To the Oldest City: St. Augustine!

Lighthouses have long been one of my very favorite architectural wonders.  So I'm putting the last photo I took today first: St. Augustine Lighthouse!  It was close to dusk, cloudy, thundering and sprinkling a little rain but we HAD to find the lighthouse.  After several wrong turns and u-ies, we found it.

How magnificently tall and stately!   Peggy and I will tour it tomorrow and have vowed to attempt climbing 217 steps to the top.

Now, first things: we had a very pleasant drive here from Jacksonville, a very short drive.  After checking in at our hotel, we decided to take the Red Train Tour of the old town.  The first stop we left the train was to see Castillo de San Marco, the old Spanish fort begun in 1672.  Its 10-feet thick walls were built of coquina, a stone of shell fragments and quartz that we were told not to touch because it is so sharp. 

There were many interesting shops but we spent time in one with hand-designed tiles which we admired but did not buy and shell designed articles which we bought.  At another small shop we bought postcards.  For the rest of the afternoon we stayed on the Red Train and went around and around the narrow, crooked street on the bumpy cobblestones.  Tomorrow we will start very early - we know exactly which of the fine large hotels, shops, and churches we wish to examine more closely.  We plan to end up spending the afternoon on the beach working hard at nothing in particular.

Ramparts of Castillo de San Marcos

Mantazas Bay looking toward the Atlantic Ocean

We ended our day dining at The Oasis, a popular eatery on road A1A that boasts, "the world famous deck and restaurant."  The fish we chose were fresh and cooked to perfection.