Casa Antigua

Lonely Planet review

This was technically Hemingway's first house in Key West and the spot where he wrote A Farewell to Arms , but it isn't all that notable except for a lush garden in the back and one of the kitschiest 'guided tours' in America.

Here's how it breaks down: go to the Pelican Poop Gift Shoppe (www.pelicanpoop.com), which now occupies the Casa, and pay the around US$2 garden entrance fee (and let the kitsch begin!). Go into the peaceful green area out the back. And then a recorded tape plays at the volume God uses whenever he says anything that begins with 'Let there be…' At this ear-splitting volume, a man with a voice that can only be described as Big Gay Al raised in Dixie lays down the history of the Casa for you. It's gloriously hilarious.