15 May - St Augustine, Florida

Opus
Bridget & Nick Gray
Wed 15 May 2013 16:15

Cycled around the town with its Spanish heritage apparent everywhere. Florida was claimed in 1513 by Ponce de Leon and Pedro Menendez founded St Augustine in 1564. It is the oldest European settlement in the US – with its Catholic Cathedral and congregation similarly old! They also have the tallest free standing cross in the world – at 208ft. The lower 65ft are filled with concrete to make it hurricane proof.

One of the oldest buildings is The Alcazar Hotel (1888) which is now the City Hall and The Lightner Museum – a collection of over 50,000 items in true Victorian fashion, from cigar papers to antique furniture and fine art. A second is the Villa Zorayda (1883). This is a 1/10 exact replica of one of the wings of the Alhambra Palace in Grenada Spain!

Chuck grew up in Florida and we met their good friends Sue and Austin for lunch at a Cuban restaurant called Columbia – very delicious treat. They then went to the supermarket to provision for the next leg, giving me and Nick another chance to see the old streets, the recently renovated Lion Bridge and find an amusing bar with internet.




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