Introvert Travel Series 2019: St. Augustine, Florida

It’s summer time, and you know what that means! It’s time for my Introvert Travel series 🙂

For my birthday week, I wanted to visit a relaxing beach and have access to some cool history stuff. If that’s what you’re looking for, I highly recommend St. Augustine, Florida, for the following reasons.

St. Augustine Beach is relaxed, not crowded, and not overly flashy or developed.

It’s definitely not Miami Beach over spring break, which, to me, would be introvert hell. You don’t have a bunch of huge, flashy buildings, with waiters bringing you margaritas on the beach, and that’s how I like it. I prefer to be left alone to enjoy the Atlantic waves and watch the seagulls dive into the ocean, beak first, to catch their meals.

There’s a LOT more than just the beach.

Spanish forts

Castillo San Marcos – Spain’s main fort in St. Augustine, FL

St. Augustine has a fascinating history. It is the oldest city in the continental United States, having been founded in 1565 by the Spanish. If you’re a fan of medieval history, like me, Castillo San Marcos is the closest you’ll get to an actual castle stateside.

The many years of Spanish influence are heavily apparent in St. Augustine, although the city changed hands several times. In 1763, after Great Britain beat France and Spain in the Seven Years’ War, Spain ceded Florida to Great Britain.

With the second Treaty of Paris in 1783, Florida was returned to Spain and the Bahamas were ceded to Great Britain. The United States pressured Spain to give Florida up, and ended up buying the territory from Spain for about $5 million in 1821.

The Spanish did much to protect their colonial investment. Fort Matanzas is about ten miles south of St. Augustine. Much smaller than Castillo San Marcos, it was established by the Spanish to protect St. Augustine from being attacked surreptitiously via the San Marcos River. It’s accessible by boat, and housed about eight or nine Spanish soldiers at any one time on a rotating basis. Spanish soldiers from Fort Matanzas fired upon British soldiers, but the fort itself was never fired upon or overtaken.

Castillo San Marcos and Fort Matanzas are made of a material called coquina, which is only available in Florida and the Caribbean. Coquina is a sedimentary rock made of tiny shell fragments and is apparently similar to limestone. Our tour guide informed us that coquina is more flexible than other building materials, and would expand upon impact, thereby absorbing the shock of cannon fire and, as such, was quite durable during battle. These forts are both intact, and Castillo San Marcos houses several great exhibits on St. Augustine’s colonial history.

Whetstone Chocolate Factory

The factory is a great way to cool off with some A/C while enjoying several chocolate samples, including seasonal chocolate infused with lime (so refreshing!). You’ll even learn about the history of chocolate.

Hairnets! Yay!

The Spanish were the ones who had the bright idea of adding sugar to make the Native American drink more palatable (if you know the Spanish, then you know they have a huge sweet tooth!).

Chocolates being made!

Get firsthand experience behind the scenes, watching the machines churn out chocolate-covered pretzels and milk chocolate candies.

Alligator Farm

This is the largest collection of crocodiles I have ever seen. Let me tell you; you would not want to run in to one of these guys in a swamp somewhere.

Old Jail

I dragged my kid to see this place. It is very cool; you get a tour of what life was like for men and women in the prison (terribly crowded with several people cramped in one cell). It’s small and an easy add-on to other sites during the day. They also have some old firearms on display.

There’s a bunch of stuff we didn’t even get to, such as the Ponce de Leon Archaeological Park. The bottom line is that there is plenty to do in St. Augustine, much more than the beach. It’s family and solo traveler-oriented, not spring break-oriented. If you’re looking for a relaxed vacation with friendly locals and plenty of interesting things to do, look no further.