Old St. Augustine

There were frost warnings for Crescent Beach last night and some windy sunshine this morning so we decided to do sightseeing in town today. Our guidebook warned us of narrow, crowded streets with minimal parking so we planned to park and take a tour. We lucked into a tour on a 6 passenger open sided electric car - just for the two of us. A retired barrister from Manchester, England drove us through the old streets and gave us a great history of the Spanish and English settlers in St. Augustine.
We started at the spot where the first Catholic mass was held on the American continent. Nearby was a fountain which has water which comes from a deep aquifer running under the city. The water smelled of sulphur and was the origin of the legend of the "Fountain of Youth" discovered by Ponce de Leon that we all studied in grade school.
St. Augustine was established in 1565 and is the oldest continuously occupied settlement of European origin in the United States. Forty-two years before the English colonized Jamestown the Spanish settled St. Augustine. Most of the early buildings were built of wood and either burned or rotted. Later buildings used a type of stone called Coquina which is quarried on Anastasia island. It is sort of compressed oyster shells and is very strong.
The area had many conflicts and conquests due to the flow of gold that the Spanish were moving from South America up the Gulf Stream along the East coast of Florida. It was taken off ships and stored in the city away from the many pirates who wanted the gold. We drove the narrow streets and saw beautiful old homes from many historical periods. After the tour we strolled down a "walking street" which had many old shops and restaurants. It was still very chilly and we were happy to stop and eat a hot lunch in a funky old cafe.
We finished our sightseeing day by walking to the Castillo de San Marcos
National Monument. The Castillo was built to shelter townspeople and act as a military warehouse. It was built in 1695 of Coquina stone. The walls were twenty-two feet high (later raised to 35 feet) and fourteen feet thick. No enemy every conquered the fort despite many battles. We got a great but windy view of the bay. After a day spent outside in the cool, windy weather we went back to the condo and enjoyed a cozy evening inside. It is supposed to be warmer tomorrow.