Yesterday after Fitz put the engines back together, we went to the Castillo de San Marcos, it was overcast, cold and a great time to see an old fort that was mostly inside. It was interesting and we learned about the Spanish building the fort to protect their holding and how this was the 9th attempt at a fort the first that wasn’t wood. This one was built of coquina (shell cement) that absorbed cannon and musket balls rather than exploded under their impact and didn’t burn like the other ones. It changed hands from the Spanish to the British and back then to us. We then saw the peacocks at Ponce de Leon’s Fountain of Youth and felt so young we then went to A1A Café to watch the Derby and have some more of their excellent sangria. Back to the boat for a cool night and woke this morning to brilliant sunny day of perfect weather. The only thing left on the must do agenda was a visit to the Lighteners Museum which is a museum of collections in the old Alcazar Hotel built by Henry Flagler. I guess Otto Lightener was fascinated with collections that people had—some were valuable like musical instruments from the early 1900’s and crystal—some not so valuable but interesting like dolls or glasses. Then we walked to the visitor’s center where artists had gathered to paint the sidewalks with chalk. Tomorrow we head north but this has really been a great stop and gives us a template for Savannah and Charleston.
 |
| Reinactment of the Spanish and the Brits |
 |
| Loud Cannons toward our boat! |
 |
| Ponce with his Fountain of Youth |
 |
| Lightener--the building was as interesting as the collections inside |
 |
This street was voted one of the top 10 prettiest streets in America and
Saturday night in St. Augustine is wedding night |
 |
| Chalk Artists this was my favorite |
Fun! The chalk drawings remind me of New Orleans :-)
ReplyDelete