Festivals Archives

See Havana shaking it's booty at Carnival time with music, dances and fantastic costumes with the crowds going wild. It's a must see event if youre in Cuba in August. We were lucky enough to be in Cuba for the carnival in Havana, held only once a year in August, it's a not to be missed event.100's of dancers, huge floats, music, singing and the crowds go wild. We had arranged to met up with Jesus (organised our Casa) & his wife for dinner beforehand but he rang to say it was raining at his home so he didn't think Carnival would still be on. As the time got closer it had stopped raining so we decided to go out and see anyway. Didn't have any idea of where it was except somewhere on the Malecon, well this road is quite long, unfortunately we started at the wrong end. Never mind we enjoyed the walk, at around 8.15pm we bumped into the carnival, what do we do now? We were approached by a man selling tickets, we had asked Jesus to get some but all sold out. Looked a bit dodgy but nothing to worry about, $5 CUC each got us great elevated seats with an excellent view. You should get tickets, if you can't you won't see much from the outside. Fireworks Fireworks to mark the opening of the carnival At 9pm fireworks began marking the beginning of the show. Our seats were right at the end so we didn't get to see anything for about another 15mins when some costumed dancers started to appear. Floats, Dancers & Singers Beginning of the carnival starts with street dances The carnival was absolutely wild, people around us were singing and dancing to the music as floats slowly cruised by. Not as big as some other famous carnivals around the world, but definitely worth going to and impressive. Among all the people we seemed to be the only tourists around. Hosted in August every year with dates changing. Carnival in Havana is a massive city wide party! Main stage is along the Malecon near 25. The whole area is completely closed off to traffic, we could still walk the big wide road watching out for water splashing over as the ocean waves hit. Cheap beer and BBQ chicken & rice is in abundance. I have to say we felt totally safe, there were police men and women everywhere keeping the crowd in check by blowing their whistles. Everyone was so well behaved, just singing, dancing and having a great time. Didn't see any drunk people or anyone getting into trouble. By 12.30am our stomach's were grumbling, there appeared to be more floats coming, we didn't know when it would end. We felt wed seen more than enough so headed off in search of food. Our Opinion Excellent, very cheap night out and well worth the effort. Great fun was had by all, bring the whole family youll be dancing the night away. So glad we got to see this major event in Havana. Carnival Video Photos of Carnival in Havana Walk along the Malecon on our way to carnival Walk along the Malecon on our way to carnival Havana Carnival Dancers Havana Carnival Dancers Havana Carnival Dancers Havana Carnival Dancers Havana Carnival Dancers Havana Carnival Dancers

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Category: Festivals