Knowing Key West, Florida Through Train Conch Tour

 This isn't our first time to visit Key West, but there are so many things we haven't seen or done the last time we were here with my husband, so we decided to sign up with the conch train tour.

Key West has a unique charm that's called a little Florida and a lot Caribbean. It was originally a part of Spanish colony, but most who settled on its shores were the Cubans and Bahamian fishermen.

Key West became the wealthiest city when the cigar business boomed, as more Cubans and Bahamians kept arriving by the numbers. Consequently, it also became the place of famous artists, writers and free-spirited types of people like Tennessee Williams and Ernest Hemingway.

You might be wondering where the term "conch" got its name, and how and why Key West was called "Conch Republic"! It's actually interesting knowing the story behind this.

Key West declared itself as a Conch Republic in April 1982. The story about this started when the US Border Patrol started blocking US Highway 1, just north of the entrance to Florida keys, and all residents and visitors were intercepted and asked to provide documents for IDs and prove their US citizenship.

The economy suffered because of this and the Key West mayor including some "conch" residents brought their complaints to the Miami federal court to seek for an injunction to stop the federal blockades. Their plea was denied causing the mayor to lead the Conch Republic Rebellion, and lasted a minute...(that fast!), then followed by his surrender to the US navy admiral in Key West.

Although this short instability happened many years ago, the name Conch Republic wasn't forgotten, and many say that when you live in Key West, you officially hold dual citizenship; - American and Conchs! 😁

The term "conch" itself probably comes from the name of a large sea snail that can be seen in the depths of the Gulf of Mexico that surrounds the Florida Keys! It is the name given to the Key West natives who actually were the first settlers and long time residents of Key West.

Today, Key West still remains to yield fabulous riches both in the waters and in the neighborhood itself. It's been always blessed with bountiful harvests of fresh fish and lobsters!

Our Hemingway House Tour

July 22, 2011

Our Hemingway House tour started at 9:30am today where our tour guide "Jeff" met us at the pier. We already had our tickets given earlier by Carnival the day before the tour, so it wasn't a problem getting them. It is also worth recommending to pay the tour earlier online for convenience. That way, you don't need to spend your time going to the Excursion Tour Desk in the ship and wait in line.
By the way, Carnival Destiny is a big ship and for 3 days, I still keep getting lost! LOL! There are the elevators to help you get to your deck but I still couldn't figure out which elevators would take me to the nearest block going to my cabin. I would still end up walking 3-4 blocks (which is like 2 miles to me) since our cabin is located almost on the end of the block {sigh!}.

Anyway, back to the tour...we have to walk 1.5 miles until we reach the Hemingway House! Going back is another 1.5 miles...so that's 3 miles!!
Tough one for the walking, am not used to long walks, but I guess I can survive with some small stops in between.
We didn't have any water with us so we just drop by at a convenience store we happened to be passing through during the tour and bought a bottled water quick. We both were thirsty. Imagine, it was too hot this day! And hubby started to sweat like crazy!...non-stop! Whew!

During the tour, we passed the Little White House, and some other attractions where our tour guide told some basic information about them. I started to get bored and impatient and keep asking in my mind how long more before we can reach the house, lol!

At last, upon reaching Hemingway, we were toured around by another tour guide and at last, I can see the cats! :)) Ernest Hemingway was fond of cats and there are 45 cats in the house. I only saw a few of them, but the interesting part is that most of them are 6-toed cats! I took one shot of one of the cats with a 6-toe...then, I saw princess , and Harry, the alpha male cat. There is also Charlie Chaplin who happened to be sleeping! Mind you he looks like Chaplin with that black mustache on top of his nose, lol! Those are the ones I can only remember. There are a lot of them there!

We also went to a pub/club that has some intriguing and interesting decorations on its ceilings! Bras and panties!!!! LOL! I haven't been listening to what Jeff was telling about this pub because I am starting to get tired and thirsty! My hubby seemed to notice it.
Our tour ended up at the pub, then we got our soda drinks with looooots of ice!!!
Key West is really beautiful. There are lots of places to go to. If you like to shop, there are some boutiques. The neighborhood is somewhat like my country the Philippines in one aspect...you can see a lot of strayed chickens and roosters crowing at the middle of a hot day, lol! Actually, you don't need a guided tour to go around the place. You can go at your own pace, but if you are on a cruise, avoid getting lost, and be sure to get boarded on the ship before it departs because the ship won't wait for you.

Our day at Key West ended up with a vanilla ice cream before we went back to the ship! Still, it was a hot, sunny but fun day!

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