After a long hard day of tacking into the wind, where do sailors go? Often they navigate to the nearest wine bar.
So too in St. Augustine after a hard day of enduring long lines for visiting the Castillo de San Marcos,
the oldest masonry fort in the continental United States, and tacking between historic places like the pet friendly 18th century Spanish Military Hospital Museum on Aviles Street or the downright scary Medieval Torture Museum, located on St. George Street – navigate your way to the San Sebastian Winery on King Street.
St. Augustine boosts a Florida winery
Located in one of Henry Flagler’s East Coast Railway buildings, enjoy complimentary guided tours and generous wine tastings. Sample Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio, Petite Sirah and Cabernet Sauvignon along with blended and sparkling wines from native Muscadine grapes. It will put the wind back into your sails. You’ll be ready for more landfalls.
Every day history walks and talks in St. Augustine. It also sits in well-kept splendor, like Flagler College on King Street. Make this Renaissance architectural wonder your next landfall.
Built by the railroad tycoon Henry M. Flagler in 1888 as the Hotel Ponce de Leon, the buildings are now home to Flagler College.
No, you don’t have to enroll to see the campus. Yes, you can pay and take an hour-long historic tour of the college. The tours are part of Flagler’s Legacy program.
All of the tour is worth the walk, especially visiting the large round dining area with 79 Louis Comfort Tiffany Stained Glass windows. Makes me want to be a student again just to eat meals here in this beautiful room.
Flagler College in St. Augustine has a new labyrinth
The first weekend in May 2018, the Alumni House on Seville Street was dedicated at Flagler College. Also known as Anderson Cottage, if you walk down the walk past that building, there is a gate that leads into a courtyard. Inside is a new seven-circuit labyrinth in a contemporary, easy to walk design.
Labyrinths go back thousands of years and are being rediscovered as a place of quiet, a means to distress, decompress, meditate, renew. This newly created labyrinth is featured in the St. Augustine chapter found in Circle the Center Labyrinths in Florida. my soon to be published book.
Visiting St. Augustine that first weekend in May uncovered a new layer of the city claimed to be the oldest in the United States. Staying at two different homes through Airbnb I spent one night in a room decorated with all things British – the homeowner is from the U.K. – and the next night in southern coastal comfort including a fireplace full of candles.
Parking in downtown historic St. Augustine can be stressful.
To avoid constant interruptions to your downtown visit because parking meters on the street have to be fed, my advice is to stock up on quarters before you go. I bought a roll of quarters and went through more than half the roll.
There are parking garages. Most charge for a full day ($10-$15 or more) even if you stay for just a few hours.
Carry your quarters to St. Augustine
With your parking meter ticking away and full of time, linger over a meal at the Columbia restaurant on St. George Street or take in the upstairs view and great food at A1A Ale Works – restaurant and taproom on King Street.
And that is just for starters. Retrace your steps to San Sebastian Winery and visit The Cellar Upstairs – live jazz and blues both in the afternoons and evening, plus a full food menu.
For weekend warriors and those who can do a mid-week getaway there are so many reasons to throw out the anchor and be moored a while in St Augustine.
And we haven’t even been to the beach yet . . .
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