Day 261, May 1st, 2010
It stormed all night with thunder, lightening and heavy rain, but we woke to clear blue skies and a gorgeous sunny warm day.
We caught the little tour bus/train outside the marina and had a lovely tour of the town to decide what we'd like to see. We learned on the tour that Matanzas Bay was originally called the Bay of the Dancing Dolphins by the Indians. Later it was named Matanzas Bay (Massacre Bay) when the Spanish cut the throats of the Huguenot soldiers when they refused to convert to Catholicism in 1621. The Bay is said to have run red for two days following!
We got off at the Castillo de San Marco (the Fort), just in time for them to fire the cannon. Built in the 1500s it made St. Augustine the oldest city in the US. With walls 16ft thick of coquina (a local form of limestone formed of crushed shell and sand) the walls were never breached. When hit by a cannon ball, the walls do not crack but just dent with the force of the impact. The fort has changed hands from the Spanish, to the English, to the US only by diplomatic agreement.
After the fort we walked through St. Georges Street visiting lots of little shops etc. in this picturesque old area. Then to visit St. Augustine's Basilica - beautiful, with its Spanish influence.
For lunch we stopped for a spinach and feta cheese croissant in "The Bunnery" - yummy!
We walked to the end of the street and then crossed to Ripley's Believe It or Not - the original, built by Mr. Ripley, a native of St. Augustine. Fascinating! John cautioned me to move quickly in there as we were running out of time but we got hooked and it was fun in there looking at all the funny, weird and interesting stuff!
We hopped on another bus as we came out and found it was the last bus of the day - got off at the marina and here we are in the common room with the computer.
As soon as we're done here we're going out for supper and then to a local park to listen to the folk festival thats happening here this weekend. There's a million other things I'd love to see here but we're moving on tomorrow - will have to come back some other time. Gorgeous Place!!!
It stormed all night with thunder, lightening and heavy rain, but we woke to clear blue skies and a gorgeous sunny warm day.
We caught the little tour bus/train outside the marina and had a lovely tour of the town to decide what we'd like to see. We learned on the tour that Matanzas Bay was originally called the Bay of the Dancing Dolphins by the Indians. Later it was named Matanzas Bay (Massacre Bay) when the Spanish cut the throats of the Huguenot soldiers when they refused to convert to Catholicism in 1621. The Bay is said to have run red for two days following!
We got off at the Castillo de San Marco (the Fort), just in time for them to fire the cannon. Built in the 1500s it made St. Augustine the oldest city in the US. With walls 16ft thick of coquina (a local form of limestone formed of crushed shell and sand) the walls were never breached. When hit by a cannon ball, the walls do not crack but just dent with the force of the impact. The fort has changed hands from the Spanish, to the English, to the US only by diplomatic agreement.
After the fort we walked through St. Georges Street visiting lots of little shops etc. in this picturesque old area. Then to visit St. Augustine's Basilica - beautiful, with its Spanish influence.
For lunch we stopped for a spinach and feta cheese croissant in "The Bunnery" - yummy!
We walked to the end of the street and then crossed to Ripley's Believe It or Not - the original, built by Mr. Ripley, a native of St. Augustine. Fascinating! John cautioned me to move quickly in there as we were running out of time but we got hooked and it was fun in there looking at all the funny, weird and interesting stuff!
We hopped on another bus as we came out and found it was the last bus of the day - got off at the marina and here we are in the common room with the computer.
As soon as we're done here we're going out for supper and then to a local park to listen to the folk festival thats happening here this weekend. There's a million other things I'd love to see here but we're moving on tomorrow - will have to come back some other time. Gorgeous Place!!!
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