Day 17, Feb. 6, St. Augustine, pt. 3

The morning was cool and misty. The van picked me up at 9:45 a.m. At the train station, I was given a new sticker and a rain poncho. I figured I’d only put it on if it rained harder. I missed the Flagler College Tour. They do them at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. I still took the train to the stop across the street figuring I could at least take photos. I first took pictures of Villa Zorayda which is America’s first poured concrete structure. Franklin W. Smith had it constructed in 1883 to resemble one wing of the Alhambra Castle in Spain. It’s now a museum. I liked the doors and windows, the trim painted bright colors.

Flagler College was built as the Ponce de Leon Hotel and Henry Flagler hired Thomas Edison to install electricity and Louis Tiffany to decorate the hotel. The architecture of the entire place is amazing. Again, I took many pictures even venturing inside the gate to the courtyard and eventually into the lobby. I can’t even begin to describe the elaborate scrollwork and carvings. There are towers and balconies and rows of columns. I walked down the block and around the corner and halfway down that block to photograph the dining room where there is the largest collection of Tiffany glass in the world. Unfortunately, there was a lot of construction going on and I could only get a partial photo of the outside of the round room.

Flagler’s second hotel, directly across the street was originally called Alcazar in which were Turkish baths, early motion picture shows, bowling alleys and the largest indoor swimming at the time. It was constructed in 1889, four stories tall and once had a glass ceiling which could be cranked open. The second and third floors went around the perimeter leaving the pool open to view from those floors. The second floor was for musicians and guests to relax and the third floor contained the ballroom. The pool itself was 120 ft. by 50 ft, 3 feet deep on one end and 11 feet deep on the other. Gentlemen usually hung out at the shallow end because they could then still smoke their cigars.

Today the hotel is the Lightner Museum and St. Augustine’s City Hall. The area of the pool, drained, now houses antique shops under the second floor and a café in the deep end of the pool. It seemed weird to walk into an empty pool and feel the slant as I went to the café. I enjoyed a delicious sandwich and glass of white zinfandel.

After lunch, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do so I just started walking back towards the center of town. I found the area of the shops again and eventually made my way over to the Castillo. By then I was tired and decided to catch the train back.

But it was still early. I decided I’d get off at the Fountain of Youth. When I got inside, the first thing that caught my eye were all the peacocks. They were not afraid of people at all and posed and preened and chased each other. When I spoke to them, some would come up to me. Aww, guys, I don’t have any food.

I entered a small building where (supposedly) the spring still runs. People were allowed a small cup of the water. It tasted like the water I’ve been served in the area restaurants. (If I remember correctly, one of the guides this week said something about sulphur. That would explain the odd smell that seems to be in quite a few places.)

I walked down to the edge of the estuary. There was a l-o-n-g boardwalk out to the river. Supposedly, this was where Ponce de Leon first came. I walked out getting some photos of herons and cranes. I even took photos of the huge cross at Mision Nombre de Dios. It’s constructed out of 200 steel panels and weighs 70 tons. It was a gift from the Catholic Church to commemorate the spot where St. Augustine got its beginnings. It’s the tallest cross in North America and the second tallest in the world.

It was a long walk back down that straight boardwalk and by then I was getting achy. I walked over to an area where a lone woman was working a clay pot. She told me that the Tinacuan (sp) Indians were here before the Spaniards. They were pretty much wiped out from European diseases.

I did a little more walking around, then went out the front gate and took photos of the street and the wall. I hopped the train when it came back around and Bill brought me back to the hotel.