Cobbled streets of pastel colonial houses, a Gothic cathedral on Parque Colón and fort walls on the Ozama River.
What Zona Colonial looks like
Narrow streets run in a checkerboard grid, and many of them are still cobbled. Most houses are two storeys with some three, and many of their plaster walls are painted in pastel colours. Wrought-iron balconies sit above arched wooden doors on many street fronts. The larger houses have interior courtyards with arcades on the ground floor.
sits beside the cathedral, a Gothic building fronted in golden coral limestone. Its main doorway is Gothic-Plateresque, with carved figures in the niches on either side.
The is a two-storey stone palace, predominantly Gothic with Renaissance detailing. , built between 1502 and 1508, stands at the river edge with thick stone walls and a central tower.
runs north to south through the district and climbs a steep cobbled slope between the Fuerte y Parque de San José and the San Francisco ruin. Old houses line the slope above a stone retaining wall, and the white bell tower of the Altagracia church stands at its corner with Las Mercedes. At the top, the Franciscan monastery built between 1508 and 1560 survives as a ruin.
Parked cars and overhead wires appear in many of the frames. A tight shot on the house fronts keeps both out.
Shot in Zona Colonial
For the 1974 film The Godfather Part II, the steep stretch of Calle Hostos stood in for Havana. The credit covers that stretch rather than the whole street, which runs north to south through the district.
The Godfather Part II, 1974
Calle Hostos
Played a Havana street, Havana, Cuba, 1950s
One of the Havana scenes was filmed on the steep slope of Calle Hostos. That stretch climbs from the Fuerte y Parque de San José to the San Francisco ruin.
What Zona Colonial can double for
Old Havana in Havana, Cuba
Old Havana has the same core of narrow streets, colonial houses and a plaza where the cathedral is the most prominent building. The 1974 film already used the Calle Hostos slope in this district for 1950s Havana, so the match has been tested on screen. Parked modern cars and shop signs give the street away, so 1950s frames need tight shots of the stone house fronts. Try searching old havana colonial streets now.
Viejo San Juan in San Juan, Puerto Rico
Viejo San Juan has narrow, blue cobblestone streets and flat-roofed brick and stone buildings inside Spanish walls. The sea and the El Morro headland give Viejo San Juan away in a wide shot, so keep the frame to the streets. Try searching blue cobblestone streets now.
Centro in Cartagena, Colombia
Cartagena's downtown is mainly colonial, with balconied buildings around a plaza painted in pastel colours much like the houses here. Its old city walls still enclose the downtown. Cartagena's saturated colours are the tell in a wide shot, so grade the palette down or frame the streets tight. Try searching balconied colonial buildings now.
