Restored colonial blocks with iron balconies stand beside walls still open to the sky on the same peninsula streets.
What Casco Viejo looks like
Three and four storey townhouses line Casco Viejo's narrow streets, stucco and plaster walls painted in ochre, pink, pale yellow and cream. Wrought iron balconies run the width of the upper floors, some glassed in, some open over the cobblestones below. Red tile roofs cap most blocks, with a few mansard dormers from the French era breaking the roofline.
Not every block is finished. Some facades still stand open to the sky, their window openings empty and their interiors stripped to stone and brick, with scaffolding climbing the walls of buildings mid restoration. holds a bronze equestrian statue of General Tomás Herrera at its center, ringed by restored arcades on one side and a weathered stone tower on the other.
The , on Avenida A, holds a gold leaf altarpiece behind a plain white facade. sits a few blocks east, a bronze monument to Simón Bolívar set in front of the twin bell towers and tiled dome of the Church of San Francisco de Asís.
, a row of vaulted stone rooms built into the old seawall, sits below Plaza de Francia at the peninsula's southern tip, with a promenade running along the ramparts above. From the railing, the bay opens out on one side, and the glass towers of the modern skyline rise across the water on the other.
Shot in Casco Viejo
Quantum of Solace used two buildings in Casco Viejo about 160 metres apart. The 's ballroom terrace served as a hotel terrace, and the Instituto Nacional de Cultura building played a hotel in Bolivia.
Quantum of Solace, 2008
The Sofitel Legend Casco Viejo
The ballroom terrace of the 1917 building, now the Sofitel Legend Casco Viejo, served as a hotel terrace in Quantum of Solace. The building stands on Calle Primera Oeste, the address the Union Club carried before the hotel's 2023 reopening. Street View
Quantum of Solace, 2008
Played a hotel, Bolivia, present day
The Instituto Nacional de Cultura building, on Plaza de Francia, played a hotel in Bolivia in Quantum of Solace. The building sits a short walk from Las Bóvedas, at the southern end of the peninsula where the old seawall meets Calle 1a Oeste. Street View
Around Plaza Vieja, arcaded colonial facades in ochre and blue sit at the same two to four storey scale as Casco Viejo, with wrought iron balconies on the upper floors and similarly patched, half restored blocks nearby. Havana's streets run wider and its balconies are mostly wood rather than iron, so tighter frames on a single arcaded block hold the match better than a wide street view. Try searching arcaded colonial facades now.
Ciudad Amurallada in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia
Ciudad Amurallada, the walled old town of Cartagena de Indias, carries the same colonial scale, two and three storey townhouses with pastel stucco walls along narrow streets built for a defended port. Cartagena's balconies and window grilles are carved wood rather than Casco Viejo's iron, heavier and more ornate in profile, a difference that shows in any close framing of the upper floors. Try searching wood balconies pastel stucco now.
Viejo San Juan in San Juan, Puerto Rico
Viejo San Juan has the same Spanish colonial grid and balcony scale, two and three storey buildings in bright color blocks along narrow streets near the bay. San Juan's streets are paved in blue grey adoquines rather than cobblestone or brick, which reads clearly in any shot that includes the ground. Try searching narrow colonial streets near bay now.
The French Quarter's cast iron galleries read at a similar balcony scale to Casco Viejo's ironwork, wrapping corner buildings at roughly the same two and three storey height. New Orleans ironwork is almost all filigree cast iron rather than the simpler wrought iron railings here, and the brick runs redder, so close shots of the railings themselves hold the stronger match. Try searching cast iron balcony galleries now.
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