The last days of the year are always a time to reflect on what we lived and the sensations we experienced in the previous months; but above all, the right time to establish a new starting point and draw the goals for which we will fight in our new return to the sun. And looking for a cozy place to sit down and write about what I want 2024 to be like for me, I found the literary café Marqués de Arco, located on Mercaderes Street, in the heart of Old Havana.

I was attracted by its exuberant garden, which, scented with the smell of coffee, seemed to me an incredible place to spend the afternoon. At the entrance there is a plaque with the poem "Habanera" by the Cuban poet Jesús Orta Ruiz, known as Indio Naborí, placed on the centenary of his birth.
Walking through the garden was very relaxing, because you can feel the contact with nature, and it is like having a little piece of forest in the middle of the city. In it you can find sculptures of renowned figures in world literature such as Hans Christian Andersen and the German writer Froebel, also known as "God's pedagogue".

In spite of the green vegetation at this time of the year, what I enjoyed most about the garden is that it is home to several cats that walk with the elegance that characterizes them, feeling like they own the place, and you can even feed them because they are very friendly. I did notice that they are not fond of photography 😅; but I always managed, after much effort, to capture snapshots of some of them.

The roofed room is small and has a capacity for about 30 diners. Its interior design is very nice because its walls, and even the furniture, are decorated with phrases, names of books and snippets of poems of different writers, both national and international, of various literary genres.

But undoubtedly, my biggest surprise was to learn that you can practice reading in exchange, because they have boxes that function as bookcases, where you can choose to take home any of the books that are treasured inside on the condition that you leave another one in its place. The idea seemed incredible to me, it's a pity that I only had my notebook with me... because they had very interesting copies.

And finally the most important thing: I was able to enjoy a delicious espresso coffee, and as a good lover of the black nectar I always close my eyes when I try it. The menu of the place currently consists of 10 varieties of coffee and all the offers are available; although they also sell other products such as a variety of pastries, assorted sweets and some traditional cocktails.

Photo: @indipnash91
Device: Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G
Editing: Canvas
Translation: DeepL