Do you want to know the history of the most famous club in Havana? Read the post and savor the whole atmosphere.
Symbol of Havana, The Bodeguita del Medio it is one of the cult places that must absolutely be visited and experienced during a trip to Cuba, together with La Floridita.
The Empedrado area
We are in Empedrado, via Havana one minute walk from Cathedral Square, in the heart ofCasas Particulares Old Havana, historical center of the city. Cuban citizens get confused among the thousands of tourists who flock constantly just to take a selfie under the famous yellow and black sign of the restaurant.
The local
Inside, a group of musicians intones Cuban classics to the sound of maracas, guitars, bongos, claves, sticks beaten on each other to give rhythm, and guiro, an oval-shaped hollow gourd, which is played by scraping a stick on its surface.
A stop at the counter to taste the famous is a must Cuban mojito della Bodeguita, tried by many famous people. Photos, signatures on the walls and objects are the signs that Salvador Allende, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Pablo Neruda and Ernest Hemingway, a frequent visitor to the restaurant, have left in their passage.
Numerous rooms, dark wood tables and blue walls covered with signatures and graffiti, old fans on the ceiling: all this creates a retro atmosphere that takes you back to the 40s, when La Bodeguita was the center of the social life of Cubans.
It was in those years that the Bodeguita del Medio became a bar and restaurant where a menu of typical dishes and the new mojito entertained and cheered the days of the Cubans.
Before that, what is the symbol of tourism in Cuba was a grocery store founded by the Hungarian trader Sepy Dobronyi. In the 40s, the Spanish Angel Martinez bought the place making it what it is today. It was he who invented the Mojito, the cocktail made with white rum, lime juice, fresh mint, sugar and mineral water.
You will not find Hemingway and his companions but I invite you to take a trip to relive the period of the great artists in Havana by tasting mojito and arroz congris on the notes of Cuban music.
