Walking Key West’s Historic Duval Street

The Overseas Highway ends at Key West,a charming resort town with a colorful past. The center of its vibrant nightlife is Duval Street, lined with an amazing variety of restaurants, bars, lounges and the occasional hotel, most located in historic old houses and buildings whose architecture resembles that of New Orleans. The most famous night spot is Sloppy Joe’s Bar, which was Ernest Hemingway’s favorite drinking establishment, although it wasn’t located on Duval in his day, but rather to the south on Greene Street, where there is another bar nowadays. The area of the city known as the “Old Town” is easily walkable, but watch out for the feral roosters, who roam the streets and yards at will. They are said to be descended from those brought to the island by Cuban exiles fleeing Castro in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s.