Welcome to St. Augustine, the oldest continuously inhabited city in the US. Founded by the Spanish in 1565, there have been people living here ever since. No I’m not getting into ‘but the natives were always here’. When I get the respect for Jews being native to Israel and returning after 2000 years in exile – then maybe I’ll pay attention to the claims of other natives – until then – go pond sand. This building is now Flagler college, but started life as a hotel. More on that later.
On the right, a fountain in St. Augustine, on the left – Savannah, I’d say the same foundry made both of them.
Old gates to the city. although there is plenty of history, it sort of felt more like Disneyland. We had a great guide, Angie, who really knew her stuff- which was very informative. But unlike Savannah where the history is celebrated, here it felt like a backdrop for tourist.
Castillo de San Marcos. Built in the late 17th c. to protect from both pirates and the British. It is built from Coquina – a local ‘stone’ limestone made mostly from shells. Didn’t go into to it. We had our fort in Sort Pulaski. I’ll be honest, one more day here and this would have been on my list.
This isn’t one of the oldest buildings, it’s just that Florida weather will do this to wood.
One of the many churches, I think Flagler built this one in honor of his daughter who died young. By this time on the vacation, there were too many things to remember.
The cathedral tower.
Tallest building in all of St. Augustine, today it is called the treasury and is an event location. In 1927 it was the Art Deco bank building. Like so many other cities – banks built big and Art Deco was the style. Early on. the city fathers realized that they didn’t want a city of sky scrappers. So the limited the hight of buildings to 4 stories – to this day- this holds true even in the modern city – although now of course, these rules are being bent and broken
An eagle at one of the fountains.
A frog at another.
The bridge of lions, sorry, forgot to take a picture of them, there are two sets on both sides of the bridge. Meanwhile, the drawbridge can open every half hour for tall boats. Which is why we didn’t go over the bridge to visit the lighthouse.
someone had breakfast in their car. I guess they didn’t like it all that much. Also, I don’t want to think about the smell when they get back.
Famous St. George street, yes a lot of kitschy shopping here.
We are definitely in Florida.
Leah