St. Augustine-the oldest city in America

 We traveled the almost three hours from Savannah to St. Augustine, making our obligatory stop at the Florida Welcome Center. If you read a past post we had spent a few hours in St. Augustine last May and we really wanted to spend more time there, that is how it became our Thanksgiving destination in 2022. We checked into our Air BnB, which was located in a quiet neighborhood just steps away from all the attractions. We met the owner, and she told us that the house had been condemned until she bought it, completely redid it and made it into the beautiful four apartment rental that it is today. Our apartment was a small one bedroom located in the back of the building. It was small compared to our cottage in Savannah, but we enjoyed it and there was so much to do in St. Augustine that we weren't in the apartment that much anyway.

St. George Street is a one of the most famous streets in St. Augustine. It is a pedestrian-only street with charming shops, bars, restaurants, and historical buildings. We spent a lot of time just discovering all the things on St. Geroge St. We found ourselves drawn back again and again to find more. The Old City Gate was at the end of St. George St. closest to our Air BnB, it was about a10 minute walk. The gate used to surround the city and protect it from attacks. At the other end of this famous street, you will find a beautiful cathedral called Cathedral Basilica of St. Augustine. Self-guided tours are available. Thanksgiving week was a busy one in St. Augustine. St. George St. was usually pretty crowded.

The old city wall and entrance to St. George St.

There are a number of tours, that you can take while in St. Augustine. We chose a tour on a golf cart. Chance was our driver and tour guide. He did a great job of pointing out all the sites that St. Augustine had to offer. The thing we like about these tours is that when we are finished, we can go back and visit all the places that interested us on the tour. After this tour we walked to Castillo de San Marcos National Monument/Fort Mose, Ponce de Leon Fountain of Youth, Our Lady de La Leche shrine, and Magnolia St.to do some exploring on our own. We were able to use our National Park passes to get into the fort. The Fountain of Youth charged more than we wanted to pay so we just walked around the free part and bought some of the youth water in the gift shop. The Shrine is beautiful especially the grounds, and Magnolia St. was voted the most beautiful street in America by National Geographic. There is so much history in St. Augustine, four days hardly seemed long enough.

On Thanksgiving Day, we drove to Amelia Island to check it out. It was a cool, rainy day so that may have influenced our opinion of the Island. It is bigger than the Islands we are used to, and it took a bit to actually find the beach. Once we found it, it really was a beautiful flat, wide beach despite the rain. Hopefully we can return sometime and see Amelia Island in the sunshine.

We also visited St. Augustine Beach which was still closed in areas due to Hurricane Nicole which had done some damage. What we saw of the beach we like. Another wide, walkable Florida beach. We checked out the lighthouse. We enjoyed two breweries in the area and had dinner at Harry's which was a wonderful experience.

Lincolnville is a very special area of St. Augustine full of African American History. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spent time in more than a dozen homes in the area. We learned so much walking the streets and reading all the historical signs. There's a canal in this area that separated the black neighborhood from the white one. 

One of the many reasons we chose St. Augustine at this time of the year was because we had heard that the city has one of the best Christmas light displays anywhere. While the lights were very pretty, they were all white and i prefer some color in my displays. We spent a few nights just walking around looking at all the lights which was fun. But in our humble opinions, Key West had much better lights!

We feel that St. Augustine is a great vacation destination for seniors. It's an old city, we are older people, we can appreciate the architecture, the history, the beauty. One suggestion, when booking your     place to stay, make sure it is within walking distance of the attractions which are all located near the downtown area. You wouldn't want to be stuck way out in a hotel that is miles from the places you want to see. I will say the traffic was a bit crazy when we were there. Also be sure and book a tour or two so you really get a feel for the city and its history. There are plenty of nice, clean bathrooms all over the downtown area. Finding one was never a problem. St. Augustine also has a nice river walkway and 

beautiful waterfront area so be sure and check that out, too. 

After all our historical, informative time in Savannah and St. Augustine, it was time to hit the beach in an area of Florida that we had never been to before! Pass a Grille, here we come!