Beyonce and rapper husband Jay-Z celebrated their fifth wedding anniversary in Havana, where big crowds greeted them as they strolled hand in hand through the Cuban capital.

They were the latest and perhaps greatest big-name US stars - actors Bill Murray, Sean Penn and James Caan among them - to visit the Caribbean island in the past few years, but the first to cause such a stir everywhere they went.

Fans in the street below cried out Beyonce's name as she and Jay-Z and their mothers dined at the upstairs restaurant La Guarida, famed as the location for the hit 1993 Cuban film Strawberry and Chocolate.

A crowd of several thousand people swarmed around them in the main square of Old Havana, which prompted their security team to put a halt to their visit to the site.

"I was in the eye of the whirlpool. We had to cut it short because it got so crazy," said architect Miguel Coyula, who gave the couple a tour of the 16th century heart of the city.

The couple declined to talk to the media to explain the purpose of their visit. The source close to the group said they were invited by Cuba's tourism ministry.

Reuters

(China Daily 04/08/2013 page10)