Window shoppingAn economy crippled by US sanctions produces little that you might actually want to buy apart from cigars, rum and, in the tourist market , some impressive hand-made percussion instruments. If you are determined to take an image of Cuba home with you, paintings by local artists are sold in many doorways around the Plaza de la Catedral. If the work of art won’t fit in your suitcase, insist upon an export certificate or you could find it is confiscated at the airport. Cigars that you buy legitimately, for example from the atmospheric La Corona factory on Calle Agramonte, will come with a receipt that you will need to show on your way out of Cuba.

If you buy on the black market – and are lucky enough to be sold the genuine article – this may be seized too. An apertif”My mojito in La Bodeguita”, Hemingway used to insist, but back in the Fifties La Bodeguita del Medio wasn’t an unashamed tourist trap and one of the most expensive bars in Havana. It charges more for its signature cocktail than the average Cuban earns in a week. For a proletarian chaser, head for the proletarian Bar de Bilbao , a hilarious drunken dive on the corner of Calles Obispo and Aguiar.

The terrace of the Hotel Nacional is the place to be seen sipping Cuba Libres and puzzling at the contradictions of state socialism. Dining with the localsIn Cuba there is little chance of a convivial meal out with Habaneros. The top hotel restaurants can be superb; the Hotel Nacional is currently the favourite, but reckon on $50 (£35) for the food, and $30 (£21) for a moderate bottle of wine. Across in Old Havana, the Hostal Valencia does a decent paella. Elsewhere, you will pay a lot for mediocre dishes, whether at an official restaurant or a paladar (a private restaurant seating fewer than 12 people). If you can’t track a decent paladar down, plenty of people will help.Sunday morning: Go to churchThe church and convent of Santa Clara , at the west end of the street of that name, is airy, cool and calm – a welcome respite from the rest of Havana, then. Play your rosary right and you may be invited to visit the crypt.