Havana: A step back into my past

It wasn't just a holiday - it was a memory of my childhood.

I visited Havana a few years ago. I loved it.

But for me, it wasn’t just a holiday. It was like stepping into a time machine.

Walking those streets felt like walking through Bucharest 30-40 years ago.

I was a child then. Romania was just coming out of communism. The revolution had passed, but the world had not changed yet.

Havana felt exactly the same.

We had that same soft ice cream, sold on street corners from dubious machines. We had the same thick pizza. The stores were always empty. The buildings were beautiful, but they were falling apart.

There was one difference. We didn’t have the fancy, coloured American cars - the Soviets were never very good at manufacturing cars.

But the feeling on the street? That was identical.

It was about connection.

Kids were playing outside. Adults were sitting on the steps, talking to each other. They weren’t staring at phones. They were just present.

They were relaxing - just like the man in this picture with his cigar.

We had music. And we had a specific kind of joy. It was the joy of not knowing - or not caring - about the bad things happening outside our borders.

We didn’t have much, but we had time.