St. Augustine Ponte Vedra 2008 Travel Planner - (Page 13) vintage-styled carriages and irresistible equines. Sit back, snuggle up and enjoy a historic, narrated tour of the Ancient City. The closest of couples share laughter and tears, and The Limelight Theatre delivers both. Open year ’round, its presentations are sure to tug at your heartstrings. Night owls can find irresistible table, sparkling and dessert wines – and all that jazz – at The Cellar Upstairs Wine and Jazz Bar at San Sebastian Winery. St. Augustine’s latest wine and jazz bar presents top-class contemporary and classic eclectic jazz with occasional R&B and blues… the perfect complement to light bites and indigenous fruits of the vine. Afterwards, stroll hand-in-hand on a moonlit tour with St. Augustine Ghost Tours to hear ethereal tales of endless love. You might get lucky and see a few friendly apparitions; even the ghosts don’t want to leave. A Mélange of Menus and Venues My chef-husband appreciates great food, and so do I. We often find ourselves eating our way through St. Augustine. With so many award-winning restaurants, it’s easy to do! There’s everything from ethnic cuisine to traditional American, nouveau and New World. Add Minorcan influences and specialties of the sea for a seemingly endless variety of culinary choices. Families appreciate kid-friendly fare, friends congregate for food and fun, and couples enjoy cozy dinners by candlelight. Adventurous epicures will want to mix it up. A1A Ale Works is more than a restaurant; it’s a destination. This Golden Spoon award recipient offers exceptional food in a fun, casual setting. Featuring New World cuisine and freshly brewed beer “handbuilt” on premises at their microbrewery, it also has live entertainment Thursday through Saturday. Old World charm and outstanding Spanish/Cuban cuisine is the signature of the Columbia Restaurant. Here you’ll savor century-old family recipes like Paella a la Valencia, Filet Mignon Columbia and fresh seafood specialties. For a taste of New Orleans, swing over to Harry’s Seafood Bar & Grille. It’s family friendly and features mouth-watering favorites like po’ boys, jambalaya and Creole shrimp. Something’s fishy at Schooner Seafood House, another family favorite that locals love for its laid-back atmosphere ST. AUGUSTINE’S FAIRY GODFATHER It may seem strange that someone would stumble into love at first sight during his honeymoon but that’s just what happened to Henry Morrison Flagler in 1883. The wealthy visionary saw St. Augustine’s great potential and soon returned to make the city a dazzling tourist destination. In 1888, the enchanting Ponce de Leon Hotel, now Flagler College, was opened to the public. The hotel catered to the Who’s Who, and first-time visitors from all over flocked to St. Augustine to see what many proclaimed as the “world’s finest hotel.” Visitors can tour The Lightner Museum, formally Flagler’s Hotel Alcazar, and see elegant displays of Victorian-era costumes and other treasures that showcase life in the 19th century. Next door is The Casa Monica. Flagler acquired the property in 1888 and renamed it The Cordova. The hotel thrived with parties, balls and fairs. After becoming a courthouse in the 1960s, the property was converted back to a luxury hotel in the 1990s with its original name intact. Flagler’s other contributions to the city included ornate churches and railroads. His transformation of St. Augustine helped launch the Gilded Age in Florida, changing it forever. Flagler College www.Getaway4Florida.com 13 http://www.Getaway4Florida.com
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