Following a few days in Miami we headed South along Highway 1 down to the Florida Keys (the picture above was taken at the mile marker at the very start of that road!). The keys are a chain of islands or archipelago that extend from the bottom of the Florida peninsula over a hundred miles into the sea towards Cuba. We decided that we should stay in the iconic Key West which is the furthest inhabited island in the chain from mainland USA, hence mile marker 0. After a rather warm and multi-hour drive we arrived into Key West and checked into our hotel, we quickly unpacked and headed out into the warm evening to explore.
Key West felt to me a bit like a rather scruffy English seaside town, albeit with rather more colourful buildings and obviously tropical weather. The photo above shows an old cinema, now converted into a store but the rather gaudy feel of the building could have easily placed it in Blackpool or Southend. Many of the larger buildings had ground and first floor verandas and reminded me of some of the historic buildings in New Orleans. One such building we visited (see below) was the home of famous author Ernest Hemmingway who lived in Key West between 1931 and 1939 seemingly dividing his time between authoring the novel "A Farewell to Arms", big game fishing and drinking to excess, it was clear he was a bit of a lad!
There are many quirky curiosities on Key West, the place is overrun with wild chickens and the Hemmingway house is overrun with cats, many of whom are polyactyl, meaning they have six toes. Apparently after a heavy drinking/gambling session in "Sloppy Joes" bar Hemmingway was given a white six toed cat by a sea captain, he kept it, and many of the 50 or so cats that now live in the grounds of his old house are descendents of that original feline. I didn't get a picture of a six toed cat, they were quite flighty, but I did manage to snap a cockrel running around on one of the streets and rather splendid he was too!
After a few days on Key West we headed back up North. On the journey we stopped at a Turtle Hospital in Marathon Key and were treated to a really interesting tour around the facility, I never knew turtles could suffer from so many complex "boat injuries" and diseases that need treatment, it was a great little place staffed by very dedicated carers, quite inspirational. Eventually we arrived back onto the mainland and headed up the highway across the Everglades, affectionately known as "Gator Alley" towards Naples, our next destination.
We were sad to leave the Keys and having been a little unsure about Key West to begin with it certainly grew on us, a truely unique place that even though very touristy has great charm. The picture below shows the old pier at the most Southerly tip of the USA, a great spot to watch the Sun go down and only 90 miles to Cuba!
More in part 3 as we head North..
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