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Published: February 19th 2014
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It would have been a long drive on a busy road and 42 bridges across the Keys to get to Key West so my clever Suzanne found a day trip coach tour for us from Miami. Great - no driving for me - I could watch the ocean slip by on both sides as we drove across these long bridges connecting this long chain of islands...and I could have a beer. It has become our custom as well as sampling the cocktails to seek out the local beers wherever we are- good plan especially in hot weather. So our pick up point for the tour was only a block away from our nice little motel at 6.15 am and off we went . A long day on the coach but giving us 6 hours in Key West - we were up for that.
Dropping us off in the centre of the old part of town by the Quay we then got a hop on/off trolley to give us a tour around the sights. Obviously there are lots of tourists there but as always once you start walking and exploring side streets you can get a good feel of a place.
Are we always following in Ernest Hemingway's footsteps - it seems so- many places we have been there is a bar frequented by him and none more famous than his local in Key West - Sloppy Joe's... Suzanne was in there having a beer listening to country music while I wandered into the museum. We didn't have time to go into Hemingway's house and there are so many large tropical trees in the garden you couldnt even see it - but apparently he built the brick wall - so I took a photo of that!! Tennessee Williams also lived there -so it is obviously an inspirational place. I chatted to a lady in the museum shop and she told me that a lot of students coming in had never heard of or read Tennessee Williams - so she was pleased when i told her I had seen one of his plays in London last year.
In this old quarter there were beautiful old wooden houses with wrap around porches and balconies - one style of house being a "shotgun house" with front and back door in line ( like the barrel of a gun) which was a form of
early air conditioning, opening both doors allowed a nice breeze through the house. And of course Cuba is only a few miles away across the sea- so there we were at the most southern point of mainland USA. Does that mean I now have to plan a trip to Alasksa to do the Northernmost state ? The streets are lined with magnificent palms and other great trees like banyans and dotted about are sculptures obviously inspired by a Renoir ( I think) painting.
Conch ( pronounced conk) shells abound as well as coconuts which of course had been turned into all sorts of gifts to tempt you to buy or in our case take photos!! But also fried conch fritters were on the menu - very tasty.
We were lucky to come across a parade with folk dressed in historical costume - beautiful to see as well as chickens and cockerels roaming the streets said to have been brought in by the Cubans- certainly a very interesting and distinctive place to visit.
So have a look at some of the photos and share our 6 hours in Key West.
( Actually I am back home now
but with last weeks travels to blog about so I better get on with it)
If you read this let me have some comments please.
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D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
The joys of Key West
There was a time in my life I seriously thought about moving to Key West. Who knows it could still happen some day. A quirky town that has more to offer than on the surface. I'm glad you made it down there.