November 25, 1999

Tania Quintero, Cuba Press

HAVANA, November 22 - The Queen of Spain shunned the better-known restaurants in Havana and dined at a small "independent" establishment in Old Havana, during her recent visit here.

On Sunday, November 14, Queen Sofía, accompanied by Ana Botella, the wife of Spanish President José María Aznar and by the cultural attaché and other officials of the Spanish Embassy in Havana, showed up at La Guarida, a restaurant with a capacity for twelve diners on the third floor of a decrepit old house in the heart of Old Havana.

The Queen's visit stirred up the neighbors, who are not used to such goings-on as police escorts and luxury cars in their neck of the woods. The owners of the restaurant themselves, although they had reserved their three tables for Spanish Embassy personnel, were unaware that the Queen was to visit.

The house on Concordia Street was once a grand mansion, now decayed, which is used as a rooming house. It is the house where Tomás Gutiérrez Alea filmed the interiors for his Oscar nominated film Strawberry and Chocolate.

The Queen's visit was not reported by the official Cuban press.

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