From above, the city exhibits other perspectives and attributes; discover, from another angle, its wounds and contrasts, its impoverishments and novelties.
Like all big cities, like the most picturesque and cosmopolitan cities, Havana is a city with many faces.
It has, of course, the faces of its people, of the Havanans in their comings and goings, in their daily ups and downs. And it also has those of the visitors, of those who come from other parts of the island and the world to merge with the rhythms and colors of the city.
Parking space for classic cars on Zulueta Street, in Havana. Photo: Otmaro Rodriguez.
However, the Cuban capital also has many other views and perspectives: those focused on its streets, its buildings, its parks and other public places, its monuments and sculptures, the sea…
Havana, which for many is the city of columns, or of classic cars — the “almendrones” —, or of the busy Malecon, exhibits other protagonists and attributes when seen not from the ground, from the asphalt, but from the heights.
In the distance, the Focsa building (left, behind), the Hotel Nacional (center) and the Someillán building (behind the hotel), in a view of Havana. On the right, in the background, the United States Embassy. Photo: Otmaro Rodriguez.
Havana then becomes the city of rooftops and antennas, of plastic water tanks — that dot the landscape with their blue color —, of the buildings and chimneys that rise in the distance, of the ships that arrive or leave the bay, of the flags flying overhead.
From one of its high points, it appears calmer, less polluted with noise and soot, closer to the clouds and the sky. It then reveals other views, other details unattainable from below, and also discovers, from another angle, its wounds and contrasts, its impoverishments and novelties.
Havana could well be named the city of the blue water tanks. Photo: Otmaro Rodriguez.
Our photojournalist Otmaro Rodríguez arrived this week at one of those unique viewpoints, the terrace of the Iberostar Parque Central Hotel, and from there he captured different views of the city with his lens.
That is the Havana we show you today: the one that can be seen without makeup from one of its most central locations and also the one that throbs and reveals itself from the heights, more than five centuries after its birth.
Havana from the heights. View from the terrace of the Iberostar Parque Central Hotel. Photo: Otmaro Rodriguez.View in the distance of the K Tower (under construction), the Habana Libre Hotel, and the Hermanos Ameijeiras Hospital, in Havana. Photo: Otmaro Rodriguez.View of Centro Habana. Photo: Otmaro Rodriguez.View from the height of areas surrounding the Paseo del Prado, in Havana. Photo: Otmaro Rodriguez.View in the distance of the National Capitol, in Havana. Photo: Otmaro Rodriguez.Cuban flag and angel on a dome of the Grand Theater of Havana. Behind, dome of the National Capitol. Photo: Otmaro Rodriguez.Bacardí Building (center), in Havana. Photo: Otmaro Rodriguez.Dome of the Bacardí Building, in Havana, topped by the sculpture of the bat, symbol of the famous rum company. Photo: Otmaro Rodriguez.Buildings and rooftops in Centro Habana, near the Havana Malecon. Photo: Otmaro Rodriguez.View in the distance of the Museum of the Revolution, former Presidential Palace, currently under renovation, in Havana. Behind, on the other side of the bay, La Cabaña Fortress. Photo: Otmaro Rodriguez.View in the distance of the Christ of Havana. Photo: Otmaro Rodriguez.View of buildings in Havana. In the background, the municipality of Regla. Photo: Otmaro Rodriguez.View of Havana. In the background, the bay and the municipalities of Regla and Guanabacoa. Photo: Otmaro Rodriguez.View in the distance of the port of Havana and Regla’s mills and silos. Photo: Otmaro Rodriguez.View in the distance of the Tallapiedra thermoelectric power plant, in Havana. Photo: Otmaro Rodriguez.View in the distance of a ship bound for the port of Havana. In front, buildings and rooftops of the city. Photo: Otmaro Rodriguez.View from above of the Sevilla Hotel (center), in Havana. Photo: Otmaro Rodriguez.View of Havana from the heights. Photo: Otmaro Rodriguez.
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