Saint Augustine is a compact city located in Northeast Florida just south of Jacksonville and about 1.5 hrs. south of the Florida/Georgia Stateline. It is believed to be the oldest metropolis in the United States. It was initial uncovered and claimed for Spain by Ponce de Leon in 1513 who named it La Florida , but things did not get the job done 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 travel from South Florida to Saint Augustine by means of I-95, stopping twice. The moment for a rest room split and the upcoming to get gasoline. The lodge exactly where I was remaining was just off the 95, straightforward to come across. I stayed at the Smart Continue to be Inn, a two tale hotel with an suitable volume of rooms and parking. It has a fitness center, a pool, scorching tub, and laundry space, and serves up pretty excellent breakfast choices that includes scrambled eggs, sausages, slice bread, bagel, make your have waffles, orange juice, milk, coffee, tea, fruits and cereal. Probably not the very best, but better than a granola bar and a bottle of water that we had been provided at one more resort.

The hotel is shut to the Saint Augustine Outlets and whilst it’s not in the downtown location it was not a very extended generate. Even While it wasn’t my 1st selection, I didn’t mind it at all. I was essentially additional pleased with the choice when I went into town and noticed that parking at all those motels seemed a little bit restricted. That is absolutely anything to keep in mind when wanting for somewhere to keep.
There are other motels in the space like the Comfort and ease Inn which is correct up coming doorway, High-quality Inn, Purple Roof Inn, Getaway Inn and more. You can also locate gas stations and tons of destinations to consume nearby.
What to Anticipate
The Downtown location is the place most sights are. I arrived into town on a Friday afternoon, went to look at-in at the hotel and then frequented the Saint Augustine Retailers. Just after going to the Stores I required to go to an attraction, but when I checked the sights, most of them ended up now closed. By the way, most points of interest in Saint Augustine closes between at 5:00 and 5:30 PM. I noticed one, the Pirate and Treasure Museum, that was open until 7:00 PM and made the decision I would go.
Following driving into the Downtown area the Pirate and Treasure Museum was no for a longer period on my head. I made a decision I was heading to go to the Castillo de San Marcos nationwide Monument as an alternative simply because there was a little something so fascinating about the full scenery, with the blue waters of the Matanzas River in the backdrop. The Pirate and Treasure Museum was actually across the road but that was for a further day.
I wanted to check out and come across someplace to park and I observed that the remaining lane was setting up to back again up as some men and women ended up hoping to get into a nearby parking large amount when other individuals ended up in a line ready to go around the Bridge of Lions which normally takes you to A1A. I came out of the line and went into the suitable lane in hopes I could obtain somewhere to park. I ended up on a street that took me appropriate into what I thought was the parking lot of a hotel, but as I drove in I found the parking areas all marked reserved. Later I realized I was at the back of Flagler College.

I parked for a little bit and bought out and took a handful of images for the reason that it had a pretty architectural style. After pulling out of the higher education, just across the avenue was a $10 parking good deal. I quickly pulled in and paid the attendant, it was a very good issue much too because it was starting up to fill up. There are quite a few parking about, but you have to push all over to uncover inexpensive parking. The parking closest to the key avenue, Avenida Menendez, are extra costly. You may well be in a position to get some no cost parking at some of the attractions with your ticket purchase, like Ripley’s Believe it or Not provided a 3 hrs parking pass with the purchase of the entrance ticket. I was capable to tour the attraction and later on depart the car or truck there for a little bit and came back again in time to get off.
Soon after parking, I walked a tiny approaches, not way too far through the again streets and on to the principal but in advance of obtaining there I couldn’t assist but glance all-around to see what was heading on these again streets. I shortly know that St. George avenue is in which every thing was going on. It is lined with shops, eateries, and amusement. I was equipped to halt at Tedi’s Olde Tyme Ice Cream and invest in a pistachio cup. Following leaving Tedi’s just on the aspect at the corner of Cuna and St. George there was a gentleman who had snakes on show, $10 to keep or pose with a 1 of them for a single particular person and $15 for a group. That was not heading to be me, I am not a major supporter of snakes, so I kind of hurried move there and went on to my spot.
When I came to the Castillo de San Marcos I was not capable to go on the inside because it was shut by that time, but I was even now in a position to tour the exterior. I was able to walk around it and notice the cannons that have been lined off in one particular space and study content about its record. Even although it was not open at the time, it was continue to a lovely place to rest since the sunlight was nevertheless up and the breeze that was blowing in from the Matanzas River felt so excellent. You can sit on any of the seats onsite or on the good and lush garden. The only issue is that the lawn is not experiencing the water so it might not have the similar impact as sitting down on the waterfront.
Issues To DO
There are lots of items to do in Saint Augustine, even with me imagining there may not have been a good deal to do there. I will not go into much information about them listed here simply because I have an article that list factors to do in St. Augustine, you can click on listed here to discover it, but I will go in advance and record some of the sites to take a look at/things to do
- Lightner Museum
- Ripley’s Feel it or Not
- Potter’s Wax Museum
- Castillo de San Marcos Countrywide Monument
- Alligator Farm
- The Torture Museum
- St Augustine Lighthouse and Maritime Museum
- Fountain of Youth
- The Aged Jail
- Saint Augustine shops for some searching
- Do your very own self walking tour and admire the architecture of some places like Flagler College and the church buildings
- Visit The Plaza de La Constitucion park
Having All over
Getting all-around city in St. Augustine isn’t tricky since most spots are near by and quick to get to with your personal motor vehicle or by Uber. If you take place to get a hotel in or close to downtown, it’s an simple stroll because every little thing is appropriate there, except for the seashores and alligator farm. Then there is also the trolley tours.
There are two styles of trollies in St. Augustine, there is the Previous City Trolley Excursions and Red Train Tours. The Previous City Trolley presents shuttles that picks you up from your lodge and will take you to the trolley depot, from there you can buy your trolley tickets (as well as attraction tickets at a price reduction) and get on to a trolley. You can decide on to journey the trolley all working day all-around city or hop on and off as you desire. The Aged Town Trolley excursions sells 1 working day as nicely as two working day tickets.

The Purple Educate Excursions is a component of Ripley’s Think it or Not and also features guided excursions around city allowing you to hop on and off all day. You will be equipped to get the coach from the Ripley’s site. The Crimson Practice Tours provides an all day hop on or off experience as well as the Purple Teach Categorical expertise which is a one particular hour guided tour that normally takes you to selected websites.
There is an upside and a draw back to taking the trollies. The upside is that you really don’t have to stress about driving your personal auto to every single locale and owning to fear about parking or using a Uber, and the drivers are incredibly experienced about the heritage of the town. The draw back in my opinion is, based on how considerably apart the stops are you can shell out a whole lot of time on the trolley receiving to the upcoming attraction. For illustration, I spent virtually 2 hours on the trolley hoping to get to my last attraction simply because of traffic and also simply because it was the past end, cease variety 22, only to uncover out that the park was only about a 5 moment walk from the trolley depot.
Places To Eat
Together the waterfront you can locate dining establishments these types of as Meehans’s Iris Pub and Seafood, River & Fort Cafe and Roof Top rated Lounge as very well as Harry’s Seafood Bar and Grille, just to name a few. Regretably, I did not get a likelihood to dine at any of these on the waterfront, but there are a whole lot of sites close to that you can locate to consume. Alongside the again streets you can obtain modest dining establishments tucked absent, like the Raintree or Drake’s Bistro on San Marco Ave, and St. George Tavern on St. George Street. Then there is usually speedy food items dining places like Bojangles, which by the way experienced some delicious hen wings, Zaxby’s, Burger King, and much more, if you want to get it quickly and go.
What I like the most about Saint Augustine is that even though it’s a modest metropolis, it retains a major history and It’s terrific for solo tourists and even more so for people. I would unquestionably pay a visit to once again and I have identified out that the greatest time to take a look at is throughout Xmas when the whole town is embellished with lights.