The epochal Finca Vigia, Ernest Hemingway’s home in Havana, Cuba, was the place where the American author wrote some of his greatest works, such as ‘The Old Man and the Sea’.
Finca Vigia is located in Havana, Cuba’s capital, which attracts visitors from around the globe with its vintage cars, Old Havana architecture, beautiful beaches, and salsa beats. The city houses a genuine treat for literature lovers since this is where the Nobel Prize winner, Ernest Hemingway, used to live and create. He was here until the end of his life.
Ernest Hemingway’s Home in Cuba
Hemingway’s home in Cuba is situated in San Francisco de Paula, a working-class neighbourhood 24 kilometres from central Havana. It was constructed in 1886 and built by a Catalan architect on a hilltop. When the author bought it in 1940, he named it Finca Vigia, which means ‘Lookout House’.
Given that the house was in a bad condition, Hemingway renovated it, adding a tennis court and a swimming pool, and hanging a collection of valuable paintings and hunting trophies from Africa on the walls.
This is the place where Hemingway wrote some of his most celebrated novels like ‘For Whom the Bell Tolls’ and ‘The Old Man and the Sea’. He lived here for 20 years.
Being a passionate fisherman, Hemingway enjoyed sailing through Cuban waters. During World War II, he was also looking out for potential German submarines for the US government. This was another adventure for the famous writer, among the many he enjoyed throughout his life.
Hemingway’s first holiday in Havana
Ambos Mundos hotel in Havana
Hemingway visited Cuba for the first time in 1932, when he joined a friend for the annual marlin run, a fishing game in the Gulf Stream. Instead of spending a couple of weeks on the island, the two men stayed in Cuba for two months.
This is when Hemingway fell in love with Cuban waters, charming waterfront bars, and local stories. He was thrilled by “a wonderful story on the Cuban coast” as he called it, about an old man who caught a large marlin. It later sparked his best-known novel. Hemingway also bragged about catching 19 marlins and 3 sailfish. And so, he came back for a second round of marlin fishing in 1933.
This was the beginning of Hemingway’s frequent returns to Cuba, where he also started to write. He rented a room at the famous Ambos Mundos Hotel in Havana. In 1934, he bought his own boat, which he named Pilar, instead of renting one every year.
When Hemingway married his third wife, Martha Gellhorn, the couple moved to Cuba, but the Ambos Mundos room became too small for the two. Martha found a lovely property on the outskirts of Havana with a nice house on the hill. They rented it at first and finally bought it in 1940. This is how Hemingway’s Finca Vigia came to life.
How to visit Finca Vigia
Even though Hemingway died in 1961, at a time when relations between Cuba and the US seriously deteriorated, the author was respected by the Fidel Castro government and loved by the Cuban people. They initially liked him for buying a house in a working-class neighbourhood and living among the common people he used to go fishing with. The Havana officials allowed Hemingway’s fourth wife to retrieve his possessions from the house, including the unpublished manuscripts and paintings.
Hemingway considered Cuba to be his genuine home and often said that he was Cuban. When he got the Nobel Prize in 1954, he was in Cuba and dedicated the medal to the Cuban people placing it in the Virgin of El Cobre shrine in Santiago de Cuba Basilica.
Cubans honoured him in many ways and turned Finca Vigia into the Hemingway House Museum. Finca Vigia holidays should include a visit to the rooms and spaces the author used for the last 20 years of his life. The museum is now open for visits Monday to Saturday, 10 am to 4 pm, and 9 am to 1 pm on Sundays.
The Pilar was also preserved and brought to Finca Vigia. It now adorns its vast courtyard.
What to see at Finca Vigia, Hemingway’s home in Cuba
Ernest Hemingway’s writing desk
Ernest Hemingway’s Cuba period is the longest period of time he spent in one country. He did travel during summer to the US, went to Key West, visited Europe, etc., but this is where he brought all his prised belongings and where his children visited often.
Cuban government kept the house as it was, so it still looks like the author still lives in it. This is why visitors can see and learn how Hemingway really used to spend his time here.
Bright spacious rooms with simple yet elegant furniture with many books and personal items can still be seen here. There is also a tower where the official Hemingway workshop was created with a balcony and a telescope. You can find his favourite chair and animal skins covering the floor.
The vast courtyard is abundant in tropical greenery and nice pathways. One of them will take you to the swimming pool. They say that Hollywood celebrities, such as Ava Gardner, used to swim here on holiday.
Hemingway was also famous for keeping cats. He had 11 of them in Finca Vigia at one point. So, you won’t be surprised to find an area in the garden dedicated to Hemingway’s cats. This is where they were buried.
See Finca Vigia on your holiday in Havana
La Bodeguita del Medio, Hemingway’s favourite bar in Havana
Ernest Hemingway’s home museum is not the only place related to the writer you can see in Havana. Many tourists still visit the 5th floor of the Ambos Mundos Hotel, which was occupied by Hemingway during the 1930s. He loved visiting local bars like La Bodeguita del Medio in Old Havana, where they still keep his autograph on the wall. El Floridita was his second favourite locale and now houses a life-sized sculpture of the author sitting by the bar. It is even believed that he took part in creating a cocktail that is still served here.
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