Whistling Rails ~ From Sea to Shining Sea: #20, St Augustine, Randomly

February 20 – 23, 2024

Ask anyone who visits any city, in any country about their stay, and the subject of food will come up. Good food, in good locations can make or break a visit. Especially since it can take a chunk out of the travel budget.

An eatery that I enjoyed a few meals at was a British pub called Bull & Crown. Situated in the thick of things in the historic area on St George Street, it had cozy seating both inside and out.

They were quite pleased when I told them that the last time I had fish and chips this good was when I was in England.

On my arrival in the city, due to parking in a lot a distance from the inn, as well as road construction and the darkness, I had trouble finding my way back to the inn. Finding myself on the well-lit St George Street, I ducked into this cozy fish place. The blackened fish tacos hit the spot. Afterwards, I admitted that I was lost a few blocks from my lodging, so one of the workers helped me figure out the lay of the land. As it had made a positive impression, I came back to eat at least one more time during my stay. The only negative was that they had metal chairs that people constantly dragged across the cement floor, creating a nails-on-chalkboard background noise.

In the residential areas there were a lot of interesting homes, with Spanish moss dripping from the trees throughout. Many of the houses are very old, some bearing plaques stating their history.

The drawbridge spanning the Matanzas River, joining Anastasia Island with the ancient city of St Augustine is called The Bridge of Lions. Built in 1925, it is a beautiful bridge, but somehow, the only pictures of it were from up on the Castillo. I did walk across the bridge to the center and back. It is flanked on the city side by two majestic lion statues.

An old-fashioned sailing ship is docked near the bridge. It seemed to be giving tours, but I never checked into going on one. Later I found that it is called Nao Trinidad Tall Ship and is a replica of Magellan’s flagship. Even though I didn't tour it, I enjoyed it's presence in the harbor every time I walked in that area.

It was cool during my entire stay in St Augustine, so I was glad I had packed my down puffer jacket. On the last day it rained. It really poured. I could see it slashing down on the palm leaves outside of my window. Walking downtown, and ducking into a few shops, I found myself in a little vintage jewelry shop run by Mr. Solidus. He had lots of jewelry that wasn’t vintage as well, that he called “collections”. I told him I was in the market for a ring, as a tiny souvenir. They were all mixed up and not marked with sizes, so we had lots of time to chat as I perused his offerings. I finally settled on a darling silver ring with an oval labradorite stone. Mr. Solidus was from Istanbul. Jolly, with an edge of grouch and testiness. The shopkeeper from across the way came and they bantered back and forth about wearing their rain boots to work. He said he was nearly deaf and had forgotten to put his hearing aids in. When I told him I was sorry, he said that he liked it that way.

I took a long looping walk around town, revisiting Louisa’s boarding house. They had a small shop there with lots of books about the local area, including Eugenia Price’s Florida Trilogy. I bought a book about the Fleming family, written by a descendant of Margaret. Also, a book about the Minorcan’s of St Augustine. A large group of indentured servants from the Island of Minorca, off the coast of Greece, figure largely in the history of St Augustine, and are written about in Margaret, book one of the trilogy. More on this beleaguered group of people in a future blog.

At suppertime I was looking for something besides a popular sit-down restaurant, as it was Friday night, and I hadn’t made reservations. I'd actually not given it much thought until I noticed groups of nicely dressed people walking purposefully on the sidewalks. I popped into this little crepe restaurant, thinking to get something to go, but didn’t really want to go back to the Inn as my room, while fine for sleeping, wasn’t very inspiring to hang out in.

I was thrilled when I found out that they had seating in the back yard. An exquisite garden space, lush and green and dripping from the recent rain. I used a napkin to wipe the chair enough to sit and then enjoyed a lovely supper under the trees. I was so inspired by it, I wanted to go directly home and work in my yard.