St. Augustine, Florida- Castillo de San Marcos

My trip to St. Augustine was a short one, but it definitely let an impression.  I originally thought I was going to have more time than I did, but it just didn’t work out that way, but I still got to visit the Castillo de San Marco.

I was unsure about whether or not to visit another fort with my short amount of time, but my mom had told me about when she was a little girl and they visited the fort and she remembered absolutely loving it.  So, I took my mom’s memory from 30+ years ago, and went for it… Her memory served her (and me) well.

I was very pleased, once again, that my National Park Pass covered my entrance fee, and even though I had just been to a coastal fort the day before, I was just as intrigued by this one.  This fort was even older (St. Augustine is the oldest consistently European-occupied city in the United States) and had been through even more.  This fort was not made up of bricks like Fort Pulaski, but of bits of shells cemented together which was easily visible on the walls.

The location of this fort was also incredible because it was legitimately right on the coast and there were these massive palm trees all around.  It definitely felt like Florida.

I managed to get there in time to stay for a cannon demonstration, which was really cool.  I got front row, and a group on men dressed like 15th century Spanish soldiers made their way up to the top of the fort.  They did the whole demonstration in Spanish (except the part that they told us to plug our ears).  As I put my hands over my ears my heart was pounding in my chest with anticipation, and even through I was well aware that this massive BOOM was coming, I still jumped!  It was really loud and one of those things that you felt all through your body.

 

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