Plaza de la Catedral, Cuba

Havana’s cathedral, the Catedral de San Cristobal, stands in an intimate plaza in Havana’s Old Quarter, lined with restaurants and the old mansions of the vanished Spanish aristocrats.

The cathedral, build in 1727, has been described as ‘music set in stone’, its façade a symphony of theatrical baroque flair, the two unequal towers providing a strong bass structure, and, as you pass through the great wooden doors, our steps tapping on the flagstone, the key changes.  The fabulous baroque exterior becomes a sombre neoclassical interior, all tall Grecian columns, marble arches and whispers.