A Tour of Charming, Historic St. Augustine

Hi All -

In part of an ongoing, indefinite birthday celebration, Glenn took me on a little trip to St. Augustine last weekend. We had been there briefly about 15 years ago, and I'm so happy we went back as it is a charming city.

It's also the oldest city in the US, founded in 1565. The oldest buildings, however (except for the fort), are all from the 1700s since the city was burned to the ground by the British in 1702.

 We stayed at the Hilton Waterfront, which was a lovely hotel on the water.

Our room came right out to the pool area, so it was like we had our own private pool and porch.

Our view

Panorama of the waterfront/our view

We arrived on Friday night and had a drink at the patio at Meehan's Irish pub, which was right down the street. Pretty much everything was in walking distance the whole trip.

Saturday morning we headed out to explore. It is really weird but the city seems completely abandoned until close till noon. Shops don't open till 10 or 11. We hardly saw a soul.

We had breakfast at a cute little place that had gluten free crepes.

This is the kind of shopping that my dad appreciates most - when all the shops are closed.

Lots of beautiful old houses and bed and breakfasts around. See the hammocks on the top porch?

This is one of the lions that guards the Bridge of Lions that connects Old Town St. Augustine with Anastasia Island.

This is the entrance to our hotel. It looks very residential.

We walked down along the waterfront and over to the Castillo de San Marcos, a Spanish fort built in 1695 that survived multiple attacks and sieges. The whole thing was built out of stone called Coquina which was quarried nearby. More on this later.

While not quite as big or breath-taking as the the forts in Puerto Rico, there was lots of historic information and it was very interesting. Also, there were some nice breezes at the top of fort.

[I will note that it was around this time that the battery on my camera died. I was rather upset about this since I had asked SOMEONE to charge the batteries before we left or at least bring the charger along, and someone did not do either of those things. A wild goose chase searching for a new camera battery ensued and was ultimately unsuccessful. So the remainder of the pics are all from Glenn.]

Sleeping quarters

Officers quarters - 2 people slept in each bunk

Mom, I know you are a Starbucks fan, but there is an adorable place by the fort called the Crucial Coffee Cafe. LOOK HOW CUTE!

It was near here that we hopped on an Old Town Trolley tour. We had bought tickets earlier in the day. The trolley has 20 stops all over the city and you can get on or off at any stop, anytime throughout the day. The whole loop is about an hour and a half and it was a very enjoyable way to spend the afternoon and learn about the city and its history.

Just a pretty street

That evening, we drove to nearby Caps on the Water for dinner. I didn't think the food was particularly exciting but the atmosphere was fun and relaxing.

We stopped and took a little walk on the beach on the way home. Unlike our super warm Bay and Gulf waters, the Atlantic was a bit nippy.

Sunday morning, we decided to do some more walking and revisit some of the cool places we saw on the trolley tour.

This is the Lightner Museum, which is supposed to be awesome. It used to be a luxury hotel.

Right across the street is the Casa Monica, which is another old hotel which was recently refurbished. It's gorgeous inside. (Mom & Dad - I think this is where you'll be staying)

Also across the street is Flagler College. It. Is. Beautiful. Its main building was once the Ponce de Leon Hotel - one of the most famous and luxurious hotels at a time. Built in 1888, guests had to stay for the entire winter and it cost the equivalent of $240,000 to vacation there. It was the first major "poured in-place" concrete buildings in the US, and also one of the first buildings with electricity. Guests to the famed hotel included 5 presidents (Cleveland, McKinley,Teddy Roosevelt, Harding & Johnson) and folks like Mark Twain, Babe Ruth, Ernest Hemingway and Robert Frost.

This is Henry Flagler - a founder of  the Standard Oil Company (with John D. Rockefeller) and the Florida Railroad. He was responsible for developing St. Augustine and making it a tourist destination.

This is still from the lobby of the Ponce de Leon. Gorgeous. There is also a rotunda area where the windows are all original Tiffany glass, but we weren't able to get in to see it. It was also Freshman move-in day when we were there. Can you imagine going to school here?

Really pretty campus

Flagler built three churches in St. Augustine. This one was the most spectacular - Memorial Presbyterian. He built this as a memorial to his daughter, who died shortly after giving birth to a baby that also died. Flagler himself is also buried here.

After our scenic walking tour, we checked out of our hotel and drove across the Bridge of Lions to Anastasia Island, which is a nature preserve. There is a lighthouse and maritime museum on the island as well, but we skipped that.

The beach here was one of the widest, largest beaches I've ever seen. We took a long, hot walk.

WHERE IS EVERYBODY?!

Afterwards, Glenn suggested it would be super interesting to walk to the Coquina quarry. The walk in the shade was nice, but the quarry was meh.

A whole lot of nothing.

Still, I will say that it is rather amazing that folks in the 1700s came out here and dug up/cut giant slabs of stone with hand tools, somehow loaded the slabs onto a cart pulled by oxen, and then loaded it on some sort of barge that went across the water to build the fort. Especially considering it is really, really hot here. (Much hotter than Safety Harbor even).

We were going to walk farther but a guy there warned us to "Watch out for the spiders!" which seemed like ample incentive to turn around and head home.

So that's it for our weekend tour of St. Augustine. I highly recommend you visit there if you ever get the chance. Hope you are all well and enjoying August. Love to all!