April 3, 2009 St. Augustine

We escaped the truly awful weather but had quite a bit of rain early this morning. By the time we got up and went for our showers, the weather had mostly passed over. The sun came out and it was breezy. Much better than yesterday.

It turned out to be the perfect day to visit St. Augustine, the oldest continuous settlement in the U.S. The city is working on the celebration of its 450th year. We parked near the visitor center and visited the fort or Castillo de San Marcos, which was started in the 1600’s. This part of the world has a most interesting history, with control of the area passing from the Spanish to the English to the Spanish and then to the United States. It is also a great example of the melting pot that is part of this wonderful country. Spanish, Indian peoples, free blacks, indentured servants from Minorca, Greece and other regions in the Mediterranean, English. Much of the story is told in the fort and the story of the Greek people is told in a beautiful oasis on St. George street at the St. Photios Greek Orthodox National Shrine.

We walked down St. George Street, a pedestrian road with many shops in restored buildings. At the end of the street you came to the Basilica which was started in the 1500’s. A beautiful Spanish structure. A turn to the right and you came upon the architecture of the mid to late 1800’s in buildings built by Henry Flagler, a railroad and hotel magnate. Spanish Moroccan, Spanish Renaissance, wonderful buildings. One building is still a hotel, one is now the city hall and museum and the third is part of Flagler college.



Cathedral







Flagler College