Our first stop was Fort Matanzas, which was a surprisingly effective fort despite it being rather small. Like any good defensive spot, it allowed lookouts to spot trouble, mostly of the French or British flavors, and make quick work of them with their cannons.
And then there was Castillo de San Macros, another Spanish fort that held up well against invading forces of various flavors, particularly the British and French. This is a much larger fortress than Ft. Matanzas, and was better designed for long-term habitation. One thing that always amazed me was how short these early European settlers were!
Then there was the Fountain of Youth, which didn't quite work as planned. Sulfur and more sulfur gave it a pretty unique flavor, but it was safe to drink as far as I could tell. Thus far, as of this writing, there has been no diarrhea or worse.
We also made a little stop at the local Ripley's Believe It or Not. Supposedly this was the original one, and the others were created in response to this one's success. It was certainly a place filled with oddities!
So that concluded Day 1. Our next point of interest was the St. Augustine Lighthouse to see how it has fared after Hurricane Matthew... plus I really, really wanted to do some serious stairs after endlessly pigging out!
Then after another decadent lunch, we visited the Old Jail and the Old Store. We wanted to visit some of the other sites, but traffic and parking logistics were rather prohibitive, so we went somewhere a bit quieter.
Our last destination before the rain got too discouraging today was the Spanish Military Hospital, which was a pretty neat little out of the way place. In some ways, I'm amazed at the relative lack of progress in medicine, but I'm also thankful for the progress that did occur.
