St. Augustine

Yesterday, we made it over the Florida border and spent the evening/night in St. Augustine, Florida, AKA the oldest continuously-occupied European settlement in the U.S.  It's a cute little town. Definitely a tourist trap.  Here are the highlights:

I realize I already geeked out about the beautiful architecture in Savannah, but St. Augustine also deserves some credit. It was the capital of Spanish Florida for 200 years, so, understandably, the buildings here look very Spanish (though there are design elements from other countries as well). Walking around St. Augustine feels a lot like walking around an older European city.

The gorgeous building below is Flagler College, which Josh hilariously accidentally mispronounced as Fag-ler College.

This portion of the college was originally built to be a fancy schmancy hotel, called the Hotel Ponce de Leon.  It was constructed by a millionaire oil tycoon in the 1800s, but was converted in the 1960s when the college was founded.  It truly is an incredible building, though maybe... just a little... over the top.

Nothing to see here..

Or here.

After visiting the college, we walked around looking at other beautiful buildings.  Below is the Flagler Memorial Presbyterian church.

Very European-looking.

Amazing detail work.

Also in St. Augustine is the Castillo de San Marcos, which is an old-ass fort.  It was closed by the time we got there, so we didn't get to go inside, but it was nice to look at. It's right on the water, so we sat there awhile and enjoyed the scenery.

Yours truly, enjoying some fine fort action.

Overall, I liked St. Augustine and am glad I saw it, though I'm not sure if I would count it as a favorite among the places I've visited so far.