168 GOURMETTRAVELLER.COM.AU
travelNEWS
JEAN-MICHEL
COUSTEAUCRUISE
NEWSCRUISE WITH
COUSTEAU
Want to explore the Mekong
and Amazon rivers with
famed environmentalist
Jean-Michel Cousteau?
The explorer will hostAqua
Expeditionscruises this
year and next onAqua
MekongandAria Amazon.
Itineraries feature evening
talks with Cousteau and
screenings of his films.
aquaexpeditions.com
MADE TO ORDER
Whisky masterclasses.
Australian gin. Green velvet
armchairs and leather
stools. Sounds like an
inner-city speakeasy, but
it’s the new cocktail bar
onP&O Cruises’Pacific
Explorer. Called The
Bonded Store, the bar was
created in collaboration
with Sydney’s Archie Rose
Distilling Co. It débuts on
the ship’s maiden cruise in
June and will have a stellar
list of cocktails based on
Archie Rose’s handcrafted
spirits.pocruises.com.au
FRENCH CONNECTION
Uniworld Boutique River
Cruise Collectionhas
added the river Seine to
its portfolio of cruises on
22 rivers in 26 countries.
TheJoie de Vivre,
launched in March
and carrying 128
passengers, will ply
the river on Paris-to-
Normandy round trips.
And its diminutive size
means it can dock near the
Eiffel Tower.uniworld.com
HISTORY CALLS
Delve into history with
Viking Cruises’ new
resident historian program.
All the line’s ships have an
on-board historian, who
hosts talks and moderates
discussions relevant
to the ship’s itinerary,
from the Ottoman empire
to the Elgin Marbles.
vikingcruises.com.au
SAMANTHA TEAGUELOCAL
KNOWLEDGEHAVANA
MARK KURLANSKY
Author
7KH ¿UVW WKLQJ , GR
LQ +DYDQDis drink a
Mojito. It’s a tradition I’ve
been following now for
almost 35 years. Back
then, Cuba was the only
place to get a Mojito.
Now you can find them
anywhere, but Cuba,
especially Havana, is
still the only place to get
a good one. The rest of
the world uses the wrong
rum, the wrong mint –
it needs to be the local
tropical spearmint – and
too much ice. My first sip
of the real Mojito and
welcome back – I know
I’m in Havana.
7KH PRVW IDPRXV
SODFHfor a Mojito is La
Bodeguita del Medio in
Habana Vieja. This is not
the best Mojito in town- lots of candidates for
that – but it’s where
Hemingway supposedly
had his Mojitos. Years
ago, when the original
owner, Angel Martínez,
was still alive, he told me
that Hemingway hardly
ever went there. The
restaurant, which, as
the name implies, started
as a grocery store with
a bar, has downmarket
chic. The walls are
covered with graffiti,
since long before the
revolution. The food,
mostly pork, is authentic
country food. When
I first went there in
Soviet days it was about
the best meal you could
find. The music groups
playing old-time son and
boleros are the perfect
accompaniment to a
Mojito or just a rum.
Sometimes there’s a tres
player who built the
instrument himself.
It’s a six-string guitar
with three sets of
double strings tuned in
octaves. More authentic
than Hemingway’s
endorsement, Errol
Flynn said it was “the
best place to get drunk”.
:KHQ \RX¶UH WLUHG RI
DXWKHQWLF FRXQWU\
SRUNgo to El Templete;
not the monument to the
founding of the city but a
restaurant with the same
name. The first managerwas a Basque, followed
by a Catalan, followed by
a chef from Málaga. It’s
not authentically Cuban,
and that may be a good
thing. There are great
seafood dishes here, from
the Basque Country,
Catalonia and Spain.
2QH RI P\ IDYRXULWH
WKLQJV WR GRin Havana
is watch the Industriales
play in the Estadio
Latinoamericano, the
largest baseball stadium
in Cuba, but only the size
of a Triple-A baseball
stadium in America.
Nevertheless half or more
of the players are of Major
League quality and the
fans, never quiet, know
everything about baseball.
7R OHDUQ PRUH DERXW
EDVHEDOOgo to Parque
Central any morning, to
a spot called La Esquina
Caliente, by the José
Martí statue, where fans
argue about yesterday’s
games. You wouldn’t
want to enter these
furious debates but
you can enjoy the finer
points of the game that
they dispute.
Mark Kurlansky is
the author ofHavana:
A Subtropical Delirium
(Bloomsbury, hbk, $36).PERFECT SCENTS
Mix, match and layer to
create a DIY bespoke
fragrance with Jo Malone’s
unisex seven-scent
Cologne Intense
range. Now available
in travel-handy
50ml bottles, $170.
jomalone.com.auMARK
KURLANSKYPARQUE CENTRAL,
HAVANAPHOTOGRAPHY ALAMY (HAVANA), SYLVIA PLACHY (MARK KURLANSKY) & CARRIE VONDERHAAR (COUSTEAU)