Before leaving Havana for our trip to Cienfuegos and Trinidad, we made a detour to Finca Vigia, the home of Ernest Hemingway. He lived there in the periods between his foreign trips, for almost 20 years. The villa was built in 1887 and bought by Hemingway in 1940. It was made a public museum in 1962 when news of Hemingway’s suicide in the US reached Cuba. Visitors are not allowed inside by order of the Cuban government. We were able to view the rooms from the terrace as the windows were opened.
From the entrance gates we could see the Cuban flag waving in the breeze. Actually, the house is at the end of a long laneway and Osmel obliged by driving our bus directly to the house.
Everything is in the same meticulous order as it was when Hemingway lived there. There are his 9000 books, various hunting trophies, personal possessions, such as his weapons and typewriter and valuable artworks, including a ceramic plate by Picasso.
Touring the grounds, we were able to climb the tower where Hemingway sometimes wrote.The second floor was for his various cats.
In Hemingway’s studio on the upper floor are various other artifacts of his time spent there – I wonder which, if any, novels he wrote using this typewriter?
Novels
- (1940) For Whom the Bell Tolls
- (1950) Across the River and into the Trees
- (1952) The Old Man and the Sea
- (1970) Islands in the Stream
- (1986) The Garden of Eden
- (1999) True at First Light
Obviously, some of his works were published posthumously…
For more info on Finca Vigia here is a Wikipedia link –
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finca_Vig%C3%ADa
Here are a few photos we were able to take of the premises – Thru the looking glass, views of some of the 9000 books and his hunting trophies!
He was at Finca Vigia in 1954 when he found out that he had received the Nobel Prize for Literature. The Nobel Prize in Literature 1954 was awarded “for his mastery of the art of narrative, most recently demonstrated in The Old Man and the Sea, and for the influence that he has exerted on contemporary style”.
Of course, his famous fishing boat, Pilar, has also been relocated to the grounds from nearby Cojimar. The Pilar was made of American black oak, and Hemingway loved ploughing through the waves on fishing expeditions. During World War II he used it to patrol the sea north of Cuba on the lookout for Nazi submarines!
Upon his death, the fishermen in the village had this bronze cast in his memory. It is on display on the boat.
After requisite souvenir shopping, we were off to Cienfuegos…
Cuban Odyssey 