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.