Scott and I wanted to enjoy the holidays in a bit cooler weather, so we headed up to St. Augustine, FL the weekend before Christmas. I had heard the the Nights of Lights were amazing, so we were excited to check it out. The drive was about 4.5 hours north including a couple of stops. St. Augustine is the oldest city in the US, with a very rich history.
Hilton Historic Bayfront
We stayed at the Hilton Historic Bayfront hotel right across from the water and the location was perfect! The hotel was older, but they really decorated it well.
Our room was upgraded to the corner unit and we had two balconies. One overlooked the water and the other overlooked the alley way. In St. Augustine, the heart of the historic district is occupied by alleys that are lined with shops and restaurants.
Just below our balcony, a band (Running Threads) was playing folk – blue grass music and they were fantastic. We ended up buying them a couple rounds of beers to say thank you. The lead singer is actually from Bellingham, WA!
Out in the courtyard of the hotel, they have a monument sign noting that Martin Luther King was arrested at the Monson Motel (now where the Hilton now is) and the Hilton kept the steps he stood on in his honor.
Exploring St. Augustine
One thing I learned quickly is that most restaurants do not take reservations, so you have to wing it. Our first stop was the Trade Winds Tavern to grab a cocktail. The back bar was certainly interesting, but we loved it.
As you walk down the streets and alleys you will find many historical buildings and the city has done a fantastic job with placing informational placards on historical buildings.
Our first night, we headed into the art district to find a place for dinner. We ended up stumbling upon this horse, who came knocking at the store owner’s door looking for a treat.
Nights of Lights
Scott and I ended up having dinner at the A1A Alehouse. We sat downstairs in the bar and enjoyed a casual dinner. After that, we had scheduled a ghost tour and headed off to meet our guide. Along our way, we had to check out the Nights of Lights square. With the weather being jacket weather and the town playing holiday music, it finally felt like the holiday season we have been missing.
We met our tour guide in the center square, where he would take us on a 90 minute ghost tour of St. Augustine. You might remember that we did a similar tour in Key West that was fantastic.
Unfortunately, this tour and guide were awful. He walked us down five blocks and he used an IPad as his show and tell. On top of that, he forgot his “script” a few times, which flustered him. We didn’t expect to see any ghosts, but we had hoped to learn something about the city and the stories involving ghosts. The only thing somewhat spooky was the cemetery in the center of town.
After the failed ghost tour, Scott and I walked around enjoying the lights and found our way back to the Trade Winds Tavern for some live music.
Day Two in St. Augustine
The following morning, we had breakfast at the Nero Cafe’ right down from our hotel. The menu was a bit eclectic and honestly it wasn’t my favorite. That’s what happens when you eat at the tourist places and not where the locals eat.
We took a nice stroll along the waterfront towards the fort. I can imagine how cool it would be to be anchored in front of the city and enjoying the lights from your boat. Maybe next year!
St. Augustine Fort
Our first stop was the famous Castillo Fort which was built in the late 1600’s. I had visited the fort back in the 70’s when I was a child and this was Scott’s first visit. The entry fee is $15 per adult and you can also buy an annual National Parks pass for $80 per adult.
It’s amazing to think that this huge fort was built by hand using shells and rocks from the sea.
The self guided tour took us about 30 minutes. They do shoot off the cannons every hour starting at 10:30am.
What I found fascinating was that every cannon is elaborately decorated.
St. Augustine Pirate Museum
After our tour of the fort, we headed over to the Pirate Museum. The entry fee is $20 per adult and the self guided tour took about 20 minutes. There were some very interesting facts about pirates and what the navy did to them when they were caught.
There were artifacts that were recovered from treasure chests, including old log books dating back to the 1600’s.
In this gory depiction, a pirate is having is eye removed.
Though it was a short tour, it was very interesting and I am glad we visit it. Our next stop was the Medieval Torture Museum.
Walking the Historic District in St. Augustine
I don’t know what Scott and I thought we would see in this museum, but let’s just say it was horrific. In fact, we are not including any of the images or video we took for our episode, because it was just so gory and horrific. What people did to people back then is unimaginable.
Over half of the torture devices were designed for women – either because they gossiped, drank, suspected witches or were whores.
After experiencing the horrors of the museum, I needed to get outside and get some fresh air as I was feeling queasy. There are lots of outdoor venues where you can grab a drink or a bite to eat.
The historic district is really quaint and it reminded us a lot of Leavenworth and Annapolis.
Cocktails Anyone?
Right in the middle of St. Augustine’s historic district, is a distillery. The tasting was complimentary and we tasted eleven different spirits.
They were all incredibly delicious and we bought the salted caramel whiskey. Just across the way is the oldest school house in America. There is a nominal entry fee of $6 per adult.
There is a small courtyard behind the school house and inside they have depicted what a typical classroom would look like.
We learned that a dunce hat was not meant to punish bad behavior, but instead it identified students that were slow. Can you imagine?! Then if you were behaving badly, you were sent to the “dungeon” underneath the stairs. Again, can you imagine?!
Our last stop of the day, was the hot sauce store and Scott found a favorite!
Our Last Evening
One bit of advise I have, is be patient when it comes to dinner. We walked all around the historic district trying to get in to any restaurant and because it was the holidays, everything was full and a long wait. So we ended up back at our hotel, where I had a pretty good beef tenderloin steak.
We finished the evening back at Trade Winds for more live music to finish a great trip to St. Augustine.
Hands down, we will go back to St. Augustine! We would love to see it off season when there are not so many people. There are so many more attractions to see and we can’t wait to go back.
As always, thank you for following our journey! Please be sure to subscribe to our blog and channel and follow us on social @BoatingJourney #BoatingJourney. Happy New Year!
Cheers, Scott and Ally
