Having already given you a brief description of St Augustine in the last post, this post will be mostly pictures from our time there.
Here are a few of my favorites from the castle/fort:
Here's a picture of me looking down inside the fort from on the walls. Notice what I call my "library fat." I must have put on about 10 lbs this semester, just sitting around only using my brain and fingertips.
Jackie, on the other hand, is just gloriously pregnant!! This view was fun, because we were able to see a couple dolphins playing in the water, as well as a manatee leisurely floating past.
From outside the fort's outer fortifications:
Here's a picture of our hotel, the St Francis Inn (named for St Francis of Assisi); it's an old house, built in 1791. Well, at least old by American standards!
Here's our room. That bottle by Jackie's right elbow is complementary sherry they put in each room..needless to say, I emptied the bottle by the second day. Every day there was food-service down in the dining room: a full gourmet breakfast every morning, coffee and cookies (snickerdoodles) available anytime, and evening dessert, all included in the price of our room. Jackie loved it.
Here's a picture of the "touristy" area of the old town. Apparently this used to be a legitimate area of the city, but now it's taken up by the usual nonsense like fudge shops, candle shops, places to buy crystal frogs and unicorns, and even the obligatory sword shop, capitalizing on the area's history.
To be honest, I wouldn't actually recommend spending more than a day in St Augustine...seems like it ceased to be a legitimate town on its own long ago; now, it's very much a tourist town, unfortunately. But the fortress was nice, and there are a few interesting and genuinely historic buildings to see. My favorite, other than the fort, was the old Hotel Ponce de Leon, built by the old tycoon Flagler. It used to be one of the premier hotels in the world when it was built, sometime around the turn of the century, I suppose...maybe the late 20's? Anyway, it's a nice building but now converted into a small liberal arts school, Flagler College.
However, there was one very unexpected destination amidst the tacky candles and crystal: a genuine Greek Orthodox shrine,
dedicated to St Photius, sometime Patriarch of Constantinople and torch-bearer for the East in the great schism between the Orthodox and Catholic churches. Attending an Orthodox school, and interested in church history, for me it was a truly worthwhile experience. The Greeks did a very nice job on this shrine, with great lighting and a first-rate presentation of not only Greek life in the US, but the Orthodox faith in general. The Nicene Creed was placed on a wall in relief, in large text. It was very nice. Apparently, St Augustine and New Smyrna were the first places Greeks settled in the new world. I don't remember when it was they arrived. I think it's sort of ironic this shrine is in the city of St Augustine, as many Orthodox don't care much for the great Western Church Father, St Augustine of Hippo. Though it must be said, the Greeks respect him far more than most, especially more so than the Russians.
Anyhow, that's all for now.
Thanks for reading!!
