Memsahib's Voyage

We had a very nice stop in St. Augustine, the oldest continuously occupied city in the United States, and thus the home of oldest house, oldest tavern, oldest jail, and even the oldest drug store.

It is a strange mix of beautiful architecture, history and out-and-out tourist traps.  The Spanish occupied the area as the northern frontier of their possessions in 1565 and in the next century built the stone fort that became its raison d’etre, Castillo San Marcos.  But for hundreds of years thereafter St. Augustine was pretty much just a small town supporting the Castillo.  Then in 1889 Standard Oil tycoon Henry Flagler fell in love with the area and built three luxury hotels and a railroad to bring in wealthy guests.  Flagler and his architects pretty much invented the Spanish revival style of architecture (which I do not mind)  that characterizes so much of Florida, and the city that grew up around the hotels mimics it.  So most of the “oldest” city is pretty much circa 1889.

Once you get out of the old city, though, St. Augustine really degenerates into tee-shirt tourism, since it is the home of the Ripley’s Believe It or Not Empire and they control a lot of the tourist infrastructure.  We did our share in support, riding the Ripley tourist tram and taking a trip out to the Alligator Farm, where hundreds of the beasts are raised and which actually performs a useful role in preserving endangered alligator and crocodile species.   Reptile preservation of any kind is not high on my “to do” list for the world, but I guess is important somewhere in the scheme of things.

We also climbed the 219 stairs of St. Augustine Light for magnificent view of the Atlantic, and took a tour of the Castillo.  The Castillo (Ft. St. Marks during the 1765-1784 British period, back to the Spanish for a while, then American in 1821 as Ft. Marion) was the first historic preservation done by the National Park Service and is very well done.  The multi-media doesn’t overwhelm the site itself.

Ponce Hotel, Henry’s first and now the home of Flagler College.

Lightner Museum. Lightner was a wealthy publisher of hobby magazines before the Internet ruined the world as we knew it.

Old City Street. Full of restuarants. We had really good Yucatan food.

Ravenal and moat of the Castillo.

Pirate ship pulled into the harbor for some wenching and carousing on Holy Saturday.

This Martini Bar is actually on the National Register of Historic Places. Totally appropriate.

St. Augustine Light.

Atlantic from the lighthouse.

Any marina with an on-site mini-golf course is all right with me. I whipped John’s ass.

Gator Farm. I hate them.

John feeding the gators. Gator food and dog food look very similar.

Gator Farm is also a bird rookery. This tree of snowy egrets was pretty.

Komodo Dragon. I only include this because Bob & Ray had a famous piece featuring the Largest Living Lizard. Only Gaulke and I remember Bob & Ray.