Saint Augustine is a small city found in Northeast Florida just south of Jacksonville and about 1.5 hrs. south of the Florida/Ga Stateline. It is thought to be the oldest metropolis in the United States. It was initially discovered and claimed for Spain by Ponce de Leon in 1513 who named it La Florida , but items did not perform 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 hours to drive from South Florida to Saint Augustine by means of I-95, stopping twice. At the time for a toilet break and the subsequent to get gas. The hotel in which I was keeping was just off the 95, simple to come across. I stayed at the Wise Stay Inn, a two tale hotel with an ample amount of rooms and parking. It has a health club, a pool, sizzling tub, and laundry place, and serves up pretty superior breakfast options that features scrambled eggs, sausages, slice bread, bagel, make your possess waffles, orange juice, milk, espresso, tea, fruits and cereal. Probably not the best, but superior than a granola bar and a bottle of h2o that we were being offered at a further lodge.
The lodge is shut to the Saint Augustine Stores and while it’s not in the downtown region it was not a very prolonged push. Even While it wasn’t my first decision, I did not intellect it at all. I was in fact much more happy with the choice when I went into town and saw that parking at those motels seemed a little bit limited. That is surely a thing to maintain in head when on the lookout for someplace to keep.
There are other inns in the area like the Comfort and ease Inn which is appropriate up coming doorway, Excellent Inn, Red Roof Inn, Getaway Inn and much more. You can also come across gas stations and plenty of locations to take in close by.
What to Hope
The Downtown place is exactly where most sights are. I arrived into city on a Friday afternoon, went to verify-in at the resort and then visited the Saint Augustine Retailers. Following traveling to the Retailers I preferred to go to an attraction, but when I checked the attractions, most of them were being by now shut. By the way, most points of interest in Saint Augustine closes concerning at 5:00 and 5:30 PM. I noticed one, the Pirate and Treasure Museum, that was open until 7:00 PM and decided I would go.
Just after driving into the Downtown location the Pirate and Treasure Museum was no for a longer period on my thoughts. I made a decision I was heading to go to the Castillo de San Marcos national Monument as an alternative since there was a thing so fascinating about the full landscapes, with the blue waters of the Matanzas River in the backdrop. The Pirate and Treasure Museum was pretty much throughout the avenue but that was for a different day.
I essential to try out and discover someplace to park and I noticed that the still left lane was starting up to back up as some men and women were being attempting to get into a nearby parking large amount although many others had been in a line waiting to go above the Bridge of Lions which requires you to A1A. I came out of the line and went into the correct lane in hopes I could discover somewhere to park. I finished up on a avenue that took me suitable into what I believed was the parking lot of a resort, but as I drove in I seen the parking spaces all marked reserved. Later on I understood I was at the back of Flagler College or university.
I parked for a bit and obtained out and took a couple of photos for the reason that it experienced a wonderful architectural structure. Immediately after pulling out of the university, just across the road was a $10 parking great deal. I promptly pulled in and paid out the attendant, it was a very good matter as well due to the fact it was starting up to fill up. There are numerous parking all over, but you have to push all over to locate cheap parking. The parking closest to the key road, Avenida Menendez, are extra expensive. You may well be equipped to get some totally free parking at some of the sights with your ticket obtain, like Ripley’s Imagine it or Not supplied a 3 hours parking pass with the order of the entrance ticket. I was in a position to tour the attraction and later on go away the car or truck there for a bit and arrived again in time to choose off.
Following parking, I walked a very little strategies, not as well significantly by the back streets and on to the major but in advance of obtaining there I couldn’t assistance but look all-around to see what was going on people again streets. I shortly know that St. George road is in which all the things was occurring. It is lined with stores, eateries, and enjoyment. I was equipped to quit at Tedi’s Olde Tyme Ice Cream and obtain a pistachio cup. After leaving Tedi’s just on the facet at the corner of Cuna and St. George there was a man who experienced snakes on display screen, $10 to maintain or pose with a one of them for a single individual and $15 for a group. That wasn’t heading to be me, I am not a major enthusiast of snakes, so I form of hurried pass there and went on to my destination.
When I arrived to the Castillo de San Marcos I was not in a position to go on the within due to the fact it was closed by that time, but I was still able to tour the outside the house. I was capable to wander around it and notice the cannons that were lined off in 1 region and read content articles about its background. Even although it was not open at the time, it was nonetheless a lovely spot to rest since the sun was continue to up and the breeze that was blowing in from the Matanzas River felt so good. You can sit on any of the seats onsite or on the pleasant and lush lawn. The only thing is that the lawn is not experiencing the drinking water so it may well not have the similar influence as sitting down on the waterfront.
Issues To DO
There are numerous matters to do in Saint Augustine, irrespective of me contemplating there could not have been a large amount to do there. I will not go into significantly aspects about them right here since I have an write-up that list items to do in St. Augustine, you can click on right here to find it, but I will go forward and listing some of the locations to check out/points to do
- Lightner Museum
- Ripley’s Consider it or Not
- Potter’s Wax Museum
- Castillo de San Marcos National Monument
- Alligator Farm
- The Torture Museum
- St Augustine Lighthouse and Maritime Museum
- Fountain of Youth
- The Aged Jail
- Saint Augustine outlets for some buying
- Do your very own self walking tour and admire the architecture of some locations like Flagler University and the church buildings
- Stop by The Plaza de La Constitucion park
Obtaining All over
Finding all around town in St. Augustine is not tough because most places are near by and quick to get to with your own automobile or by Uber. If you occur to get a resort in or in close proximity to downtown, it’s an quick wander due to the fact anything is right there, besides for the shorelines and alligator farm. Then there is also the trolley tours.
There are two sorts of trollies in St. Augustine, there is the Previous Town Trolley Tours and Pink Practice Tours. The Aged City Trolley delivers shuttles that picks you up from your resort and can take you to the trolley depot, from there you can buy your trolley tickets (as perfectly as attraction tickets at a low cost) and get on to a trolley. You can pick to experience the trolley all working day close to city or hop on and off as you desire. The Aged Town Trolley tours sells a person working day as very well as two day tickets.
The Crimson Train Tours is a section of Ripley’s Feel it or Not and also presents guided excursions all-around city allowing for you to hop on and off all working day. You will be equipped to get the coach from the Ripley’s spot. The Pink Coach Excursions gives an all day hop on or off working experience as properly as the Red Coach Convey experience which is a a single hour guided tour that normally takes you to certain web pages.
There is an upside and a draw back to getting the trollies. The upside is that you really do not have to get worried about driving your very own car to each individual locale and having to stress about parking or getting a Uber, and the drivers are pretty proficient about the record of the city. The downside in my viewpoint is, relying on how much apart the stops are you can shell out a large amount of time on the trolley finding to the up coming attraction. For instance, I expended practically 2 hours on the trolley attempting to get to my past attraction because of targeted visitors and also because it was the final quit, prevent amount 22, only to obtain out that the park was only about a 5 moment stroll from the trolley depot.
Locations To Take in
Along the waterfront you can locate dining establishments this sort of as Meehans’s Iris Pub and Seafood, River & Fort Cafe and Roof Top Lounge as well as Harry’s Seafood Bar and Grille, just to identify a handful of. Sad to say, I didn’t get a possibility to dine at any of those people on the waterfront, but there are a great deal of spots all-around that you can obtain to eat. Alongside the again streets you can obtain small eating places tucked away, like the Raintree or Drake’s Bistro on San Marco Ave, and St. George Tavern on St. George Avenue. Then there is usually speedy meals places to eat like Bojangles, which by the way had some delicious rooster wings, Zaxby’s, Burger King, and more, if you want to get it swiftly and go.
What I like the most about Saint Augustine is that even however it is a modest city, it retains a large record and It’s wonderful for solo travelers and even additional so for families. I would surely stop by all over again and I have observed out that the best time to go to is during Xmas when the whole metropolis is decorated with lights.