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Key West Bar Stroll The Best Deal On The Island

By Petra Berg


The Key West bar stroll is a great way for new visitors to get to know some of the locals. For thirty bucks you get 5 drinks (wine, beer or rum cocktails), a T-shirt and the opportunity to visit 5 of the hippest bars on the island. That is great value and a kick-start to meeting some Conch (locals) and learning the island story.

The passport is available at the Welcome Centre located at Mallory Square, the heart of downtown. The free T-shirt comes as part of the overall package that is sponsored by Bacardi.

You use the drink tickets at Fogartys, Carolines Cafe, Mangoes or Jack Flats on Duval Street and Red Fish Blue Fish in Mallory Square. Each bar has its distinctive character. Most have a variety of bars, including sports with large flat screen satellite Pay-TV. They serve great food, some have tables outdoors as well as indoors. Some also operate as a nightclub.

A good place to start the bar stroll is Mallory Square itself. Perhaps at the Red Fish Blue Fish bar since it is right there. The history of Mallory Square is the history of Key West, the history of a bustling seaport at the margin of a nation. The square is immediately adjacent to the deep harbor and therefore on the geographic perimeter of the town. It is nevertheless considered the spiritual heart of the town.

Key West is tiny, only four miles long and two miles wide. Its early development was significantly shaped by its strategic location, both as the southernmost tip of the Florida land mass and as a deep water location. This latter point has two separate aspects. First, the island has a deep water harbor that can provide a safe haven for large vessels in all weather. Second, the island lies at the head of a natural deep water channel that broadly defines the junction between the Atlantic Ocean and the generally shallow Gulf of Mexico. The easy navigability to and from the island has been a major point of attraction.

As European influence spread through Central and North America, ships moving past the island grew dramatically. Shipwrecks were an inevitable consequence. These wrecks attracted salvage schooners that used the deep harbor on the island as their base. Today, the harbor is flanked by Mallory Square where you buy your Key West bar stroll passport and begin your study of the local gin joints. Key West Bar Stroll




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