Havana's Capitol building resembles its counterpart in Washington, DC.

Photo: Steve Woodhall

In the West, we're used to privatized spaces, but in Cuba, life takes place in the streets.

Here in Havana - Cuba's largest city - boys play football, flocks of school children do gymnastics in grand old squares and live music - the famous Cuban son - spills out of every cafe.

People have little money for luxuries, but they're well fed, well dressed (if disco gear is your idea of dress) and laugh a lot. The trade embargo imposed by the United States (in which countries which trade with Cuba cannot trade with the US) means there are fuel shortages and therefore the traffic is relatively light. There are lots of bicycles and even good old-fashioned horse and carriages on the roads - not prettied-up and touristy, just doing their jobs as part of the public transport system. Less delightful but still unique, you'll see bizarre-looking "camels" transporting the masses to work and school. These are massive, tank-like tractor trailers that have been ingeniously retrofitted as buses.

There are colourful murals everywhere, some militaristic but mostly of the Diego Rivera/Pablo Picasso-inspired school of socially committed art. Just walk and lap it all up and when you need a rest break, head into a cool, leafy spot for a revitalizing mojito and maracas. You could do this for weeks.

If you'd like some focus to your rambling, there are plenty of places to head for. One of these is the Capitol, completed in 1929 to look exactly like the one in Washington DC. Unlike the one in DC, this imposing white building with its sumptuous interior has a low-key atmosphere. The rooms now house the Ministry of Science and a big library and you can wander around at will, checking out points of interest like the "third largest indoor sculpture in the world".

From the Capitol, walk down a wide street they call the Prado (officially known as Paseo de Marti). This is a great spot to be at dusk, when you'll see that the wonderful European custom of promenading has been kept alive. People walk, en famille, up and down, meeting, greeting and showing off. Lovers smooch on the park benches in the semi darkness while little kids go crazy with their toy ride-on cars (it's easy to pick who has relatives in Miami).

Night or day, the Malecon, Havana's famous sea wall, makes an inviting stroll. Boys throw themselves into the sea, fishermen sit in a companionable row, their old-fashioned wooden reels lined up behind them, and you can see the old El Morro fort across the harbour. Million-dollar views are to be had from the buildings lining the Malecon, but you'll see that most are inhabited by ordinary folk, not millionaires: socialism in action.

However, money is talking, even in Havana, and some of the buildings are being overhauled and spruced up. The restoration is beautifully done.

At the Museo de la Revolucion you can check out the bullet-holes in the cute red delivery truck used as a disguise to deliver 42 revolutionaries (they must have been squashed in there like sardines) to an assault on the presidential palace in 1957. It's here you can get the complete story of the 1959 revolution led by Fidel Castro and Che Guevara, and Cuba's transition to socialism.

After that, head off to the vast, open, Revolution Square, with its gigantic statue of Jose Marti and a neon-lit outline of that iconic Guevara visage with the legend Hasta La Victoria Siempre (victory forever).