A quick day trip to Key West

At 7am, the bus arrived to pick us up. We weren't certain we wanted to go to Key West because our trip was so short, but in the end we figured it'd be a fun excursion. We had initially thought of staying in Key West for a couple of days, but the thought of changing hotels twice seemed crazy for a week-long trip to the US. As usual, the sky was a little cloudy, but still sunny outside. It wasn't until we were almost there that it began to rain. It rained so bad that Alessandro took pictures outside the front window of the bus where all he could see was white.

Living in Florence :: A quick day trip to Key West

It was only sprinkling when we arrived in Key West, but it was much cooler than Miami Beach. I was hoping it'd be hot and humid like it was when we left, but it was rather cool instead. On our way down the street to the main drag, Duval Street, it began to pour down on us. We weren't prepared at all and got completely drenched. We stood underneath a huge tree, huddled together laughing. The second we saw a taxi, I waved him down and he drove us to a restaurant on Duval Street.

We had a quick lunch at Hard Rock Café, a place I had never been to eat, but the only place I could name to the taxi driver. I had nachos and Alessandro had a hamburger. We, of course, ordered a Key Lime pie for dessert.

Fortunately when we were finished with lunch, it was only sprinkling again and I was almost dry. We walked down Duval Street to the ports toward the West and then back East toward the Southernmost Point monument whose photo I took here. There was a long line at the monument, so the only picture I had of it with no one in front is the one posted here.

We walked down Whitehead Street to see the lighthouse and Ernest Hemingway's house.

It was only around 2pm and I was surprised how almost every bar was filled with people drinking and dancing with bands playing in the background of a couple of bars. I would've liked to have gone snorkeling, but the weather didn't permit that.

We both found Key West to be very quaint although we saw so little, and hope to go back some day for an extended period of time to explore it some more.

We rushed back to the bus around 4pm. We had only been in town about 5 hours, which wasn't enough time to get a good feel for the city, but we got a taste of it. We did enjoy walking around, jumping over huge puddles, and coming across a couple of roosters walking down the street.

When we drove back to Miami Beach, we once again saw the beautiful sunset behind the city buildings. We had a great trip to Key West, but it did feel good to be back in South Beach where it was a bit warmer outside.

Share your comments for this blog post on the Living in Florence's Facebook page. Grazie!

Back to Top