The Ancient City

St. Augustine’s nickname is the ancient city, but ancient only by United States standards.  The city is the oldest continually occupied city founded by Europeans in the US dating back to 1565.  We began our tour of the city as I like to do whenever possible with a trolley tour tour that takes you all around the city in a little over a hour with the driver providing various historical tidbits along the way.  After completing our tour, Matt and I were hungry and what better place to address a hunger than at a BBQ, the Mojo BBQ to be precise. 

After lunch it was time to see the most famous site in St. Augustine, the Castillo De San Marcos, a fort right in the heart of the City.  The most interesting aspect of the fort was the re-enactment of the process involved in firing the canon.  Re-enactors in period costumes go through a very formal ceremonial process to fire the canon.  Supposedly the process was intended to avoid missing a needed step in the firing process but Matt and I both felt if fire was being returned from an approaching ship it was hard to imagine them actually retaining the elaborate movements we saw.  

Then it was back to the boat for a final afternoon of cocktails on the flybridge before a quiet dinner at Preserve, a restored home made into a very lovely restaurant.  Tomorrow our trip ends and we return home.