Historic Saint Augustine, Know Before You Go –

Saint Augustine is a smaller city found in Northeast Florida just south of Jacksonville and about 1.5 hrs. south of the Florida/Georgia Stateline. It is believed to be the oldest city in the United States. It was to start with uncovered and claimed for Spain by Ponce de Leon in 1513 who named it La Florida , but issues did not get the job done out for Ponce de Leon as he prepared. It was later rediscovered and renamed St. Augustine, by Juan Mendez Aviles in 1565.

It took me about 5 hours to travel from South Florida to Saint Augustine by using I-95, stopping twice. At the time for a lavatory split and the following to get gasoline. The resort wherever I was remaining was just off the 95, easy to uncover. I stayed at the Clever Remain Inn, a two tale hotel with an ample total of rooms and parking. It has a gym, a pool, scorching tub, and laundry area, and serves up extremely superior breakfast choices that contains scrambled eggs, sausages, slice bread, bagel, make your have waffles, orange juice, milk, espresso, tea, fruits and cereal. Perhaps not the very best, but superior than a granola bar and a bottle of drinking water that we were being made available at yet another hotel.

The resort is close to the Saint Augustine Stores and despite the fact that it’s not in the downtown area it was not a really extended travel. Even Although it was not my 1st selection, I didn’t head it at all. I was really much more happy with the choice  when I went into town and observed that parking at those lodges seemed a bit restricted. That is absolutely a little something to continue to keep in intellect when hunting for someplace to continue to be.

There are other hotels in the place like the Convenience Inn which is appropriate future doorway, High-quality Inn, Purple Roof Inn, Holiday break Inn and much more. You can also find gas stations and a lot of destinations to try to eat close by.

What to Expect

The Downtown space is wherever most points of interest are. I arrived into city on a Friday afternoon, went to verify-in at the hotel and then visited the Saint Augustine Retailers. Just after viewing the Shops I needed to go to an attraction, but when I checked the points of interest, most of them have been already shut. By the way, most points of interest in Saint Augustine closes amongst at 5:00 and 5:30 PM. I observed just one, the Pirate and Treasure Museum, that was open up till 7:00 PM and made the decision I would go. 

Just after driving into the Downtown spot the Pirate and Treasure Museum was no lengthier on my brain. I made a decision I was heading to go to the Castillo de San Marcos nationwide Monument in its place for the reason that there was one thing so fascinating about the whole scenery, with the blue waters of the Matanzas River in the backdrop. The Pirate and Treasure Museum was basically across the road but that was for yet another working day.

I needed to attempt and locate somewhere to park and I noticed that the left lane was starting off to again up as some individuals ended up attempting to get into a nearby parking great deal although many others ended up in a line waiting around to go above the Bridge of Lions which takes you to A1A. I arrived out of the line and went into the right lane in hopes I could obtain somewhere to park. I finished up on a road that took me appropriate into what I thought was the parking whole lot of a hotel, but as I drove in I noticed the parking areas all marked reserved. Later I realized I was at the back of Flagler College.

I parked for a little bit and received out and took a couple images since it experienced a beautiful architectural style. Following pulling out of the school, just across the avenue was a $10 parking great deal. I immediately pulled in and paid out the attendant, it was a good issue as well for the reason that it was starting up to fill up. There are numerous parking close to, but you have to travel around to uncover low cost parking. The parking closest to the primary road, Avenida Menendez, are additional high priced. You might be capable to get some no cost parking at some of the attractions with your ticket obtain, like Ripley’s Consider it or Not offered a 3 hrs parking pass with the purchase of the entrance ticket. I was in a position to tour the attraction and afterwards depart the vehicle there for a little bit and came back again in time to take off.

Immediately after parking, I walked a tiny approaches, not much too much by means of the again streets and on to the key but prior to having there I couldn’t aid but glimpse all around to see what was going on those people back again streets. I quickly recognize that St. George road is in which every thing was taking place. It is lined with stores, eateries, and entertainment. I was ready to cease at Tedi’s Olde Tyme Ice Cream and obtain a pistachio cup. Right after leaving Tedi’s just on the aspect at the corner of Cuna and St. George there was a gentleman who experienced snakes on screen, $10 to keep or pose with a a person of them for a one individual and $15 for a team. That wasn’t going to be me, I am not a massive admirer of snakes, so I form of hurried move there and went on to my vacation spot.

When I arrived to the Castillo de San Marcos I was not in a position to go on the inside of for the reason that it was closed by that time, but I was even now capable to tour the outside the house. I was in a position to stroll close to it and notice the cannons that had been lined off in one particular area and read through articles about its record. Even even though it was not open up at the time, it was nevertheless a gorgeous area to take it easy simply because the sun was even now up and the breeze that was blowing in from the Matanzas River felt so superior. You can sit on any of the seats onsite or on the wonderful and lush lawn. The only matter is that the garden is not experiencing the water so it might not have the same result as sitting on the waterfront.

Issues To DO

There are several points to do in Saint Augustine, despite me imagining there could not have been a lot to do there. I will not go into much information about them right here mainly because I have an report that listing factors to do in St. Augustine, you can simply click right here to discover it, but I will go forward and list some of the locations to check out/points to do

• Lightner Museum
• Ripley’s Think it or Not
• Potter’s Wax Museum
• Castillo de San Marcos Countrywide Monument
• Alligator Farm
• The Torture Museum
• St Augustine Lighthouse and Maritime Museum
• Fountain of Youth
• The Aged Jail
• Saint Augustine retailers for some shopping
• Do your personal self strolling tour and admire the architecture of some spots like Flagler School and the church buildings
• Pay a visit to The Plaza de La Constitucion park

Receiving Around

Obtaining all-around town in St. Augustine is not difficult mainly because most sites are close by and easy to get to with your possess car or by Uber. If you happen to get a hotel in or near downtown, it is an straightforward walk since almost everything is correct there, except for the beach locations and alligator farm. Then there is also the trolley tours.

There are two styles of trollies in St. Augustine, there is the Outdated City Trolley Tours and Purple Prepare Excursions. The Old City Trolley delivers shuttles that picks you up from your resort and takes you to the trolley depot, from there you can acquire your trolley tickets (as perfectly as attraction tickets at a discounted) and get on to a trolley. You can select to trip the trolley all day about city or hop on and off as you want. The Aged Town Trolley excursions sells one day as well as two working day tickets.

The Pink Teach Excursions is a element of Ripley’s Believe that it or Not and also features guided tours all around town making it possible for you to hop on and off all day. You will be able to get the educate from the Ripley’s site. The Purple Coach Tours presents an all working day hop on or off knowledge as well as the Purple Coach Specific expertise which is a just one hour guided tour that will take you to selected internet sites.

There is an upside and a downside to using the trollies. The upside is that you do not have to worry about driving your personal motor vehicle to each and every spot and obtaining to worry about parking or taking a Uber, and the motorists are extremely professional about the heritage of the town. The downside in my impression is, relying on how considerably apart the stops are you can shell out a lot of time on the trolley finding to the upcoming attraction. For illustration, I expended virtually 2 hrs on the trolley seeking to get to my last attraction simply because of targeted traffic and also mainly because it was the final quit, prevent selection 22, only to come across out that the park was only about a 5 minute walk from the trolley depot.

Places To Eat

Alongside the waterfront you can locate dining establishments these kinds of as Meehans’s Iris Pub and Seafood, River & Fort Cafe and Roof Prime Lounge as nicely as Harry’s Seafood Bar and Grille, just to title a number of. Regrettably, I did not get a likelihood to dine at any of those on the waterfront, but there are a ton of places about that you can uncover to take in. Together the again streets you can obtain tiny dining places tucked absent, like the Raintree or Drake’s Bistro on San Marco Ave, and St. George Tavern on St. George Road. Then there is constantly rapid food items places to eat like Bojangles, which by the way experienced some delicious chicken wings, Zaxby’s, Burger King, and extra, if you want to get it immediately and go.

What I like the most about Saint Augustine is that even although it is a modest city, it holds a significant historical past and It’s great for solo vacationers and even far more so for family members. I would definitely visit again and I have discovered out that the greatest time to go to is for the duration of Xmas when the complete metropolis is embellished with lights.