We are less than 3 miles from downtown St. Augustine and the traffic was light for a Monday morning so we enjoyed the bike ride into town. Our sightseeing took us past the marina, the monastery turned army barracks with white washed wood sided homes for the officers into Lincolntown, a part of St. Augustine that was originally developed by former slaves. Some of the oldest homes are found in this neighborhood. We also rode past the St. Augustine National Cemetery. A unique feature here are three pyramids which cover the remains of 108 British soldiers. They were killed by Indians during the Seminole War in the 1700's.
Henry Flagler was a very prominent businessman in St. Augustine. He built the railroad from New York to Florida for the sole purpose of luring people to the area as tourists. Many hotels, museums and churches were built here by him. We visited the Flagler College whose main entrance was once the Ponce de Leon Hotel, the Memorial Presbyterian Church, where the Flagler family is interred, and the former Alcazar Hotel which is now the Lightner Museum and City Hall and was built by Flagler.
After a tapas lunch we shopped, had some ice cream and then rode back to the RV putting 12.5 miles on the bikes. From the entrance gate to the campground entrance is about one mile and then the road actually doubles back towards the entry gate to the loop we are camped on. John keeps thinking that there has to be a shortcut out of the campground so we don't have to travel those two miles to get out on the highway. We spent a good 15 minutes both going and coming trying to find the shortcut and there is none!
The weather has been unseasonably warm here and we are enjoying every warm day. It was even nice enough for us to walk on the beach tonight, taking in the stars and rolling waves with flashes of light from the St. Augustine Lighthouse.
No comments:
Post a Comment