St Augustine Fl -Evening Visiting the City 12'13

While windy and cold the weather  looked like it would remain dry through the evening so we decided to do a walking tour of the old city of St Augustine.  It was settled by the Spanish on August 28th  1565 - 42 years before the English settled Jamestown, and 55 years before the Pilgrims settled at Plymouth.  That makes the City of St. Augustine is the nation's oldest permanently occupied European settlement.  

The Castillo de San Marcos

It's a beautiful place filled with historic sites like this stone fort with a mote around it. The Castillo de San Marcos' architecture and detail are distinctive and unique. It is the oldest masonry and only extant 17th century fort in North America. As such it is an excellent example of the "bastion system" of fortification.

and building with Spanish flair architecture

The British also briefly (1763-1784) occupied the site .  The old city has many British style pubs and public houses  to commemorate the period of British occupancy.

 

But things the tour got even better as darkness fell and the city began to light up with what it calls it's Nights of Lights. The whole city and harbor was aglow.  It was truly beautiful!