Farewell to St. Augustine and another mishap

Sunday morning, our last day in St. Augustine, started out fine, sunny, hot from morning on, and interesting, too: The Pirate Museum - a unique museum – transported us back in time over 300 years to the Golden Age of Piracy with big names like Sir Francis Drake or Robert Searles.

The best tour by far in St. Augustine was the following one, given by Grimm, a fabulous tour guide and talented actor, in the Colonial Quarter. He introduced us to the four most important periods in St. Augustine’s history: three different "departments" in this openair museum introduced to the Spanish time (First City/16th century, Fortified Town/17th cent. and Garrison Town/18th cent.) and one was concentrated on the British period (14th Colony/18th cent.).

Grand Finale: Fried shrimps in different variations at Barnacle Bill’s, afterwards departure for the airport (again in different groups and with different shuttlebusses). We arrived early (3:20 pm) for our scheduled 5 pm departure to Atlanta. JAX Airport is very airy, bright and modern, all fine first...

Then, briefly before boarding, we got to know that the arriving plane has to undergo a complete technical check because of a seagull which had hit one of the turbines; 4 to 5 hours delay (later it was rescheduled for the next morning). This initiated a run for the counter to get rebooked (long lines, of course), but since we would have missed our connecting flight to Amsterdam in any case, we got rebooked for monday - another day lost! This was especially annoying because we already had a cancelled flight and a one-day-delay on the way over to the U.S.

Well, since we were booked on a direct flight from ATL to MUC (no stop-over in Amsterdam) and received a hotel voucher, we wouldn't have complained too much... Provided, the agent at the counter would have been a little friendlier and, especially, if the waiting time at the luggage carousel wouldn't have been 2,5 hours!!! At 8 pm we finally checked into the Crowne Plaza Hotel at the airport. Drank a beer at the bar to soothe our nerves and retired early. Couldn't believe that it had happened again, twice on one trip!

Tuesday morning eventually we got on a flight out of JAX to ATL, last row seats (stand-by list). Only positive aspect of this trip was that we were upgraded from ATL to MUC to First/Business class and got much better food and drinks (see pic) and could stretch out with real pillows and comforters. Nevertheless, didn’t sleep much and, when we finally arrived to MUC on Tuesday morning we were greeted with a little over 50 deg. F and light rain instead of the comfy 80-90 deg. we had in Florida.

450 years young: St. Augustine – Spanish Heritage at daytime, "Little New Orleans" and ghosts at night

Similar to Charleston or Savannah, St. Augustine is a quaint, touristy city with a very long history. Main difference to the other two cities is that in St. Augustine the Spanish heritage is predominant. Founded in 1565, it is the oldest continuously occupied European settlement in North America. Our last visit to the city was in 2000 and though, of course, the historical structures haven’t changed, tourism has picked up considerably. Right now the city is getting ready to celebrate its 450th birthday.

Juan Ponce de León (see pic) was the first to set foot on Florida in 1513 in his search for a Fountain of Youth – and gold –, without success. Finally, in 1565 Spanish Admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés founded the settlement "San Agustín". The Spanish needed a stronghold in Florida against the French and British interests in this part of the New World and as a safeguard on their ship route from the Carribean back to Spain. After two devasting attacks of British pirates (1586 Sir Francis Drake and 1668 Robert Searle) the massive and very well preserved Castillo de San Marcos was added in 1672. The city served as the capital of Spanish Florida for over 200 years, then – 1763 – the territory briefly changed hands between Spain and Britain. The Brits ruled for only 20 years before 1783 the Spanish got the land back.

During the American War of Independence Florida played a part as a important Royal Colony – five times George Washington ordered his army to take over the so-called 14th Colony, but the British troops, with the help of local American Indians, were able to fend off all attemps by the U.S. Eventually, in 1821, Spain decided to cede Florida to the U.S. and 1845 Florida became the 27th State of the Union.

Only when Henry M. Flagler (1830-1913) a wealthy industrialist and founder of Standard Oil became interested, the development of the Atlantic coast of Florida picked up speed. Flagler (see pic) was the founder of what became the Florida East Coast Railway and this connection caused the region to become a popular tourist destination and vacation retreat.

St. Augustine's City Gate with its main axle, St. George Street (see pic), leads into the old Spanish town, which is sort of an openair museum with many superlatives: „Oldest School“ (see pic), „Oldest House“ or „Oldest Store“. An authentic and instructive lesson on St. Augustine's history is given in the Colonial Quarter (see below). Also, in the city center there are three famous and gorgeous hotels built during Flaglers times: the Alcazar (nowaday’s City Hall and Lightner Museum, 1887, see pic), the Ponce de León (Flagler College, 1888) and Casa Monica (still a hotel, 1888).


Well, there is a LOT of history in St. Augustine, one side we especially liked, but there is also another side, which shows at night: the city being a little decadent, morbid, screwy, a tad like New Orleans, with its specific smell, with live music bands inside and outside the many restaurants and bars, people standing around with their drinks and smokes. Also, the mixture of ethnic food – e.g. the Menorcan clam chowder which originates from the high percentage of mediterrannean settlers (Greek/Italian/Spain) – and the many ghost tours added to the feeling that there is some similarity in atmosphere to New Orleans.

When we checked in the Bayfront Marin House on Friday afternoon we got a large room with an ecclectic mix of modern-boutiquey and historic - very tasteful and nice! Our group was split up and sent to different hotels and the two of us lucked out to get this place. And we were walking again briefly after check-in: First, to visit the Fountain of Youth Archeological Park - a living history park with re-enactors and archeological excavations, which brought back good memories to the times we worked as archeologists ourselves. Besides a native Timucua village (see pic) - the settlement of the native Americans living here – there is the 16th century Spanish village, side by side.


The St. Augustine Lighthouse: 219 steps to climb, but well worth the effort. Especially, since we got drinks and snacks first and an interesting presentation of one of the maritime archeologists working to retrieve artifacts from 18th century shipwreck off St. Augustine coast. Also, I learned that each and every lighthouse has a different color and pattern scheme outside and a different light rhythm as well. Also, didn't know, that the Frenchman Augustin Jean Fresnel (1788-1827) who produced the lenses, had a monopole on them.

Barbara, our St. Augustine contact and excellent trip organizer, had not only arranged a tight program for us, but had also arranged dinner this evening at the Columbia Restaurant, which is a Florida staple since 1905 with Spanish atmosphere and hugh portions of mostly Spanish food. We enjoyed excellent seafood and steaks. Saturday morning, we first visited the 450th birthday exhibition in St. Augustine Visitor Center: Tapestry: The Cultural Threads of First America. It showed in an interesting way how three intertwining cultures – Hispanics, Africans and Native Americans (see pic) – melted.

Very informative was the following park ranger’s tour through the Castillo de San Marcos National Monument (see pics) with a canon demonstration, and, equally interesting was our following tour through the magnificently decorated Flagler College (see pics below), the former Hotel Ponce de Leon built by railroad magnate, Henry M. Flagler in 1888. It was one of the most exclusive resorts of its day and very elaboratly decorated, e.g. with the largest collection of Tiffany glass panels in the original context in the U.S.A.


Our bellies were about to burst – we ate and drank our way through St. Augustine’s culinary scene during a Culinary Walking Tours and got tastings at five different stops. Food and drinks showed the wide variety St. Augustine has to offer, e.g. great Greek food and cakes (see pics above).


Everybody was stuffed at the end and during the evening tour - after a short break at the hotel to pack and freshen up (it’s been very hot all day) - a ghostly pub tour, the group became a little slow; even all the delicious oysters and burgers being served at Meehan's Irish Pub were not as inticing any more by then. To see the Castillo by night was a special treat, though we didn't meet any ghosts...

JAX – River City of the South

Thursday morning we left Orlando in the early morning with another ten journalists – a very mixed group of people from six different countries - and Pam, the PR representative from Visit Florida, in a bus and arrived to Jacksonville Landing (in downtown, at St. Johns River) at about 11:15 am. With Patty, the local tourism rep, and Gary, our tour guide in an Andrew Jackson replica uniform, after whom the city is named, gave us a "Top to Bottom Walking Tour" through downtown Jacksonville. We got to know that the city got its start in 1822 as "Cowford" and that there are strange tunnels underneith the modern skyscrapers. We explored one of them under the old Atlantic National Bank building: After a long, narrow, dimly lit corridor there was a small room with an old safe/vault on the wall. Also, we learned that the city was considered the "Hollywood of the South", with formerly 26 movie companies.

The devastating fire of 1901 burned the city to the ground and that's the main reason for its nowadays appearance, modern and sleek, with a couple of historic buildings left; e.g. the historic Florida Theatre, a former movie theater in fancy Moorish style. From the top of one of the modern highrises, the Bank of America Building, we got a great overview over the spread-out metro area and the river. Jacksonville is the largest city by population in Florida, and one of the largest cities by area in the U.S. (see pic).

Lunch was arranged in a cool place, very eclectic and whimpsical (see pic): Candy Apple Café, an excellent, tastefully designed restaurant, with an adjecent colorful shop, Sweet Pete's, famous for its home- and hand-made candies produced on the property. During a boat trip with the "Foxy Lady" on the river we spotted not only the great skyline of Jacksonville, but also a group of playing dolphins.

What we liked most about Jacksonville was its beautiful long beaches. We were fortunate and stayed in a Courtyard Hotel directly at Jacksonville Beach (see pic), with balcony, ocean view and just a couple of steps away from the ocean. In the hour left between check-in and pick-up for our brewery tour, we succeeded in having a quick bath in the ocean (not cold at all) and enjoyed it thoroughly after a long, hot day of touring.

"Green Room" is a microbrewery and one of the stops on the Jax Ale Trail. There are about eight micro- and craft breweries in Jacksonville and Jacksonville Beach, partly just selling on premise, partly distributing and bottling. Green Room is one of them and their Double IPA, which we chose, was the best proof that the beer scene has improved considerably in Florida, and, that Jacksonville seems to be its flagship. Also, the restaurant, café and bar scene is pretty vivid and eclectic in Jacksonville Beach. We had dinner at North Beach Fish Camp at the Beaches Town Center with delicious appetizers and superb local shrimps. Only drawback was the high noise level in this restaurant - conversation was almost impossible.

Friday, after breakfast at Maple Street Biscuit Company in Atlantic Beach, with home-baked biscuits in very creative combinations, we got a paddleboarding lesson on the Intracostal Waterway – fortunately, on calm and warm water! We were not too eager at the beginning to learn how to handle these shaky boards with a single long oar, but since it was part of the program and since you can't write about something without having experienced it, we gathered all our courage. It took me quite a bit of time to get upright on the board (one complete dip into the water included), and later, on the open water, I wasn't able to handle the waves produced by far-away motor boats and I fell in again. Most of the others did the same, so, it was not too embarrassing. Pics to follow, since, for obvious reasons, couldn't take pictures.

Quick 15-min. stop at the hotel to get "presentable" again, then on to St. Johns Town Center - a shopping mall - where we had lunch and a tour in a surprisingly creative and uniquely designed restaurant, especially unusual for a mall! Moxie Kitchen & Cocktails (see pic) served excellent food, I got my second kale salad in a row. Because of being served three full meals every day (completely uncommon to us), and, in addition, very nice food (especially, I loved all the seafood!) during the whole trip, I felt it was necessary, just to get a salad for a change (kale/beets, excellent!). On to St. Augustine in the afternoon.

Busy times...

On friday we drove down from Georgia's beautiful islands to Titusville/Florida to visit friends of us who formerly operated the most beautiful B&B on the Oregon Coast. We had a great evening together, a good home-cooked meal and good conversation.

Saturday we arrived to Orlando and after check-in into the Hilton Hotel, which was arranged by the German Visit U.S.A. Committee (we were invited as part of the German delegation), we left again to the adjecent Convention Center for registration. IPW is (as far as I remember) the largest tourism congress in the world, with 6500 participants of over 70 countries, sellers and suppliers and media(about 500 journalists in total, ca. 16 out of Germany). It's mostly about socializing and meeting people and in the evening we attended our first party (Colorado) in a market venue on the other side of town (shuttle busses).

Sunday started at 8 am with the "German Breakfast", then we spent (much too much) time at Media Brunch, which took place at "The Eye", an entertainment venture with Mme. Tussaud's, an aquarium and a new Ferris Wheel (see pic). Speeches and presentations were very lengthy and it got boring.

Media tours afterwards – there was a selection of about six or so and I was part of the Winter Park Tour (see above). Winter Park is one of the older cities in Florida, founded by northern businessmen in the late 19th century. Main attraction is the Morse Museum of American Art, which houses the world's largest collection of Tiffany glass. There is a chain of lakes, lined by beautiful mansions and connected by channels and we had a boat tour there first, but got soaking wet on the boat during a heavy rain shower. The restaurant Cask & Larder with the adjecent deli store (Swine & Sons), which was our last stop, is famous for its local, seasonal menu, they have their own microbrewery and smoke their own ham/sausages etc. (see pic). Great place and excellent food they served us!

Back at 5 pm in time to get ready for the grand opening party at Walt Disney World, a bus trip of about 40 min. from the hotel. What a strategic effort to bring a couple of thousand of people to one place and to feed and entertain them! Many different "food stations" and bars distributed on the grounds (see pic), serving a variety of food, rides and other fun were offered, and all just for the IPW members.

Monday: A full workday from early morning (8 am) to late, filled with "Media Marketplace", meetings with tourism reps from all over the U.S. at their and our tables (see pic). Not really fun, but some good meetings. At lunch we listened to a concert of "The Foreigners", the evening event took place in Sea World, unfortunately in pooring rain and with thunderstorms, causing that the dolphin show was cancelled at half-time due to lightning. Despite of ponchos we got wet again and felt very bad for the people working at the park.

Tuesday: Press conferences all morning, appointments on the trade floor in the afternoon. At lunch we had first-row seats for the "Broadway Show" (excerpts of different shows with original cast!), sponsored by New York City. For the first time we had been invited by NYC&Company to join them at their table. In the evening we attended three parties at different venues: Rocky Mountains International, Oregon and San Francisco (rather big-scale and legendary!). Media usually gets a lot of invitaztions to smaller-scale parties arranged by different states or cities and we had to select. Back to the room late.

Wednesday: It's almost over. After two press conferences in the morning and a bit of greeting and talking on the trade floor we called it a day in the afternoon and tried to organize our luggage for tomorrow's tour departure. The grand finale took place at Universal Studios and Harry Potter was the big attraction there. A fantastic world of fantasy... not much into that ourselves... Good food, we walked a round, met a couple of people, among them our dear Japanese friend Hiro, and were back at the hotel by bus at around 10 pm.

No real gold, but golden islands

Finally I am getting around to continue with the blog... busy days lately, but now the tourism congress in Orlando (more on that later) is over and I have to catch up.

On our way out of Savannah we first stopped by at Wormsloe Historic Site (see pic), a breathtaking avenue of live oaks and Spanish moss, which leads to the ruins of a historic colonial estate by Noble Jones, who arrived in Georgia in 1733 with the first group of British settlers.

Another chapter of history was written in Fort Pulaski, a large military fort, our next stop. During the American Civil War it was a turning point in military history, since new technology was first used. The Union army had rifled cannons and compelled the Confederate garrison to surrender. It’s hard to imagine how they shot their canonballs over the river into the thick brick walls of the fort, but, the effects are still to be seen.

Tybee Island is also known as „Savannah Beach“ and is a barrier island located just 18 mi. away from Savannah. It’s a pretty busy (mostly U.S.) tourists’ destination and even at this time of the year the fishing pier and the beach were crowded.

Rather than watching other people get a tan (or sunburn) at the beach, we drove to the Tybee Island Light Station & Museum. The top of the tower (178 stairs!) offers is a beautiful view (see pic). The very first lighthouse at this place was commissioned by General James Oglethorpe in 1732 to guide ships safe into the Savannah River; the current lightstation dates from the early 20th century.

On wednesday morning, on our way from Savannah to the Golden Isles, our first stop was in Darien, at Fort King George, for a tour with a re-enactor. This oldest English fort on Georgia's coast was used from 1721 until 1736 as the southern outpost of the British Empire in North America. It consisted of a cypress blockhouse, barracks and palisaded earthen fort - parts of it are reconstructed.

Jekyll Island is part of the the Golden Isles and was purchased in 1886 by a group of wealthy families - as the Rockefellers and the Morgans - as a private retreat. The Club shut down in 1942 and part of the club buildings are nowadays serving as a large luxury resort hotel. The island was purchased by the State of Georgia in 1947 and there is an entrance fee to get on the island. Named a "National Historic Landmark District" there are many of the gorgeous mansions their millionaire owners called “cottages” still to be seen.

One of the main sights of the island is the Georgia Sea Turtle Center, where hurt or abandonned sea (and other) turtles are treated and nests at the beach being watched. This is only one example for the effort on the island to preserve the delicate barrier island ecosystem. Driftwood Beach, also on the island, is a very unique view: a former forest was taken over by the ocean and what’s left is bizarre formations of dead trees on a stretch of about a mile. A member of the conservation service on the island also showed us the newly constructed Horton Pond with a nice trail around. Alligators, turtles and many birds are considering this area their home and it was a very peaceful and quiet place.

Fortunately, we arrived to St. Simons Island not too late and had a little bit of time to enjoy a swim in the ocean and our beautiful beach hotel, the Ocean Lodge, a privately owned, 2008 opened beautiful boutique hotel in "mediterranean" architectural style. We got one of the 15 large suites (they only have suites there),bigger than our apartment at home! The large balcony offered ocean view, breakfast was prepared freshly from scratch in the dining room (see pic), there was a rooftop restaurant, a bar, a little pool and a gorgeous stretch of beach closeby. A perfect retreat,unfortunately only for one night....


St. Simons is the largest barrier island of the Golden Isles. Moss-draped oaks line winding island streets and ensure shade, there is a little town with shops and restaurants (we enjoyed excellent crabs at Iguanas) and another impressive lighthouse (see pic): the St. Simons Lighthouse Museum — a working lighthouse built in 1872. In Fort Frederica National Monument, archaeological remnants of the local British colony and its defense against Spain are well preserved and shaded by huge live oaks.


There are two more Golden Isles we didn't visit this time: Sea Island and Little St. Simons Island. The name was given by Spanish explorers seeking gold more than 400 years ago. They "only" found astonishing natural beauty and mild weather. The combination of marshland (towards the hinterland) and open Atlantic Ocean, of live oaks and beaches, nature preserves and quaint little towns, combined with a breeze, which was missing in Savannah, made the islands a highlight on our trip.



Jellyfish (in abundance and allegedly being caught for export and consumption by Asians) and Horseshoe Crab at the beach we walked early friday morning for the last time before heading out South to Florida.