Castillo de San Marcos
You know
that coquina structure that guards the entrance to the old fort? The ravelin
doesn’t do much these days (besides being a cool stop-off and a great vantage
point for Castillo photos) but in the days of pirates, Englishmen, and other
nasty folks (at least nasty to the Spanish) it was pretty important. To get to
the fort, you had to get past the men at the ravelin. You can still go inside,
and once you clear a span of sturdy wooden steps, you can look out at the
Matanzas Bay, the town, or the fort from one of three wooden platforms. (Check
out the refurbished coat of arms, too. The Park Service folks did a beautiful
job restoring it).
Fountain of Youth
At first
glance this picture doesn’t seem to show much. It’s the very new wooden
observation tower at the Fountain of Youth Park with some palm trees in the
background (but I’m not sure why I felt the need to tell you that . . . I’m
sure you know what palm trees are :-)). I like this shot because it embodies a
lot of what St. Augustine’s about; preserving and interpreting history and
natural Florida beauty. A soldier standing here in the 1500s or 1600s must have
had a similar view. (Hopefully everything was peaceful and there wasn’t someone
screaming from the top of the tower that ‘the British are coming! The British
are coming!’)
(c) 2015 St. Augustine Fridays
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