Saint Augustine is a little city located 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 town in the United States. It was initial found and claimed for Spain by Ponce de Leon in 1513 who named it La Florida , but matters 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 generate from South Florida to Saint Augustine by means of I-95, stopping twice. As soon as for a bathroom split and the subsequent to get gasoline. The lodge the place I was being was just off the 95, simple to uncover. I stayed at the Good Keep Inn, a two story hotel with an enough quantity of rooms and parking. It has a fitness center, a pool, very hot tub, and laundry space, and serves up incredibly superior breakfast alternatives that involves scrambled eggs, sausages, slice bread, bagel, make your personal waffles, orange juice, milk, coffee, tea, fruits and cereal. It’s possible not the best, but greater than a granola bar and a bottle of water that we were being available at an additional resort.
The resort is near to the Saint Augustine Outlets and despite the fact that it’s not in the downtown spot it was not a incredibly extensive push. Even While it was not my initially option, I didn’t brain it at all. I was actually extra happy with the choice when I went into town and saw that parking at these motels seemed a bit limited. That is definitely a little something to retain in brain when hunting for someplace to remain.
There are other lodges in the location like the Comfort Inn which is ideal upcoming doorway, High quality Inn, Crimson Roof Inn, Holiday Inn and extra. You can also discover gas stations and plenty of sites to try to eat close by.
What to Anticipate
The Downtown place is in which 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. Following going to the Stores I needed to go to an attraction, but when I checked the attractions, most of them had been presently shut. By the way, most attractions in Saint Augustine closes concerning at 5:00 and 5:30 PM. I observed one particular, the Pirate and Treasure Museum, that was open till 7:00 PM and made a decision I would go.
Just after driving into the Downtown space the Pirate and Treasure Museum was no longer on my head. I resolved I was likely to go to the Castillo de San Marcos national Monument instead mainly because there was a thing so charming about the total scenery, with the blue waters of the Matanzas River in the backdrop. The Pirate and Treasure Museum was actually throughout the street but that was for an additional day.
I desired to attempt and discover somewhere to park and I seen that the still left lane was starting off to back up as some people have been attempting to get into a close by parking whole lot although other folks were in a line waiting to go about the Bridge of Lions which will take you to A1A. I arrived out of the line and went into the suitable lane in hopes I could discover somewhere to park. I finished up on a avenue that took me suitable into what I assumed was the parking large amount of a lodge, but as I drove in I seen the parking spaces all marked reserved. Afterwards I recognized I was at the back again of Flagler College.
I parked for a bit and acquired out and took a several pics since it had a charming architectural design. Just after pulling out of the college or university, just across the avenue was a $10 parking good deal. I right away pulled in and compensated the attendant, it was a very good factor much too simply because it was starting off to fill up. There are quite a few parking all-around, but you have to generate all over to locate affordable parking. The parking closest to the main street, Avenida Menendez, are extra high-priced. You may possibly be in a position to get some no cost parking at some of the attractions with your ticket order, like Ripley’s Think it or Not supplied a 3 hrs parking move with the obtain of the entrance ticket. I was able to tour the attraction and afterwards depart the vehicle there for a bit and came back again in time to take off.
Soon after parking, I walked a minor methods, not way too significantly by means of the back again streets and on to the most important but just before finding there I could not enable but glimpse all over to see what was likely on all those again streets. I soon know that St. George street is wherever all the things was taking place. It is lined with shops, eateries, and entertainment. I was able to cease at Tedi’s Olde Tyme Ice Product and obtain a pistachio cup. Just after leaving Tedi’s just on the aspect at the corner of Cuna and St. George there was a guy who had snakes on screen, $10 to maintain or pose with a a single of them for a one particular person and $15 for a team. That wasn’t going to be me, I am not a major admirer of snakes, so I kind of hurried move there and went on to my destination.
When I arrived to the Castillo de San Marcos I was not capable to go on the inside due to the fact it was shut by that time, but I was continue to able to tour the exterior. I was able to walk all over it and observe the cannons that had been lined off in a person spot and read articles about its historical past. Even while it was not open at the time, it was still a gorgeous spot to take it easy since the sunlight was nonetheless up and the breeze that was blowing in from the Matanzas River felt so great. 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 going through the drinking water so it might not have the exact result as sitting down on the waterfront.
Points To DO
There are numerous issues to do in Saint Augustine, inspite of me thinking there might not have been a large amount to do there. I will not go into a lot particulars about them listed here due to the fact I have an write-up that list issues to do in St. Augustine, you can click on here to come across it, but I will go ahead and checklist some of the areas to stop by/points to do
- Lightner Museum
- Ripley’s Believe it or Not
- Potter’s Wax Museum
- Castillo de San Marcos Nationwide Monument
- Alligator Farm
- The Torture Museum
- St Augustine Lighthouse and Maritime Museum
- Fountain of Youth
- The Old Jail
- Saint Augustine stores for some searching
- Do your own self strolling tour and admire the architecture of some spots like Flagler Faculty and the churches
- Go to The Plaza de La Constitucion park
Acquiring Around
Acquiring all around city in St. Augustine isn’t challenging due to the fact most sites are shut by and effortless to get to with your very own auto or by Uber. If you occur to get a lodge in or in close proximity to downtown, it’s an effortless wander because 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 Excursions and Crimson Coach Excursions. The Old Town Trolley provides shuttles that picks you up from your resort and requires you to the trolley depot, from there you can purchase your trolley tickets (as very well as attraction tickets at a price reduction) and get on to a trolley. You can decide on to ride the trolley all day around town or hop on and off as you would like. The Outdated City Trolley excursions sells 1 working day as properly as two day tickets.
The Pink Coach Excursions is a element of Ripley’s Think it or Not and also provides guided tours all around city allowing you to hop on and off all working day. You will be in a position to get the educate from the Ripley’s location. The Crimson Coach Tours delivers an all day hop on or off experience as properly as the Crimson Educate Specific knowledge which is a a single hour guided tour that can take you to sure web-sites.
There is an upside and a draw back to taking the trollies. The upside is that you do not have to fear about driving your personal car to each area and acquiring to worry about parking or taking a Uber, and the drivers are very proficient about the record of the city. The downside in my belief is, depending on how far aside the stops are you can devote a great deal of time on the trolley having to the next attraction. For instance, I expended almost 2 hrs on the trolley trying to get to my last attraction mainly because of traffic and also simply because it was the final cease, end quantity 22, only to obtain out that the park was only about a 5 minute wander from the trolley depot.
Spots To Take in
Alongside the waterfront you can come across dining places this sort of as Meehans’s Iris Pub and Seafood, River & Fort Cafe and Roof Top Lounge as very well as Harry’s Seafood Bar and Grille, just to name a few. However, I didn’t get a prospect to dine at any of people on the waterfront, but there are a great deal of places all around that you can find to take in. Along the back again streets you can come across modest 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 usually quickly food restaurants like Bojangles, which by the way experienced some tasty hen wings, Zaxby’s, Burger King, and additional, if you want to get it swiftly and go.
What I like the most about Saint Augustine is that even nevertheless it’s a little city, it retains a massive history and It’s terrific for solo travelers and even a lot more so for families. I would undoubtedly stop by once more and I have uncovered out that the very best time to visit is in the course of Xmas when the complete city is adorned with lights.