August 2000
We spent our first few days staying at the Hotel Inglaterra, a ramshackle building which, like Havana, had a certain nostalgic charm.

We hired a car and drove west to Pinar Del Rio - the tobacco growing capital of the country. We stayed at a hotel in Vinales which overlooked breathtaking scenary seemingly straight out of the Jurassic Park era.

Cubans are encrouaged to give lifts to people on the edge of towns. This allowed us to get a glimpse of the Cuban lifestyle and home life of a school teacher and his wife. We ended our trip by driving back up towards Havana, skirting the south side of the city and then heading onto Varadero.

August 2001

Corfu - our first holiday with The Marsden Who knew then that we would continue to holiday with them for an inteminable future.