Weird! Have a peek inside weird houses or admire a cathedral of junk in a city where there is even a museum devoted entirely to the weird and strange.

Nightlife

When it comes to music, you might be inclined to think New Orleans (jazz), Memphis (rock ‘n’ roll), Chicago (blues) or Nashville (country), but Austin is actually the music capital of the US. The city boasts over 250 music venues, more than any other American city. You can choose from countless live performances and a fantastic music festival every month, such as SXSW. Austin lives and breathes music.

Beach, Water sports, Nature

The airport in Liberia is the gateway to the Province of Guanacaste, the sunniest part of Costa Rica. Thanks to its large number of snow-white buildings and tree-lined streets made of white gravel, the city itself is also referred to as ‘la ciudad blanca’. But, let’s be honest, most visitors who arrive here are primarily interested in white sand. Only a half hour by car from the airport is the fantastic Pacific coast with beaches that are postcard perfect.

Nature

In the Rincón de la Vieja National Park, you can hike, swim in natural hot springs, picnic and camp. The park features a variety of ecosystems around nine craters and 32 rivers with spectacular waterfalls during the rainy season. The diversity of flora and fauna is amazing: look up and chances are you’ll see toucans, sloths and monkeys in the treetops.

Active & Outdoor

Old towns, stunning constructions and wonderful nature: admire all of this and more in THIS IS HOLLAND, a brand-new 5D movie attraction by the producers of De Nieuwe Wildernis (The New Wilderness). It is the perfect introduction to Holland for first-time visitors, but also an interesting surprise for Dutchies who think they know their country inside out. This is a magical 5D experience with smells, colours, images, sounds, rain and shine.

Culinary

Everyone in Sweden knows Småland as the nation’s culinary centre. The region’s cuisine goes above and beyond the famous meatballs: a Michelin-star restaurant serves innovative Swedish haute cuisine, coffee is elevated to an art, and you can visit a lovely castle and pretend to be Lord or Lady of the manor. Here are three suggestions for typically Swedish restaurants in the city of Växjö.

Arts & Culture

Älmhult is the birthplace of renowned botanist Carl Linnaeus and children’s books author Astrid Lindgren, however its most famous ‘offspring’ is IKEA. Life in this southern Swedish town evolves around the blue-and-yellow furniture giant: from the IKEA Hotel and IKEA Museum to the IKEA Bar and IKEA Spa. Welcome to the one and only IKEA Småland – meatballs and ball pit included.