Key West, Florida

Key West, Florida

North America

Guide to Key West: how to get there and where to stay, what to see and where to sunbathe. The highlights of Key West: fresh reviews and photos, places to see, branded entertainment and beaches.

According to toppharmacyschools, Key West is a popular beach resort and the capital of the Florida Keys archipelago, located on the island of the same name. A real tropical paradise, where even on the harsh police cars it is written that they are guarding its gates – “protecting paradise”.

It is also the most populous and cheerful city of the archipelago, 30% of the entire population of the Florida Keys lives here.

Cruise ships with tourists come here almost around the clock. But most, of course, arrive by land. Whom you will not meet in this city! And poor students, and sedate pensioners, and the Princess of Monaco, and even Madonna herself, who loves to visit this island city very much.

A bit of history

Once upon a time, Key West was an incredibly wealthy city: the locals lived by collecting stocks of sunken ships washed ashore after shipwrecks. That was in 1889, and in 1930 Key West was declared bankrupt. But those days are long gone, and now the inhabitants of the city live only on the money that tourists leave here. The latter, it must be said, are not stingy, and they pay round sums for a vacation in a paradise.

Attractions and attractions in Key West

The city has an incredible number of art galleries. The most famous and most visited is the rather prosaically named Key West Gallery. Here you can find the works of many famous authors, as well as those who are just starting their career.

The city has an incredible number of art galleries.

And in the city, chickens are especially respected. There are also quite a few of them here, and they all roam freely around the city. Chickens know perfectly well where they are supposed to cross the road, and they do it very carefully. Well, drivers just stop their cars and wait until all the birds that want to finish crossing the street.

But still, the most famous landmark of the city is the buoy model, which is built of cement. This buoy reads in large letters: “Republic of Conch/ Cuba 90 Miles/ Southernmost Point of the Continental USA/ Key West, Florida/ Where the Sunsets.” Before the buoy, there was a sign, but it was very often stolen by tourists, so the city authorities decided to write these words significant for the city on a cement buoy, which no one will be able to budge.

Key West Museum

The most popular museum in the city has a much more romantic name than the gallery – the Shipwreck Museum. At first glance, the original wooden building can be called a museum only with a big stretch.

The most popular museum in the city has a much more romantic name than the gallery – the Shipwreck Museum.

Here the actors of the local theater, dressed in costumes of the 19th century, play real sea battles in front of the audience. And on the very roof of the museum there is an observation deck, on which at one time every day the inhabitants of the city climbed in turn and looked at the ocean, expecting a shipwreck. When it finally happened, the one looking at the site shouted at the top of his voice that the ship was sinking, and that it was time to go rob it. Raspberries, not life!

Fort Zachary Taylor

Another great place in the city is the Fort Zachary-Taylor National Historical Park. Here you can see the most real ghosts of pirates, who, like all pirates, are arguing about who owns the chest with gold.

Hemingway house

It is impossible to visit Key West and not visit the famous writer Ernest Hemingway – the most famous resident of the city, and of the entire archipelago. He came here out of curiosity, but stayed to live, having bought a small house with a garden.

An incredibly large number of cats live in the city. There are about four animals for every inhabitant of Key West. By the way, there is another interesting story about these tailed ones. Once upon a time, Hemingway was presented with an amazing six-toed kitten, who, since 1935, led the pedigree of the famous six-toed cats. Six or even seven fingers on two or all four paws is not a breed or a disease, but a gene mutation. Descendants of Snowball, donated to Hemingway, the main hosts in the house-museum of the writer. Today, more than 40 cats live here: lying on the beds, accompanying curious tourists. And behind the house is a real six-fingered cat cemetery.

Interesting Facts

Key West is also the center of sexual minorities. Here you can often meet homosexual couples, and no one pays any attention to them. Everyone treats it as something that is also part of the city.

Key West is also the center of sexual minorities. Here you can often meet homosexual couples, and no one pays any attention to them.

What are the residents doing here? Practically, nothing. They spend the whole day loitering around the city, lounging and having fun. That is why it seems that time in Key West has stopped and just stands still. And the people who live here are incredibly slow. Therefore, one should not be surprised that a tourist will have to wait for his order in a cafe or restaurant not for 5 minutes, but for half an hour, and sometimes even more.

Key West, Florida