As much as Fidel and the revered Che are symbols of Cuba, the character I made most of a connection with on my trip to Cuba was Ernest Hemingway. By connection I mean – we drank in the bars he frequented, went to his hotel room and drank mojitos with double shots of rum as the man himself did. A deeply complex man, a full and varied life – I’ve sought to pull together some detail from our trip to his retreat outside Havana.

6. Hemingway fell in love with the country of Cuba on a brief visit at the end of the 1930s, it was his wife Martha however that was a fan of his house ‘Finca Vigia’, a gorgeous Spanish colonial residence, in the hills outside Havana and bought it against his wishes. The house, on a substanial piece of land, currently being restored sits with a view of Havana to the north, lush green countryside surrounds elsewhere. Literally half of the house was committed to creating an environment for Hemingway to work in – a lounge, bathroom and bedroom, run the length of the west of the house and in this space used exclusively by Hemingway he wrote some of his greatest works such as ‘For Whom the Bell Tolls’ and ‘The Old Man and the Sea’.

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The interior, Hemingways living room, full of remanants of his passions – reading, hunting, fishing and music. His collection inspired me to pick up some ‘tasteful’ pieces as momentos of my trip around Cuba, something I hope to continue doing in the future.

4. The man kept great company and lived a life I can’t imagine many living these days – presents from visiting heads of state are made even more impressive when you hear they were delivered in person by the Presidents of America and Russia at the height of the Cold War. So too actors like Erroll Flynn, Garry Cooper and Spencer Tracy were visitors, and Ava Gardner famously swam naked in his pool.

3. Hemingway’s widow, Mary Welsh, turned the property over to the Cuban government after the writer committed suicide in 1961, and much of it remains as Hemingway left it – mildewed rum bottles, a pickled bat in a jar and his typewriter. Work to renovate the termite-ravaged house and fix the effects of years of humidity on its contents was begun in 2005, when the U.S. National Trust for Historic Preservation placed the estate on a list of endangered sites. The trust has sent restoration experts to Cuba but, slowing up the project, the decades-old U.S. trade embargo has barred it and other heritage groups from sending funds or materials. A committed team are involved in what is a slow restoration project now, our guide Isobel offered a thoughtful tour around the house (looking in from the outside that is through windowns ans french doors – entry is forbidden). Her departing remarks were that she felt Hemingways connection with Cuba is often over looked, tours elsewhere in America (Idaho is his birthplace) skimming over the location he clearly made such a connection with.

2. A man who believed in the whims of luck, there are pieces of tree roots from Africa adorning the doors and windows of the main living room to ward off bad luck. Hemingway often spoke in terms of luck, it is a recurring theme in ‘The Old Man and the Sea’ which served as some of my holiday reading. One of his most notorious instances of bad luck were the injuries sustained following two successive plane crashes in Africa and burns sustained in a bush fire. Some papers published his obituary – while he did survive, his injuries included a sprained right shoulder, arm, and left leg, a grave concussion, temporarily lost vision in his left eye and the hearing in his left ear, paralysis of the spine, a crushed vertebra, ruptured liver, spleen and kidney, and first degree burns on his face, arms, and leg.

1. Hemingways boat ‘Pilar’ is stored at the back of the house, placed there as promised by Gregorio – Hemingways fishing partner and boat captain following the writers death. Gregorio lived until 2002 reaching the age of 104 and could be visited at his house at the nearby fishing village and on receipt of a few pesos would divulge some stories of his time with Hemingway. Gregorio was the inspiration for the main character, Santiago at the centre of ‘The Old Man and the Sea’ – such a gracious and noble character – the portrayal is a great compliment. The boat was of course used for fishing expeditions but Hemingway also used to monitor the Cuban and United States coastline during WWII to watch for German submarines posing a threat to shipping.