Key West

On Saturday, we disembarked the Majestic Princess, and I'm happy to say that the disembarking process went much smoother than the embarkation process. After all, you can't get off the wrong ship, can you. (If you haven't read my post about our embarkation "fun", we almost got on the wrong ship.)

After we disembarked, we drove south from Fort Lauderdale all the way to the end of the road at Key West. We enjoyed the drive down. From Key Largo to Key West, you're driving mostly along what's known as the Overseas Highway, driving across bridges from island to island. Although here, they're not called islands, they're called Keys: Key Largo, Fiesta Key, Big Pine Key, Sugarloaf Key, Shark Key, etc. all the way to the end at Key West. We enjoyed full sunshine and about 75 degree temperatures while traversing turquoise blue water.

Overseas Highway

Overseas Highway

We saw some beautiful scenery coming into Key West.

When we got to Key West, we walked around Old Town. The main attraction in Key West is Duval Street, where there are many restaurants, shops, bars, etc. When we arrived Saturday afternoon, it was very crowded. We noticed that there was a cruise ship in port, and perhaps that explained the great crowds. Later, after the cruise ship left port, it was much less crowded, proving our theory. 

We decided to take a tour of Key West on a Conch Tour Train. Some of the places we passed on the Conch train were Mallory Square, Harry S Truman Little White House (the winter White House of Harry Truman), Key West Aquarium, Key West Shipwreck Treasure Museum, Audubon House, Hemingway House, and the southernmost point in the US. 

We passed by a pier that extended pretty far out into the sea, and the Conch tour guide told us that they call it the unfinished road to Cuba. We passed by Key West's only skyscraper, a hotel with 7 floors. We passed the first official headquarters of Pan Am Airlines (remember them?). 

Birthplace of Pan Am 

We passed the place where Highway One begins, mile 0 of the highway. 

We passed by an unusual Walgreens, which is located in a former Strand Theater.

Walgreens

Here are some pictures from other places around Key West that we passed as we toured the city on the Conch Train.

Conch Train

Beach

Conch is a big theme in Key West. There are conch shells for sale everywhere, and there were references to the Conch Republic, with many flags flying from houses with this display. The Conch Tour Train guide told us that if you were born in Key West, you are considered a salt water conch, and if you've lived here 7 years, you are considered a fresh water conch.

Apparently the city of Key West developed quickly after the railroad arrived here. In fact, Key West was once (apparently a long time ago) the largest city in Florida, the wealthiest city per capita in the US, and the largest producer of cigars and natural sponges in the country (even more sponges than Spongearama?!!) Many well known people have been drawn to Key West, such as John James Audubon, Ernest Hemingway, Harry Truman, Tennessee Williams, and Robert Frost.  

There are lots of trees on the island, but two of them are particularly interesting: the Banyan tree and the Kapok tree. The Banyan tree is very unusual in that roots grow downward from the branches and form new, smaller tree trunks. 

Banyan Tree

The Kapok tree has a huge trunk and the roots go down into the earth as much as 150 feet.

Kapok Tree

Lots of Key West reminded us of New Orleans. The famed Duval Street, where tourists walked up and down enjoying the ambiance, reminded us of the French Quarter or Magazine Street in New Orleans. There were also shotgun houses, so called because the front door and back door are aligned so that you could shoot a gun at the front door and the bullet would exit the back door without hitting anything. There was also the Audubon house, a Bourbon Street pub, and a place where they sold pralines.

Praline Shop

There are lots of chickens, mostly roosters, roaming the streets of Key West. Supposedly cockfighting was big at one time in Key West. When it became illegal, the chickens were then free to just roam the streets.

After the Conch Tour Train, we went to the Hemingway House and did a self-guided tour there. 

Hemingway House

There are many cats at the Hemingway House. Supposedly, as the story goes, the cats are all descendants of a six-toed cat that was given to Hemingway by a ship captain in the 1930s. It is said that all the descendants that now roam the Hemingway House and grounds are also six-toed, but we didn't count them (the toes, not the cats, although we didn't count the cats either).

Other pictures from the Hemingway House:

We saw the study, Hemingway's office, where he did his writing. It was on the second floor of another building located behind the main house.

Stairs leading up to Hemingway's study

Hemingway's study

After our visit to the Hemingway House, we walked around town. One of the things we wanted to do while in Key West was to have a slice of famous Key Lime Pie. We had had some of this delicious treat many years ago when we visited here, and definitely wanted to try it again while here. We found a nice place called Kermit's Key Lime Pie where we had options of whole pie, slice, pie on a stick, and chocolate covered pie. We opted for the traditional slice.

Kermit's Key Lime Pie shop

After walking around awhile, we went to Saturday evening Mass at St. Mary Star of the Sea Basilica. The priest was standing out front greeting everyone as they went in - very friendly. The inside of the church was open air - tall windows with doors open to allow fresh air in - lined both side walls. There was no air conditioning, but with the breeze from the windows, it felt very refreshing.

St. Mary Star of the Sea

On Sunday morning, we returned to Mallory Square. It was much less crowded and the plaza near the coast was charming. We walked around for a few hours and then headed out for our next adventure, which will be covered in the next post.