Tuesday, November 5, 2024

It’s election day! So glad we took care of that before we left on this cruise. Early voting has proven to be a boon to many of us.

We arrived at the port in Jacksonville early this morning, and headed out for a tour of St. Augustine, which claims to be the Oldest City in the United States. Founded in September, 1565, almost 460 years ago, by Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, a Spanish conquistador. Menéndez’ mission was to explore and settle the Florida region for King Philip II of Spain, and eliminate the Huguenot French. The crew sighted land on August 28,1565, the feast day of St. Augustine of Hippo. They landed at the site a few days later, and claimed the land for Philip, naming it San Agustin (Saint Augustine).

When Europeans arrived here, they were greeted by members of the Timucuan peoples, who lived in this area. They were unusually tall, some over 6 feet, like giants to the much shorter Europeans. They also had a longer life expectancy, so the Spanish explorers thought they must be drinking from some kind of Fountain of Youth. Actually, the Timucua bred for height – tall men married tall women – and they ate a healthy diet. The taller members of the tribes got the better food, and the short ones got whatever was left over. St. Augustine is home to the fabled Fountain of Youth. We visited some years ago, drank the water (which tastes awful BTW), but we’re still getting old. Rats!!! The Timucua were decimated by the introduction of European diseases. When the Spanish left following defeat by the British, the Timucua went with them to Cuba, where the remaining natives died out. There are no living descendants of these people.

Control of Florida moved back and forth between Spain and Great Britain between 1740 and 1821, when it was ceded to the United States. Saint Augustine was the capital of the new US territory until 1824. Florida became a state in 1845.

We stopped at the Castillo de San Marcos, built between 1672 – 1695. An earlier wooden fort had been destroyed in 1668 by an English privateer/pirate Robert Searles. The replacement was a masonry star fort built with coquina stones. Coquina is a sedimentary rock composed mostly of shell, and it varies hardness from poorly to moderately cemented. This coquina came from the Anastasia Formation, after Anastasia Island where the Spanish quarried the rock to construct the Castillo, one of only three forts built with coquina, a sedimentary rock composed almost entirely of fragments of mollusks, trilobites, and other invertebrates. Coquina is unique to this area, to Cuba and to Puerto Rico. Coquina is impervious to fire, termites, and most bombardment. The other two forts are in Cuba and Puerto Rico. Despite numerous attacks over the years, the fort was never breached or taken by force.

We passed by the Spanish Mission Grounds, City Gates, Spanish Plaza and more. The local Flagler College was originally a very exclusive hotel intended for the rich and famous, the Ponce de Leon, built by Henry Flagler between 1885 – 1887, in the Spanish Colonial Revival style. It was the first hotel of its kind constructed entirely of poured concrete, using coquina as aggregate. After the hotel closed in 1967, Flagler College was founded, and housed in the former hotel. Flagler’s good friend, Louis Comfort Tiffany, made the stained glass windows in the building.

Another hotel that dated to the same time was the Hotel Alcazar. This hotel was also owned by Henry Flagler, and offered an indoor pool, spa, grand ballroom and opulent dining facilities. The indoor pool was the largest indoor pool in the US, measuring 80 feet wide by 120 feet long, with a skylight roof. The hotel closed in 1931, and was purchased some years later by Otto C. Lightner, a magazine publisher (Hobbies Magazine) and collector of collections. The Alcazar became the Lightner Museum of Hobbies, the home for his collections, in 1948.

The indoor pool was converted into a restaurant – the Café Alcazar, which offers lunch daily. BTW, the lunch was delicious.

One of the highlights of Crystal Cruises is the Crystal White Party, which was held tonight. Wear white if you have it. I actually found a 20 year old dress that still fits (although it did look better on a younger body). The Crystal Plaza is decorated in white, the crew and entertainers all wear white, and it really is quite festive.

We are staying overnight at port in Jacksonville.