Havana, Sep 9 (IANS/EFE) The grandsons of noted American author Ernest Hemingway visited a Cuban fishing village which inspired the author to write "The Old Man and the Sea" which fetched him a Nobel Prize 60 years ago.

On the 60th anniversary of their grandfather's Nobel Prize in Literature, John and Patrick Hemingway arrived Monday in Cojimar village aboard a boat similar to the writer's yacht, the Pilar.

Eighty years have also passed since Ernest Hemingway bought that boat with which he began his crossings from Key West to this village that he visited frequently during the 20 years he lived on and off in Havana.

"It's incredible to be here in this place that my grandfather loved so much. Now I understand why, because the people are wonderful," John Hemingway said.

His brother Patrick Hemingway, who knows a lot about the island and is on his fifth visit here, said it was an honour to have come to Cojimar by sea like his grandfather did.

Both expressed gratitude for the warm welcome extended by the people of Cojimar who presented them with flowers and Cuban flags to lay at the bust of Ernest Hemingway installed on the 1st anniversary of his July 1961 suicide in Ketchum, Idaho.

The sculpture looks out to sea in tribute to the fishermen with whom Ernest Hemingway shared many moments and who donated for his bust the bronze they salvaged from old abandoned fishing boats.