Going West

Our departure from the Holiday Inn Miami was notable for a terse conversation with the front desk supervisor, regarding the issues that arose yesterday. He would not commit to any remedial action, preferring to interrogate us as to our other hotel stays, and to try to sell their loyalty programme. The best we could get was to ask for him when we check in again on 19th, on our way back home.

In the now customary hot weather (about 36 degrees C), we loaded the bags into the hire car and set off towards Key West. The lunch ingredients were put into plastic bags with ice cubes. Having set the sat-nav to avoid tolls, we were taken down US1, with a rather odd glitch at the beginning. First of all the unit gave a voice command from yesterday's route, then seemed to remember that a new route had been set up. At a tricky junction the route disappeared from the screen and we of course went the wrong way. Eventually the system sorted itself out and we were on the right route. However it was very slow, with traffic lights every mile or so and long waits.

The one road down through the Keys is actually quite tedious. The islands are heavily built up, linked by bridges, one being the famous Seven Mile Bridge. Traffic was still quite heavy. We got to a village called Islamorada, which like all the others is long and narrow. After asking at the visitor centre we found a very nice place for lunch, next to a small beach looking across to mangroves. The ice in the lunch pack did its job superbly, much of it still solid.

We arrived at the Doubletree by Hilton at around 4:30 pm. It's vastly better than the tacky Holiday Inn - very nice room, with fridge and ample coffee sachets, and car parking is free on the deal the travel agent got. There is a very good shuttle bus to the town. Wi-fi in the room is excellent, and we managed a very good FaceTime call to Alex, before catching the shuttle into town. We alighted at the port area, and strolled along the waterfront as the sun set. We notice a stall selling conch fritters, so decided to try a few. While the batter was nice, the bits of conch were tasteless and excessively chewy. If you are ever tempted, don't bother.

There were various street artists of course. An escapologist in a strait jacket took so long over the preamble that we gave up and moved on. The musicians were not very good, and the Christian preacher of course we didn't even stop to assess.

Thoughts then turned to proper food, and we fetched up in a very noisy bar/restaurant called The Hog's Breath. As we sat down, recorded music was playing, kicking off with Pinball Wizard followed by Street Fighting Man. This augured well. Now that we are wise to American portion sizes, we ordered one dish to share, comprising three slow cooked pork shanks with rice, fried plantain, and black bean sauce. This was excellent, but the Key lime pie to follow wasn't - too sweet and not enough lime. By now the live band was playing, and they were very good, starting with a swing number and turning a bit jazzy, via an old Rolling Stones song. Although it was only 7:30 by the end of our meal, the bar was besieged by very loud girls, egged on by young men of course. The place certainly could not be accused of lacking atmosphere.

After dinner we walked down Duval Street, said to be historic. Some of the buildings are quite interesting, mostly of timber construction, but some in quite ornate brick. About halfway down there seems to be the kinky section, with unconvincing drag artists posing in the bar doorways. The town is packed with people having fun, rather like a Mediterranean resort. Every sort of water-based entertainment is available, at a price of course.