A visit to Cuba isn't just about the cigars, the mojitos and the island music.
There's another legacy there.
Iconic writer Ernest Hemingway used the communist country as his inspiration and hideaway.
Alongside the Florida Orchestra, Bay News 9's Veronica Cintron visited the nation and got a rare peek at Hemingway's home away from home.
Hemingway lived for two decades on the island. His home sits up on a hill, 35 minutes outside Havana. It’s a museum now and draws some 80,000 visitors a year.
Tourists can’t go inside the national treasure, but Bay News 9 was invited in.
Hemingway was an avid hunter and the museum director says he liked to write standing up on an antelope skin rug.
"It gave him vigor, strength and luck. He was superstitious," said Ada Rosa Alfonso, the director of the Hemingway Museum.
The famous author was also weight conscious. He wrote his daily weight on the bathroom wall.
Outside of the home, there is his boat "Pilar," which Hemingway also allegedly used to track Nazi submarines.
What’s no secret is his love for animals. When Hemingway lived at the Cuba home, he owned more than 50 cats and about 16 dogs. Four of them are buried there.
Memories of The Old Man and the Sea come to life in the town of Cojimar. It's believed to have inspired the famous book.
He loved the water, so it’s no surprise Cuba’s largest marina is named after Hemingway.
But it wasn’t all work and no play for Hemingway. He spent much of his down time at El Floridita Bar, or little Florida, in Havana. It's the self proclaimed birthplace of the daiquiri.
Another Hemingway hot spot? La Bodeguita del Medio, where he drank his favorite mojito.
Hemingway first sailed to Cuba in 1939.
After his death in 1961, the Cuban government took possession of his home.