Fantastic Florida? I’ve got the Keys
Sharon Maughan-Eve skips the theme park queues and heads south for some history and hedonism
I’VE always longed to go to the Florida Keys because it sounds like such a romantic place to visit. I’m a huge fan of the 1948 movie Key Largo, which starred Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. And of course, the area has a strong connection with Ernest Hemingway – the author lived on Key West.
Fans still turn up in Key Largo every October for the annual Humphrey Bogart Film Festival. One of the highlights is a chance to take a cruise on the fully restored African Queen, the original boat from John Huston’s 1951 film of the same name that starred Bogart and Katharine Hepburn. (If you’re a fan, the famous vessel is docked at the Holiday Inn Key Largo, at mile marker 100.)
Hemingway fans aren’t forgotten either. The annual Hemingway Lookalike competition takes place in July at Key West bar Sloppy Joe’s. An entire bar full of Hemingway clones sounds slightly frightening but each to their own.
My actor husband Trevor and I had long ago decided that we wanted to visit the Keys, but we never seemed to get around to it. However, a pleasure deferred is a pleasure intensified. After our plane touched down in Miami, we rented a car and headed south. It may not look far on the map but the distance from Miami to Key West is around 150 miles – that’s a three-hour drive because the road isn’t brilliant.
We were based at Sunset Key Cottages, which you reach from the Westin Key West Resort and Marina located on Front Street.
At the Westin we were ushered aboard a little ferry and whisked across to the amazing Sunset Key. It was a fabulous away-from-it-all place but also had the advantage of having the bustling delights of Key West almost on its doorstep. We immediately fell in love with Key West and its coloured clapboard houses. For many young Americans, this is a party town – a vibrant, fun place.
Walking along Main Street at night is a delight because there is so much going on: music pouring out of crowded bars and the occasional Hemingway lookalike waiting for his big day!
During the day there are several interesting places to visit. I enjoyed the Little White House, the holiday home of US President Harry Truman, famous for his remark ‘the buck stops here’. It was on his watch that the atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki – the responsibility must have been
immense. Another unmissable place is the Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum. It’s where the writer lived for ten years
during one of his most prolific writing periods. The main attraction here for most visitors is its 50 six-toed cats.
Hemingway was given a white six-toed cat by a ship’s captain, and some of the cats who live in the museum grounds are descendants of that original feline, named Snow White. There is also a good Tennessee Williams exhibition in Key West – the author had a home here for 34 years. It was in Key West that he is believed to have completed the final draft of A Streetcar Named Desire. For most of the time, however, we were content to bask in serenity and comfort on our little 27-acre island, which used to be a naval base before it was acquired by the Westin. It felt like a little piece of paradise.
One minute we were in Key West, with all its tourist bustle and the huge cruise ships – the big Disney liners were a particular feature – but when we crossed back to our island, all the noise disappeared.
We had an idyllic white-sand beach and azure waters. It was the best five days that we’ve ever had. Sublime. Watching the sun go down is a big event in Key West – everybody stops to watch it. And when it got dark we loved looking up at the stars.
AFTER our Key West stay we drove back to Miami, where we were fortunate enough to be able to stay in a friend’s apartment. I’ve been to Miami several times before, but always as a tourist, so this time it was great to be able to enjoy the city like a local.
We were staying in Miami Beach, at the very southern end of the resort which I’d never visited before – it’s absolutely fantastic. We met some really cool people.
One of my great pleasures was swimming in the ocean: when you walk into the water it’s like nothing else – it’s so warm and silky.
Being in America on holiday is really a special pleasure for me because I’m a Liverpudlian and all Liverpudlians have a special love for the US – Liverpool used to the main port for travel to New York. Our city is where all the Cunarders used to sail from.
When I fly to America it feels a bit like coming home. My Dad was a sailor in the war – he was a stoker in the Merchant Navy – and he loved America. He always used to talk about New York.
If you’re staying in Miami, I would recommend dining at the fantastic Seaspice restaurant situated on the Miami River – it is now reckoned to be one of the city’s most fashionable eating places. They serve what is described as a ‘globally inspired menu’ featuring a raw bar and dishes ranging from wood-fired casseroles to Dover sole and branzino, which is a type of seabass.
Here you can not only enjoy the menu – the views over the city and the river are also very special. It was fascinating just to sit there and watch the other customers coming and going – some arriving on the adjacent dock in very smart yachts. The staff were wonderful too and nothing was too much trouble. If you were looking for somewhere to celebrate a special event, it would be hard to beat Seaspice. But then Florida is also very special.
A lot of people think that Florida means Disney World or the start of a cruise, but if you’re prepared to search a little further you’ll discover that there’s much, much more.