Lewis, a tourism and lifestyle photographer who also writes a travel blog (see Heidi Who), spent two weeks in Cuba with La Bomba dance studio, which runs annual cultural tours to the country.

“It’s always been on my bucket list,” she says

“We were mainly in Havana. There were a lot of concerts, a lot of [salsa] dancing at night, dance classes but also time spent discovering the streets of Havana, the culture.”

Cuba is a photographer’s dream, and Lewis took hundreds of photos while exploring Havana by foot, in the yellow Cocotaxis (an automatic rickshaw-type vehicle), Bicitaxi (bike taxi) – and, on one occasion, even a 1960s Chevrolet convertible.

In Old Havana, she says, it’s easy to imagine how grand some of the now-dilapidated buildings might have looked in their heyday, before a lack of money for maintenance saw them fall into disrepair.

Street art and a kaleidoscope of colour add to the allure of the cityscape.

“The streets are amazing because of the fact that the buildings are crumbling all around you and people live in them … a lot of the life is on the streets as well, with people hanging around.”

Streets of Havana – A Photo Journey, an exhibition of photos showing the city through her eyes, will open this Thursday at The Howling Owl in Vaughan Place in the East End.

Here’s a taste of what you’ll see:

Photo: Heidi Lewis

Photo: Heidi Lewis

Photo: Heidi Lewis

Photo: Heidi Lewis

Photo: Heidi Lewis

Photo: Heidi Lewis

Photo: Heidi Lewis

Photo: Heidi Lewis