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It was an early awakening today only because I set my alarm to enable me to see the sunrise.
It was well worth it, the view over the ocean was amazing at about 6:30am. I’ve never seen anything quite so incredible.
Once we’d packed and checked out, we got back on the Overseas Highway 1 South, heading for our next destination, Key West. The route along the Keys is easy, it’s one road all the way, so you can’t go wrong.
This was the longest part of our journey, roughly 70 miles, but it takes longer than expected as the speed limit is between 45 and 55 mph. Mile markers told us how long was left on our journey, as the numbering starts at zero in Key West. The markers obviously counted down on our journey.
Despite the monotony of driving down one road, we got chance to see the beautiful coastlines of the Atlantic Ocean on our left and Florida Bay/Gulf of Mexico on our right. At some of the Keys, we could just see blue water either side of us, especially driving over the Seven Mile Bridge which is just past Marathon Key, heading towards Key West. We wanted to park up at the viewing point at the beginning of the bridge, but there were no spaces so we pressed on.
The Seven Mile Bridge takes about ten minutes to drive over. On one side we saw the original railroad bridge commissioned by oil business man Henry Flagler, which was completed in 1916. Sadly, the railroad was destroyed by a hurricane in 1935 and its replacement, the Overseas Highway, was opened in 1938. The current road bridge was constructed from 1978 to 1982. You can read the full story here:
https://www.visitflorida.com/travel-ideas/articles/florida-keys-the-keys-seven-mile-bridge/
There is also talk of replacing the current 40 year old bridge with plans being put in place.
https://amp.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/florida-keys/article269736591.html
At the other end, the viewing area car park was almost empty, so we parked up and walked a bit of the way onto the Bridge to take a few pictures. Crossing this bridge was another of my bucket list ticked off.
We continued to Key West and arrived just before midday. The accommodation we had booked, on Fleming Street, had no parking facilities, which we knew when we booked it.
It is situated in an area that is quite residential, but central to Key West in the Old Town. We had to park in a public car park which costs $40 per day!!
Check-in wasn’t until 3pm but our two-storey accommodation was ready so we could drop our bags off before heading to Duval Street for something to eat. It was very busy here, with lots of people who were from a cruise ship getting very loud and very drunk. However, we found somewhere to eat, a taco place called Amigos, which hit the spot.
Once we’d eaten, we decided to walk the full length of Duval Street, starting at the Mallory Square/Gulf of Mexico end, which is in the north. We found the Sunset Pier at zero Duval Street, and set off. JC spotted an iguana which was really exciting. I couldn’t get too close for a shot but managed it before he plopped into the water. We also saw some roosters and chickens, more of that later…
Our first stop was the famous Hog’s Breath Saloon, which is a bar known for its live entertainment. There was a singer playing an acoustic guitar singing great renditions of classic rock and blues songs. It was a very lively spot so I tried the Hog’s Breath IPA (at 7%, one is enough) before moving on.
“HOG’S BREATH IS BETTER THAN NO BREATH AT ALL!”
It wasn’t long before we arrived at Sloppy Joe’s, one of the hundred or so bars along Duval Street. It was Ernest Hemingway‘s favourite bar. Every year, in July, the bar holds an Ernest Hemingway lookalike competition, which was recently highlighted on Bradley and Barney Walsh’s TV programme, Breaking Dad.
Willie T’s was another lively establishment, further down Duval Street, that also had a live singer. The whole of the walls were decorated in dollar bills, there must be a small fortune there!! We stopped for one drink but got talking to Maddie, a 74 year old lady from Jacksonville in north Florida. She wasn’t too happy about the noise because she wanted to talk to people. Once the music had stopped, we had a good chat about politics, travel, the youth of today, anything you could think of really. She didn’t like the people who came off the cruise ships who “got drunk, bought a T-shirt and went back to the ship”. This is exactly what we had witnessed earlier!! She gave me her email address and asked us to keep in touch.
Next, we found ourselves in the area known as the “pink triangle”, which is part of Duval Street that has a few LGBTQ+ bars and clubs. This was noticeable by the rainbow crosswalks installed in May 2015.
Heading south, we saw more and more roosters crowing and strutting about, and mother hens with their chicks. It’s hard not to miss them, they seemed to be everywhere. They are called gypsy chickens by local people, probably because they are allowed to roam about. They don’t seem to be bothered much by people or traffic, but it is illegal to feed them. To get rid of nuisance chickens, residents can borrow a trap from the wildlife center and bring the captured bird there. The chickens are fed and cared for, getting fat and healthy. There are so many chickens in Key West that there is currently a waiting list to borrow a trap!!
We finally arrived at the Southernmost Point of the USA, just before 6pm. There was a small queue of people taking photos and selfies. I took photos for the people in front of me, then they did the same. It’s hard to imagine that we are only 90 miles away from Cuba, as stated on the buoy that marks this point.
On the way back, we stopped at a couple more bars, Southernmost Point of USA Bar, and Grand Vin. We’d made a good effort tackling the numerous bars along Duval Street before a change of clothes and back out to our restaurant of choice, Antonia’s. This was a classic Italian restaurant where we were well looked after. One of the specials, tuna tartare, was to die for.
On leaving the restaurant. Duval Street was much quieter and we headed back to our room and went to bed, ready for another busy day on Thursday.
jctraveller 
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