Saturday 17th December – St Augustine & Daytona

It was time to catch up with a couple of locations that we had to bypass on the way to Sebastian inlet the other day.  Firstly, St Augustine – the oldest established town in the States (circa 1672).  A very picturesque setting and on a sunny Saturday there was a real party atmosphere.  The thin streets were full of character buildings, and that was before we saw the bridge of lions and the Spanish Fort (Castillo de San Marcos).  The fort, begun in 1672, stood firm against a series of English attacks helping Spain to hold Florida for many years.  It was later a British stronghold during the American revolution before becoming a crucial part of the US coastal defense system.  We wished we had the time to stay here for the full weekend but this was a whistle-stop tour!

Now that's how you do Christmas decorations!

In case you were wondering where the oldest wooden school house in the USA is......

The majestic Bridge of Lions

Back to our favourite coastal road – A1A – heading South again we stopped briefly at an additional National Monument - Fort Matanzas, another Spanish fortification that was built between 1740-1742 to protect the inlet that was a ‘back door’ to St Augustine.  This was as close as we could get to the fort as there were no boats running today:

.....but that meant we could crack on down the coast to Daytona!

Firstly to the famous beach  where we walked on the sands, but to be honest it was getting a little cool and late in the day for chilling out at the seaside.

We made it to the Daytona Speedway at 450pm… when it closed at 5pm!  But this photo makes it look like we made it into the stands:

Instead of heading back to the Springs we found ourselves right by a discount outlet shopping centre.  Si needed some new jeans and walking boots and I needed an excuse to buy some new converse – so we were both happy!  Having spent enough cash already we resisted the temptation of grabbing some fast food, instead heading to our current home for a quick dinner and early night in preparation for a big day tomorrow!