Seven days in Havana

This, Havana’s oldest square, dates from 1519, when the city built on sugar and slaves was founded.

Lined with palms and the graceful arches of the Doric el Templete, where the first mass was held, second-hand bookstalls, mostly selling books with Che Guevara on the cover, set up here most days. Havana was built around four squares linked by cobbled streets — the next nearest, Plaza de la Catedral, holds the baroque cathedral with its unique asymmetrical façade.

Cuba may be crumbling but it has been noticed. El Capitolio was closed for renovations and in Old Havana — a World Heritage Site since 1982 — restoration work is under way, funded by UNESCO and tourism revenue. And only last week Cuban ballet star Carlos Acosta announced plans to re-open the Havana ballet school with Norman Foster designs, despite the Cuban government fearing Foster’s glass-and-steel projects may overshadow the original building.

Ironically, economic progress may end up destroying much of this faded city we love to photograph like a film set, frozen in time.

Across town, Vedado is home to tree-lined boulevards and residential houses laid out in a North American-style grid. This and the few skyscrapers (a lovely word — rascacielos — in Spanish) nod again to broken relations with the US.

The architectural blend here is no less eclectic. Stunning art deco, wavy-lined balconies curve across apartment blocks, ocean-side prefabs slowly lose the fight with mould and Fifties-style cinemas mix with towering hotels.

The Hotel Riviera rises up over the Malecón, another remnant of Havana’s pre-revolutionary heyday. This Fifties icon was built by US mob boss Meyer Lansky to mirror the wealth and glamour of Miami and Las Vegas.

Today the original cutlery is still in use, perhaps preserved by circumstance as much as care.

Another high-rise hotel became part of history in 1959 when Castro and his troops set up camp in the Havana Hilton, a classic modernist building, since renamed the Havana Libre.

Many of the mansions lining the wide avenues span from the Twenties to the Fifties. Resident wealthy families were turfed out post-Revolution, replaced by flag-bearing diplomats and foreign entrepreneurs. Some lie empty.

I was keen to see the Plaza de la Revolución, imagining one of Havana’s atmospheric squares dressed with a Che mural. In reality, it’s an ugly car park of a space made for rallies with avenues fanning off the soaring 18ft central JoséMarti memorial.

The drab Ministry of Interior is emblazoned with Che’s iconic outline (he worked here as minister of industry).

After bidding adios to Pedro by the leafy park back in Miramar, with its 60ft vine-hung Banyan tree, it was time for lunch. Up to this point, however, all I could say about the food was thank God for mojitos and Cristal beer.

The average Cuban’s wage is low and tourists no doubt get the better food but this is the only Caribbean trip where I actually lost weight. The usual cheery Caribbean staple of plantain, rice and beans was ruined by chicken and pork as tough as old boots.

But this was before experiencing Le Chansonnier, a paladar in an unsigned faded blue 19th-century mansion.

Since Raul Castro opened the door to private enterprise last year to help the ailing economy, Cubans can now legally open private restaurants — paladares — and often in their homes (the changes will effect property ownership too).

Opening late last year, Le Chansonnier wouldn’t look out of place in Shoreditch. Soaring moulded ceilings, black walls, red carpet, arty white paper shades, modern Cuban art and a chic bar area set the scene for the fusion menu — handwritten to allow for what the chef can and can’t get at short notice.

Still, owner Héctor Higuera Martínez produces delicate empanaditas mixtas (tiny triangular turnovers); filet mignon; lamb curry with cous cous; all perfectly presented. There’s also duck and squid.

Local artists’ work is displayed on walls, including battered oil and paint cans on the toilet façade — true modern art created by artist Damián Alquiles.

Another, Rio Mar in Miramar, only opened this year, overlooking the mouth of the polluted Rio Almendares. It bucks the traditional look in favour of a light-filled space with Perspex Philippe Starck Louis XIV chairs.

Beef carpaccio, ceviche and paella grace the starched-white tablecloths.

Economically poor, culturally rich Havana seduces you just by being itself. Perhaps because we are a mixed race family, Pedro had said to me: “We don’t say black or white here because somos todos Cubanos — we are all Cubans”.

That is the spirit of the place.

One balmy evening, we sat on the terrace of the Hotel Telégrafo watching the rhythm of life: men arguing around a copy of Granma, the state newspaper; Fifties cars, bonnets up, inventive owners underneath fixing the latest breakdown, a barefoot, emaciated beggar smiling as he asks where we are from; an old lady dancing to the music in the street. Havana is all this — and more.

DETAILS: CUBA

Virgin Holidays has seven nights at the Hotel Saratoga from £1,245 per adult and £1,105 per child room only, including return flights from Gatwick and transfers (UK residents require visas, £15), virginholidays.co.uk

Esencia Experiences specialises in Cuba. Half-day architecture tours £140; half-day food tours £140 including cocktails, two meals and market visits. New 10-day food tours start next March, esenciaexperiences.com.

Currency: Tourists should use the Cuban Convertible peso, which you get from Cuban banks, although tips in other currencies are accepted.

Stressfreeairportparking.com, meet & greet parking from Gatwick, a week from £54.