For those who don't know, St. Augustine is the oldest city in the United States. Founded by the Spanish in 1565, it consists of incredible architectured buildings, a beautiful college, and the very famous Castillo de San Marcos - a 17th Century Spanish fort with an incredible history. Find out more on Castillo de San Marcos by checking out the National Park Service link here.
The history of St. Augustine is one that is unmatched in the United States. The area held firm for hundreds of years as a Spanish outpost, then as a staging point for British forces during the American Revolutionary War. If you enjoy history, you need to visit St. Augustine!
Even though it is a college town, St. Augustine's primary source of income is tourism. Cobblestone streets, horse drawn carriages, and a wide variety of food gives visitors that old town feel, while providing excellent modern amenities. Again, my wife and I met up with her sister and her husband for a new adventure. We decided it'd be best to take a car this time rather than the motorcycle. After a long day of riding the previous day, our butts couldn't handle it (literally).
St. Augustine is an enjoyable city with much to offer. One of the most haunted buildings in America, the St. Augustine Lighthouse, is only a few miles from the main tourist hub. The Alligator Farm is also nearby, giving visitors up close and personal experiences with alligators (yes, this is the same Alligator Farm featured on the TV show "Gator Boys").
At the suggestion of my brother-in-law, we traveled to Gaufre's & Goods Polish & Greek Restaurant, a literal "hole in the wall" cafe with an incredible atmosphere, food selection, service, and pricing. We enjoyed a great bottle of Romanian wine, alone with shameless amounts of food. I myself had boiled meat and cheese piorgies and a cup of cold Borstch. So delicious!
Following lunch, we immediately headed towards the San Sabastian Winery. Only a few blocks away, certainly walking distance, we enjoyed good conversation until we found ourselves doing some wine tasting. I'm the first to admit that I'm a light weight. I get drunk rather easily, and I don't pretend otherwise. My wife and I enjoy the occasional beer or wine (I enjoy Vodka, rum, & whiskey), but we never find ourselves in a situation where we're just throwing back booze like it's water. But on this day, we found ourselves sucking down more alcohol than we have in a very long time.
The wine tasting was an incredible experience, and as we were leaving, I found the world around me slowing down as the alochol hit me. Wine is one of those funny things that doesn't seem to be doing much until it hits you all at once. After 3 glasses at lunch and sampling 9 wines at the winery, my world entered slow motion (and it was barely noon!). Regardless, we helped ourselves to two bottles of wine to bring home and enjoy in the future. You know, support your local economy!
As the animated bubbles of booze popped above my head from a strong buzz, we marched onward to the St. Augustine distillery! As if wine wasn't doing me in, I was going to mix liquor on top of it. Oh what smart decisions, right? Well, thankfully as we awaited the start of the next tour, the heavy clouds of drunkeness began to clear, and my world returned to normal. After a short walking tour of the distillery, we sampled some mixed drinks of Vodka and Gin. Once again, we purchased a bottle of booze, St. Augustine sugar cane Vodka, to take home. I'm telling ya, you must support your local economy! As we paid, the cashier swiped my driver's license in her computer. Florida State Law only allows 2 purchases from distilleries per year, per driver's license. Good ol' government putting an economic growth limit on local businesses. I think that's a ridiculous mandate.
Following our visit to the distillery, food was on our mind once again. We made our way back to the center of town taking side streets to avoid heavy traffic. We found ourselves at a Greek restaurant with beautiful hand painted & air brushed murals, and enjoyed a nice plate of Saganaki - A mixture of alcohol and cheese, set ablaze to carmelize on top. A quick, yet delicious snack for the late afternoon.
We enjoyed the evening air as the temperature began to drop. A nice leisurely walk through the main tourist street brought us to another wine tasting event where we sipped casually on some raspberry, blueberry, & coconut wine among others.
While deciding what to eat for dinner, we stopped by a shop that offered olive oil and vinaigrette tastings along with a bar that offered various alcoholic & coffee beverages. We sat down inside and watched the world outside turn dark.
For dinner, we ended up venturing next door to the Centro Piano Bar. The atmosphere was pleasant, but the biggest challenge was enjoying dinner with family while having to listen to a terrible singer. The guy could play the piano very well, but was an awful singer. His voice reminded me of Burt Bacharach, which isn't a bad thing, but his attempts at singing Billy Joel, Elton John and Journey were thwarted by the fact that he didn't know all of the lyrics to the songs, and he kept trying to hit notes that were clearly out of his vocal range. It really was quite a chore having to endure it. He sang for about 2 hours straight. Only 4 other people came into the Piano Bar during our visit, and that lack of attendance might be contributed to the fact that a tone-deaf piano player was the nightly entertainment. Considering the overpriced menu and less than desireable entertainment, I don't foresee that restaurant staying open much longer.
But our service was excellent, the food was good (albeit still overpriced), and the Sangria we shared was absolutely phenominal.
After dinner we parted ways and headed home. It was a great weekend spent with family that we don't get to see very often. Between Biketoberfest in Daytona on Saturday & St. Augustine on Sunday, I was incredibly exhausted once we headed home Sunday night. But it was certainly worth it.
-James
