From Key West to Cuba, travelers can retrace the storied steps of author Ernest Hemingway. NY1's Valarie D'Elia filed the following report. "> From Key West to Cuba, travelers can retrace the storied steps of author Ernest Hemingway. NY1's Valarie D'Elia filed the following report. ">

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From Key West to Cuba, travelers can retrace the storied steps of author Ernest Hemingway. NY1's Valarie D'Elia filed the following report.

Ernest Hemingway would have been 111 years old this month, and as usual, Key West is staging its annual ode to Papa with its lookalike contest and other tributes.

But Hemingway also made his mark 90 miles south on his fishing trips from Key West to Cuba.

When Hemingway first arrived in Havana in the 1930’s he found respite from home and his wife Pauline, at Hotel Ambos Mundos which has since immortalized his room as a museum. A rooftop restaurant and bar is now a popular stop for visitors.

His girlfriend Martha, who was destined to replace Pauline, urged him to move out of the hotel and buy his own place. Just outside Havana, Finca Vigia, a balmy estate shaded by acres of banana palms, is also a museum that depicts the home much the way Hemingway left it.

It also showcases an office where he did much of his writing. On display are several artifacts from a 20 year period culminating in 1960 when he finally left the island for good. His fishing boat, Pilar, is now part of the exhibit.

Nearby is the fishing village of Cojimar, a small port town, that was the inspiration for "The Old Man and The Sea." After his death, locals erected a monument in his honor. Tourists can shuffle into La Terraza, the restaurant and bar where Hemingway often put an end to a day of wrangling with marlin on the Gulf Stream.

Since Hemingway did at least as much drinking as he did writing, other stops along the Hemingway trail in Havana include having daiquiries at the Floridita Bar and going to La Bodeguita for Mojitos, a drink that Hemingway basically put on the map.

Currently, Americans can’t legally spend money on a trip to Cuba unless they have a special license. However, momentum continues to build in Congress to lift the 50-year-old travel ban.


By: Valarie D'Elia

Source: www.ny1.com/


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