Lost in time inside the oldest city, St.Augustine.
- Tori Glynn
- Feb 27, 2016
- 8 min read
Hi explorers! I hope everyone is doing extremely well! Let's get right to it! This is my 2nd time going to St.Augustine, it is a 4 hour drive for me but SO worth it! If you come to Florida or you live in Florida, this city is a must see! Quick background: my boyfriend and I stayed at the Quality inn at St.Augustine beach, it wasn't much, around 60 dollars a night. Staying near the beach is great because every night you get to cross the Bridge of Lions and head to the small beach side of St.Augustine, with their own supermarket for any late night food shopping. You also get to see the ocean side of st.Augustine! Definitely a plus!
St.Augustine beach: Even if you live near the ocean, you have to check out st.Augustine beach! I live in south Florida near Fort Lauderdale beach and I have not seen a beach like St.Augustine's before. It gives off the vibe of a North Carolinian beach for sure. But much spookier, especially if you go around the winter season. When you step onto the beach you feel like you just entered a whole new world. The shoreline feels like it is as long as a football field and the sand is completely white and flat. This allows people the ability to drive their cars on the actual beach if they want! I have never seen that.
Now, I went in March 2015 the first time, and the fog made me feel like I was in a movie set. The fog in st.Augustine appeared a few times this trip and it really made for such a great mood. Thanks mother nature! Typically on the beach you can see people tanning, playing football, anything on the shore, but in St.Augustine, you look to the left, look to the right, and everyone slowly disappears in the distance. You start to feel like people are disappearing out of thin air as they walk off down the beach. It's incredible! It was such a way to set the tone for this amazing ghost town..
Oh! And the water looks like there is probably a great white swimming somewhere near by, just because of the gray color and choppy waves. Felt like I was in a scene taken right out of Amity Island, where Jaws was filmed.
St.George Street: George street is the place to go to really feel that St.Augustine atmosphere. Every night that I stayed in St.Augustine I went down to St.George St and Main st. You find a parking spot wherever you can and you won't need the car again for a while! You immediately step back in time and immerse yourself in the past. The cobble stone streets and the old architecture of the buildings is something I have never seen. You feel like you're in the old south mixed with a Spanish village, oh and that Jack Sparrow might pop up at any moment. If you are into shopping, this would be a nice place for you to explore, and if you're into eating, and I know we all are, then this is your go to place! Take your time when you get to St.George st, look around at all the historic buildings, the oldest school, and stop by and get yourself some goodies for later at the hotel! You are most likely going to see a few "Ghost Tour" advertisements here and there, and if you really want to put a cherry on top of your downtown visit, well, you gotta buy a ticket to one of these creepy adventures! Here are some places I recommend as a must see/go to:
Earthbound: Earthbound is a beautiful store that I wish was further down south near me. Earthbound is a store with everything nature, hippy and zen. It's my dream store. Even if you don't want to spend money, it is a great place to go and feel a little closer to the earth. There are cute little accessories and cool wooden katanas (swords) even. You'll find little Buddha's everywhere you look, amazing art works, and beautiful antiques for your bedroom or home. Just go and enjoy yourself! I got a really cool magnifying glass and my boyfriend bought a wood carved samurai sword. I paid 3 dollars for mine and he paid 12 dollars for his! Oh, and I bought this interesting knitted ring, with all the colors of the earth for a dollar.
Wolf's Mystery Museum: This place was probably one of my FAVORITE places in St.Augustine. Growing up my family was really into Halloween and scary movies and so on. This place is one of the coolest "museums" I have ever been to and it's only 5$ each! You are most likely going to see the Ripley's Believe It or Not attraction when you enter into the city of downtown St.Augustine, my advice is steer clear! This place is so much better. Walking around inside the maze of streets in downtown you will never stumble across it so if you just put it into your google maps or ask a local, you will be able to find it. Right when you walk up you will see the sign for Wolf's on the porch of an old Victorian style home (the style of all the st.Augustine homes downtown) and vintage Wolf man and Frankenstein posters. You can go up all throughout the house with a different theme in each room. Also, in the backyard they are always playing scary movies and selling snacks. Such an amazing place to go! The owners are awesome too! So personal and different. Please go!
A ghostly encounter: The ghostly encounter is the tour we decided to go on when we went to St.Augustine the first time, the second time our scary place was Wolf's. Anyway, this was a great ghost tour, which you have to do when you go to St.Augustine! It's one of the oldest cities in the world, so even if you don't see ghosts that night it's nice to just roam around the city and learn some cool history at night, and trust me, it gets spooky! You get to meet up at a house that they have, another Victorian, and you can go inside and take pictures in there too, it is supposedly haunted as well. There will be a group of about 15 of people that you're walking with and one tour guide, ours was a blonde girl named Kelsey and she was super sweet and into her job and character. You get to walk around Castillo de San Marcos in the dark, by the water, which is definitely eerie. We never went to the Castillo fort either time we went, But I have a free/cheap and not so touristy option for you guys coming up!
Neighborhoods/Churches: If you really want to get a feel for St.Augustine you should walk around the neighborhoods and get a feel for the tone of this ancient city. Everywhere I go, I love to look at the architecture of the city I'm exploring. Just park your car or even drive your car around these beautiful neighborhoods. They are great for photography and scenery. The houses are all Victorian, old, and they are just absolutely beautiful. The weeping willow trees lean over each house, making it all the more creepy in a tranquil kind of way. The neighborhoods are right behind the trolley station and the Ripley's Believe It or Not museum. Be sure to check out the churches around Main St and St.George st as well!
Fort Matanzas: Fort Matanzas is a cheaper and less of a tourist trap than Castillo de San Marcos. It is a lot smaller but something cool about it is that you get to take a ferry to the island that the structure is on and its all for FREE!! The whole thing is free. I think Castillo is about 14 each so that's not bad. If you end up doing that let me know how you like it! Anyway, the fort is very cool and it is nice to learn about the history of how the Spaniards built these forts and why. And the view from the fort is gorgeous.
Nature/Wildlife: No matter where you go, you should always take time to get away from the populated city and enjoy what this Earth has to offer you. Upstate Florida is such an amazing beautiful place so here are some interesting and amazing places you HAVE to check out if you are in the St.Augustine area:
Vilano Beach: If you take A1A 11 minutes up north you will see Vilano Beach. Vilano Beach was such a beautiful detour for my boyfriend and I. We went to Vilano Beach our second time in St.Augustine. Driving along this coast during march was so beautiful. It was very rainy and windy and you felt like you were in Maine or Long Island. You can stop your car along the side of the road and step out onto the beach. Just be careful because traffic is approaching from both sides. Along the shoreline there are thousands of shells and little clams. If you collect sea shells this would be a great place to visit. We parked maybe 30 feet from where the beach houses began and we even walked up to one of the houses where they had their own make-shift "lemonade" stands made from palm tree leaves. It was so cute! Definitely a place to visit.
Palm Coast: Now, palm coast is one of my MUST see places if you love nature. If you are on your way back down south, which is where I was headed you need to stop by the Palm Coast. If you aren't on your way back down south, you need to stop by Palm Coast. I had read about Palm Coast last time I researched where to go in St.Augustine and I saw on Pintrest that this was a place to go and I didn't. The second time I went to St.Augustine I decided to just take a little detour and check it out and it was so worth it. Not only did I feel closer to nature and have a deeper respect for how beautiful this earth is, I got really sweet pictures. The two places to stop by are Washington Oaks Park and the beach across the street. Which is also Washington Oak Park.
*Washington Oaks State Park is one of the most extraordinary parks I have ever been to. It is free to get in and it was so worth going. You park your car wherever you find a parking spot and you just take off from there. WARNING: there are a lot of mosquitoes, so bring bug repellent. Because we didn't have any bug spray, our trip there was cut short. That is how bad it was. But I don't want to convince you not to go. There are stunning trees, flowers and plants everywhere. The landscape is to die for. There is also a really beautiful greenhouse that you can walk along the outside of. Everywhere you look there are SNAKES! Sometimes in nature things tend to blend together so you might scan over a few animals, so if you really want to see something you have to make sure you look closely. We saw a huge brown snake and a smaller red snake. My boyfriend thought he saw a small monkey in the trees but we left because of the bugs so we could not keep looking. I researched to find out if seeing a monkey there was possible and it actually is! Super cool! Please go and enjoy yourself.
Across the street is the beach and this place was also amazing. There are rocks laying on the sand that are covered in the most vibrant green moss I have ever seen. You feel like you stepped into Ireland.
Places to eat: Some good places to chow down there are,
Cruisers Grill for an amazing burger that is super cheap.
Florida Cracker, I got two LARGE crab cakes and my boyfriend got a burger that was also massive.
The Spanish Bakery, amazing fresh bread every morning and great soups. SO cheap.
Savannah sweets was where I got my candy apple every night I was in St.Augustine. It's in downtown. Forget Kilwins and check this place out. The candy apple was only 3 bucks.
Fudge Buckets was another great place for ice cream or any other dessert. I got bubble gum ice cream and it was amazing. PLUS, outside of the fudge buckets on the outskirts of town (there's two) has corn hole outside and that's where I realized what a super fun game that is. And no one is ever using it. So go play with a cup of ice cream and feel like you're one of the locals.
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