The Hemingway House

    I am so full of delicious Cuban food I could just pop.  There is a huge Cuban population in southern Florida.  We have been commenting on how frequently we hear Spanish spoken and music with a Latin beat.   The property owner tiold us that there was a good Cuban restaurant, El Siboney, just a block away so we checked it out for dinner.  Oh my.  Fried plantains, pork roast with pickled onions, yellow rice and black beans, and flan for desert.  If you come to Key West you must eat at this casual and inexpensive spot!

     We had some rain last night which was welcome to the island, but it was hot and sunny by 10 when we headed out for some sightseeing.  We found a hop-on-hop-off trolley here and walked about eight blocks to one of the stops.  This very old town has a history full of interesting characters and events.  England took control of Florida from the Spanish in 1763 and moved the community of Spaniards and Indians to Cuba. Florida returned to Spanish control 20 years later, but there was no official resettlement of the island. The island was mostly used by fisherman from Cuba and went back and forth between the British and the Spanish until March 25, 1822, when Lt. Commander, Matthew Perry sailed the schooner Shark to Key West and claimed the Keys as United States property.  

    Key West has three forts and had a role in many wars including World War II when the naval base had just reopened.  It was used to support Navy destroyers, subarmarines and patrol craft.  German submarines operated closely off shore of Key West and regularly sank allied ships within sight of land.  

     During the golden age of sailing over 100 ships passed by Key West weekly  The waters around the treacherous reefs claimed an average of one ship per day.  When a ship went down the first person to the wreck could claim the marjority of the value of the contents of the wreck.  By the 1920's Key West was one of the richest communities in America due to these shipwrecks.  As railroads took over much of the shipping, the shipwrecks slowed and Key West had to find another industry - tourism.

    One of the places I really wanted to visit in Key West was Hemingway's house.  He lived in a big house on the highest point on the island from 1931 to 1939.  Although he later moved to Cuba and then Ketchum, Idaho, he retained title to the home until he died.  The house now is a tourist attraction populated by six-toed cats that are descendants of Hemingway's cats.  Hemingway wrote several no els and some of his most famous short stories in a studio on the second floor above his garage.  It was an airy space with a view of the lush gardens around the house.  I could easily imagine sitting there at his desk and writing my blog.  More comfortable than sitting on a bed as I am now.