Blog Tour: Last Dance in Havana by Rosanna Ley

Today I am thrilled to be the blog tour stop for Rosanna Ley's new book Last Dance in Havana! I am so excited to read this book, it just sounds wonderful and Cuba is somewhere I am very desperate to go on my travels in a few years time! Rosanna was kind enough to write me this post about her own star moments in Cuba (so jealous!) for the blog tour, so please read and enjoy!

Have you read any of Rosanna's books? Leave me a note in the comments to tell me which you'd recommend!

Star Moments in Cuba
• Walking the Malecon at sunset. The Malecon is Havana’s long sweeping promenade where lovers meet, poets speak and musicians play. Classic American cars cruise by and baroque villas are evidence of Cuba’s past glamour. 

• Following Ernest Hemingway’s worthy example by drinking a mojito in the best watering holes in Havana. Like la bodeguita del medio (literally the shop in the middle of the street) frequented by artists, musicians and writers whose signatures are on the walls. Hemingway also stayed at the Ambos Mundos Hotel. When we visited its roof-top bar, a band were playing ‘Que sera, sera...’ Ten out of ten for atmosphere. 

• Visiting an old sugar plantation in Valle de los Ingenios to discover what life was like for the Africans who were brought here as slaves when Cuba’s sugar production was at its height. It was a moving and poignant experience. The valley has a peculiar atmosphere of its own – and it’s important to remember.

• Trinidad – this UNESCO World Heritage site is a picture-perfect pastel paradise. 

• Snorkelling off Cayo Levisa. White sand, turquoise water, a multitude of fish and coral. I don’t want to use the word ‘paradise’ again so quickly, but it is.

• Horse-riding in Vinales through the rust-coloured fields and mogotes (limestone hills) where you can still see a cigar-chewing guajiro driving his oxen and plough through the tobacco fields. I had a toke from the biggest cigar I’ve ever seen and it tasted GOOD... 

• A ride in a classic American Chevy. We did the tourist trip in Havana – but even more memorable was the taxi driver who stopped to pick up several friends on the way back to our hotel. When the engine stalled, he re-started it with a machete! 

• Live music in every restaurant and bar, Cuban rhythms following us down every street. This is Cuba! You have to salsa...

Thanks so much, Rosanna!

You can buy Last Dance in Havana now!