Saint Augustine is a modest city found in Northeast Florida just south of Jacksonville and about 1.5 hrs. south of the Florida/Ga Stateline. It is considered to be the oldest city in the United States. It was initial found and claimed for Spain by Ponce de Leon in 1513 who named it La Florida , but things did not get the job done out for Ponce de Leon as he planned. It was later on rediscovered and renamed St. Augustine, by Juan Mendez Aviles in 1565.
It took me about 5 hrs to push from South Florida to Saint Augustine by way of I-95, stopping twice. At the time for a bathroom break and the up coming to get gasoline. The resort where by I was staying was just off the 95, uncomplicated to discover. I stayed at the Smart Continue to be Inn, a two story lodge with an satisfactory volume of rooms and parking. It has a gymnasium, a pool, warm tub, and laundry room, and serves up extremely superior breakfast alternatives that involves scrambled eggs, sausages, slice bread, bagel, make your individual waffles, orange juice, milk, coffee, tea, fruits and cereal. Possibly not the best, but improved than a granola bar and a bottle of h2o that we were being provided at a different lodge.
The resort is shut to the Saint Augustine Shops and whilst it’s not in the downtown space it was not a really extensive push. Even Although it wasn’t my to start with decision, I did not head it at all. I was actually extra pleased with the choice when I went into city and saw that parking at those motels seemed a little bit limited. That is undoubtedly something to continue to keep in intellect when hunting for someplace to stay.
There are other motels in the space like the Comfort and ease Inn which is right upcoming doorway, High-quality Inn, Crimson Roof Inn, Holiday break Inn and much more. You can also come across gasoline stations and loads of locations to eat nearby.
What to Expect
The Downtown region is exactly where most sights are. I came into town on a Friday afternoon, went to test-in at the resort and then visited the Saint Augustine Stores. Right after going to the Outlets I desired to go to an attraction, but when I checked the points of interest, most of them were by now shut. By the way, most attractions in Saint Augustine closes between at 5:00 and 5:30 PM. I observed one particular, the Pirate and Treasure Museum, that was open right up until 7:00 PM and made a decision I would go.
Soon after driving into the Downtown location the Pirate and Treasure Museum was no extended on my intellect. I decided I was heading to go to the Castillo de San Marcos national Monument in its place for the reason that there was something so charming about the complete landscapes, with the blue waters of the Matanzas River in the backdrop. The Pirate and Treasure Museum was pretty much throughout the street but that was for another working day.
I required to test and discover someplace to park and I observed that the left lane was commencing to again up as some persons were being attempting to get into a close by parking large amount even though others had been in a line ready to go more than the Bridge of Lions which can take you to A1A. I came out of the line and went into the suitable lane in hopes I could uncover somewhere to park. I ended up on a avenue that took me correct into what I imagined was the parking great deal of a resort, but as I drove in I found the parking spaces all marked reserved. Later on I understood I was at the back again of Flagler Higher education.
I parked for a bit and acquired out and took a number of pictures simply because it experienced a attractive architectural style. After pulling out of the college, just throughout the avenue was a $10 parking good deal. I quickly pulled in and compensated the attendant, it was a good matter too due to the fact it was starting up to fill up. There are numerous parking all around, but you have to generate all-around to uncover cheap parking. The parking closest to the primary street, Avenida Menendez, are much more expensive. You may possibly be capable to get some no cost parking at some of the attractions with your ticket acquire, like Ripley’s Think it or Not available a 3 hrs parking move with the order of the entrance ticket. I was ready to tour the attraction and afterwards depart the car there for a bit and came back again in time to acquire off.
After parking, I walked a minimal methods, not too considerably by way of the back streets and on to the principal but ahead of getting there I could not assist but appear about to see what was heading on those people back streets. I soon realize that St. George street is in which everything was happening. It is lined with outlets, eateries, and amusement. I was capable to end at Tedi’s Olde Tyme Ice Product and invest in a pistachio cup. Right after leaving Tedi’s just on the facet at the corner of Cuna and St. George there was a guy who had snakes on display, $10 to keep or pose with a a person of them for a one man or woman and $15 for a group. That was not heading to be me, I am not a large supporter of snakes, so I variety of hurried pass there and went on to my vacation spot.
When I arrived to the Castillo de San Marcos I was not capable to go on the inside of for the reason that it was closed by that time, but I was continue to in a position to tour the outside the house. I was in a position to stroll all around it and observe the cannons that ended up lined off in one particular place and examine articles about its history. Even while it was not open at the time, it was nonetheless a lovely place to loosen up mainly because the sunshine was nevertheless up and the breeze that was blowing in from the Matanzas River felt so very good. You can sit on any of the seats onsite or on the good and lush lawn. The only thing is that the lawn is not dealing with the drinking water so it may perhaps not have the exact same effect as sitting down on the waterfront.
Issues To DO
There are numerous factors to do in Saint Augustine, irrespective of me pondering there may possibly not have been a large amount to do there. I will not go into a lot facts about them below due to the fact I have an report that checklist things to do in St. Augustine, you can simply click here to uncover it, but I will go forward and checklist some of the locations to go to/factors to do
- Lightner Museum
- Ripley’s Imagine 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 outlets for some procuring
- Do your personal self walking tour and admire the architecture of some destinations like Flagler Faculty and the church buildings
- Go to The Plaza de La Constitucion park
Finding Around
Finding around city in St. Augustine is not tough for the reason that most areas are shut by and straightforward to get to with your individual auto or by Uber. If you take place to get a hotel in or in close proximity to downtown, it’s an effortless wander simply because all the things is ideal there, besides for the seashores and alligator farm. Then there is also the trolley tours.
There are two kinds of trollies in St. Augustine, there is the Old Town Trolley Excursions and Crimson Train Excursions. The Outdated Town Trolley provides shuttles that picks you up from your hotel and will take you to the trolley depot, from there you can invest in your trolley tickets (as well as attraction tickets at a price cut) and get on to a trolley. You can decide on to trip the trolley all working day all-around town or hop on and off as you desire. The Old Town Trolley excursions sells one working day as very well as two day tickets.
The Pink Educate Tours is a portion of Ripley’s Imagine it or Not and also delivers guided tours around city allowing you to hop on and off all day. You will be in a position to get the practice from the Ripley’s area. The Pink Educate Excursions features an all working day hop on or off encounter as perfectly as the Purple Train Categorical knowledge which is a a single hour guided tour that requires you to particular web-sites.
There is an upside and a downside to using the trollies. The upside is that you really do not have to worry about driving your personal car to just about every site and possessing to fret about parking or taking a Uber, and the motorists are extremely knowledgeable about the history of the town. The draw back in my viewpoint is, depending on how significantly aside the stops are you can commit a large amount of time on the trolley obtaining to the following attraction. For case in point, I put in just about 2 several hours on the trolley hoping to get to my very last attraction due to the fact of targeted traffic and also due to the fact it was the last prevent, quit quantity 22, only to uncover out that the park was only about a 5 moment walk from the trolley depot.
Spots To Consume
Alongside the waterfront you can uncover places to eat these kinds of as Meehans’s Iris Pub and Seafood, River & Fort Restaurant and Roof Top Lounge as perfectly as Harry’s Seafood Bar and Grille, just to title a handful of. Sad to say, I did not get a chance to dine at any of these on the waterfront, but there are a great deal of areas close to that you can come across to eat. Along the again streets you can locate little eating 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 usually fast meals restaurants like Bojangles, which by the way experienced some delicious rooster wings, Zaxby’s, Burger King, and a lot more, if you want to get it quickly and go.
What I like the most about Saint Augustine is that even though it is a small town, it holds a huge historical past and It’s great for solo tourists and even a lot more so for people. I would certainly check out again and I have observed out that the very best time to stop by is throughout Xmas when the total metropolis is decorated with lights.
