The Metropolitan Park, better known as Almendares Park, is considered the lung of the capital of Havana, a tropical forest of great landscape value, the only area of the city with the presence of an urban forest that crosses the lands corresponding to four municipalities of Havana.
Almendares Park is located on the banks of the Almendares River, west of the city of Havana, and is approximately seven kilometers long.
In the late 1920s, the Ministry of Public Works invited Jean Claude Nicolás Forestier, then curator of the Parks of Paris, to Cuba to make the relevant recommendations to give Havana a fresher and more modern appearance. The French urban planner then conceived the creation of a Great National Park on the banks of the Almendares River.
Forestier's proposal could not be realized immediately, but throughout the 1930s, when the area was already trapped in the expansion of the city, and some urban projects were carried out, including the Havana Forest.
Shortly after the triumph of the Revolution, the construction of the Almendares Park took place next to the bridge that bears the same name. The construction included an amusement park for children, cafeterias and spaces for holding parties.
The Metropolitan Park continued to develop in the 1990s, but it is an unfinished project, as it is still perceived as a series of scattered natural spaces, each with its own personality.
Part of this forest is a protected area in the category of protected natural landscapes in Cuba and is called Isla Josefina. It is one of the most beautiful places in Havana with dense tropical vegetation, where the visitor can enjoy a natural environment of tropical jungle, without leaving the city.
The protected natural landscape of Isla Josefina occupies an area of almost 9 hectares on both banks of the Almendares, and brings great landscape value to this area of varied and exuberant vegetation.
The origin of the name Isla Josefina, of this part of the park, is linked to Mrs. Josefa (Josefina) Juana Gabriela de Embil Quesada, who was the former owner of these lands in the second half of the 19th century.
In the forest there are several leisure centres such as Parque Almendares, El Parque Forestal, the Almendares Amphitheatre, Los Jardines de La Tropical and Los Jardines de La Polar, the last two in the gardens of old breweries, where famous concerts were regularly held.
Unfortunately, the immense pollution of the river; due to the old industries installed nearby and the marginal neighborhoods that dump wastewater there, makes this natural park less attractive, as well as the usual presence of remains of animal sacrifices related to the practices and rituals of Cuban Santeria on the banks of the river.
However, these wooded areas of Havana appear as a bubble of peace and tranquility, a natural redoubt of fresh air so that locals and visitors can escape from time to time from the typical hustle and bustle of the urban jungle.
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