Scenes of St. Augustine, Florida

        

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

                     

It was a bright sunny day when I visited St. Augustine. We parked on a side street and walked several blocks into the historic district. There were some interesting houses along the way such as the colorful Victorian home pictured above. We passed by Ripley's Believe It or Not! but did not go in. We did visit St. Photios Greek Orthodox National Shrine and Museum. It had beautiful exhibits and history of the first Greek settlers. There is no admission charge but they do accept donations.

Entering St. Augustine's  Historic District

      

Exhibits inside the Visitor Center  

The visitor center is a good place to start. There is lots of information and help for planning your day. Above are some of the interesting historical exhibits in the building. It is definitely worth taking the time to check out this place.                                                                                                                                                

                                                 

                                                   Huguenot Cemetery

The Huguenot Cemetery in St. Augustine was established as a public cemetery in 1821 during a yellow fever epidemic. The Memorial Presbyterian Church acquired it in 1832. They operated the cemetery as a public burial ground in the city until 1884, when it closed. I enjoyed looking at the old gravestones.

   Cathedral Basilica of St. Augustine

 

                                                                                 

The Cathedral Basilica of St. Augustine is the oldest Catholic Church in the United States. There is abundant ornate decorations as is the case in most Catholic churches. But what catches your eye is the open-timbered ceiling which reminded me of the ribs of a ship. And outside the architecture fits the Spanish style seen in St. Augustine.

Flagler College

Beautiful Spanish Renaissance Architecture

This is such an exquisite, breathtaking building surrounded by beautiful grounds. What more can I say? It was closed when we were there, I'm not sure why. Usually it is open to visitors. 

Lightner Museum

We walked into the Lightner Museum and looked around the lobby which had a few interesting displays. We did not feel like paying the admission so that was the extent of our visit here.

                               Castillo de San Marcos National Monument

Castillo de San Marcos is the oldest masonry fort in the continental United States. It is an impressive structure. We wanted to go inside but the line was super long so we just walked around the fort on the outside and sat by the Matanzas River. It was a hot day and after a long day of walking it felt good to cool my feet in the water. 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

This was a quick visit, just for the day. We spent the day exploring the historic district, admiring all the wonderful architecture and browsing in the shops. For those looking to spend more time in the area, St. Augustine offers numerous museums and other attractions including the Oldest Wooden Schoolhouse and Ponce de Leon's Fountain of Youth Archaeological Park.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

Dream Trip - Galapagos Islands Part 3

On the third day we made arrangements with W (who had picked us up when we arrived in Galapagos) for a day trip. We would be visiting El Chato Ranch Giant Tortoise Reserve where the tortoises are in their natural habitat. But first we had breakfast at our favorite spot in town, - Kale. Then we got a taxi (one of the white pickup trucks ) back to the apartment where W picked us up. 

At El Chato Ranch they have a supply of rubber boots you can wear that are good for walking around through the tall grass. They were especially good on this day because it was raining. We roamed around for quite a while, walking very close to the tortoises. They were big and it was fun just to be able to walk so close and actually be among them (had to watch out for the big poop). We got lots of photos. They have a snack bar there and we had some refreshments before walking to a lava tunnel. This is where the lava flowed through and made a cave. There were a lot of steps going down into the cave. We had fun exploring. 

Dream Trip - Galapagos Islands Part 2

On the second day of our trip to the Galapagos Islands we walked into Puerto Ayora for breakfast. We found a small restaurant (Restaurante Kale) where there were quite a few policemen having breakfast there. We figured they were locals so it must be good. We got our first taste of Ecuadorian food here when we ordered bolones - fried mashed plantain shaped into balls with add-ins such as cheese and pork. We also had eggs, beef and jugo de tomate de arbol (tree tomato or tamarillo juice). Everything was very tasty. Needless to say, we returned there several times during our stay. After breakfast, we went to the market for fresh produce. After returning to the apartment, we were ready to set out on our excursion.

Dream Trip - Galapagos Islands Part 1

Think of a place in the world that is exceptional, unique and never in your wildest dreams would you think you could go there. Well for me that was the Galapagos Islands. I always thought of that destination as a magical place, full of all types of odd animal life. Plus it is a group of small islands in the middle of the ocean. Kind of scary. 

Five Days in Taiwan Part 5

In the final post of this series I will feature the village of  Wulai and our trip to a spa and end with extra tidbits.


We went to the bus stop outside of the Xindian MRT Station and got Bus 849 to take us to Wulai, a place known for hot springs and aboriginal culture.

Inside the bus

View from the bus going into Wulai

Our bus

Welcome to Wulai sign at bus drop off area

Once we got off the bus in Wulai, we met a woman who had also been on the same bus. She was born in  Taiwan but had lived in the U.S. (Florida) for forty years and occasionally visited home. She was meeting a friend of a friend who was a guideat the museum there. She invited us to come along.

 

Five Days in Taiwan Part 4

In the next two posts I will wrap up our trip to Taiwan by featuring the trips we took outside of the city of Taipei.

On one of our day trips we took the metro to the Taipei Zoo Station of the Maokong Gondola. It is a cable car that goes up the mountain to the peak at Maokong. There are four stops including the Taipai Zoo stop which is at the bottom where you can start the trip up the mountain. We got  a pass with one stop. The second stop is Taipei Zoo South which is inside the zoo. We passed that one. The third stop is Zhinan Temple. This is where we decided to get off. The last stop at the top is Maokong where there are tea plantations and tea houses. I would have liked to go there but we were opting for a shorter day, that is why we only did one stop.

Taipei Zoo Station of Maokong Gondola

Cable Car

      
                                                    

Five Days in Taiwan Part 3

In this post I will feature a great walking tour of Taipei. I was online looking up things to do in Taipei, preferably free or inexpensive. I found a website for TourMeAway. They have a number of different tours. I chose the Longshan Temple Tour. Since this was a night tour, we met at 7:30 P.M. at the Longshan Temple MRT station. The photo below shows some interesting art that was in the station.
 

Longshan Temple MRT Station