Visiting more sights on a leisurely day!

We slept in a little, enjoyed our shower with the view of the ocean and finally made our way out of the resort. The breakfast location for today was Sarabeth’s.

I had read about it on the internet and it sounded good enough to give it a try. So we drove there, parked the car, fed the parking meter and went towards what looked like a former church. Well, we later found out that it had been a church before it was transformed into an eatery. The hosts were very friendly and we were shown to a nice table. Tom ordered some coffee and orange juice and I ordered some hot tea and a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice as well. I had the Green And White, scrambled eggs with scallions and cream cheese and Tom tried the Key West Pink Shrimp and Bacon Omelet, with scallions and herbs and smoked mozzarella. We both had a side of 3 Pepper Potatoes and both dishes came with toast, butter and Sarabeth’s special jam. That day’s special was Strawberry and Rhubarb jam! I LOVED my breakfast and Tom’s was rather impressive too. Very yummy start to the day.

Since we were already out driving we drove to the “Hurricane” church, St. Mary, Star of the Sea, after breakfast. This time the souvenir shop was open and we were able to purchase a few candles, which we lit in the little grotto to say thanks for no hurricanes so far. After that we went back to the resort to park the car and do some sightseeing on foot. We started our tour at the Southernmost Point by taking some photos with the Southernmost Barrel.

We then slowly walked towards the Key West lighthouse. Within a few minutes we had reached our destination and after we had shared a bottle of water we started our way up to the top of the lighthouse. The view from up there is just amazing and we really enjoyed it for quite some time. Thankfully there were very few people there, so walking up and down was easy.

After that we just crossed the street and joined a tour through Ernest Hemingway’s House. The tour was interesting and fun, but the thing that really lured us in were Hemingway’s cats. There are A LOT of cats and they are so cute. Each of the guides has a cat which comes up to him when offered a treat. It was really fun to watch. Most of the other cats just can’t be bothered. They don’t mind people watching and stroking them, they don’t even blink when you touch them. A cat lovers paradise! So after spending quite some time enjoying the “company” of Hemingway’s cats we walked a little further down the road to the end and beginning of Highway 1, a favourite photos spot.

We then walked towards Duval Street to buy some of the T-shirts and pick up go up to the top of the Crown Plaza La Concha hotel, which offers a viewing platform on the roof. But as much as we looked for the elevator to go up we could not find it until we realized that the viewing platform was only open during special hours to the general public. So we just stopped at the Starbuck’s for a Frappuccino.

I had the Caramel Frappuccino and Tom had a Java Chip Frappuccino and we both had a nice and relaxing break. After that we walked back to the resort and relaxed there for the rest of the afternoon.

We really enjoyed sitting on the balcony and enjoying the sun with a good beverage. Tom had a few more beers to try and I was sipping my Silverado. In the evening we decided to just walk over to the Southernmost Café on the beach again and enjoy the view and their food. Once again we were seated at a table right next to the beach. We both ordered Diet Coke and decided to share the Conch Fritters, an island favourite, deep fried and served with a sweet and spicy dipping sauce.

This was the first time we both had tried conch and it was a pleasant surprise. It tasted really nice and the dipping sauce was finger licking good. Then they brought over the warm bread and butter, which was really good too and a garden salad. For his main course Tom chose The A La Mare Pasta, a combination of shrimp, mussels, clams, and crabmeat, with penne pasta, tossed in a spicy marinara. It was very tasty and there was plenty of it too.