are the housing districts. These quaint and endearing neighborhoods are ones in which you can stroll and sightsee unguided. In doing so, you pass current residents who have clearly dedicated themselves to preserving these treasured homes that quietly encase historical, cultural, and even warfare-surviving emotional significance that modern Americans rarely experience firsthand. These housekeepers live within that rich history every day, knowing only pieces of the full story the walls certainly could tell. Political leaders, business owners and inhabitants of St. Augustine have done a superb job of maintaining the Spanish colony’s integrity, with an attention to (and love of) the details of period architecture and daily life. It is that www.magazineblu.com
which makes the town so quaintly appealing, in a way that larger cities of old, such as New Orleans, unfortunately have not. This is an attentively-manicured and pristinely-kept version of “Once Upon a Time,” without so many smells and creepy corners that might keep a tourist in their hotel room at night. In fact, it was while on a walk down St. George Street after a sumptuous dinner that I realized life in the big city has frayed my own nerves. I had eaten, then cancelled my limousine service back to my hotel, desiring to walk off both calories and metropolitan stress. I wound and turned down many streets, my heels clicking on the cobblestones, my mind fully engaged in a pure lack of thought, head clearing with fresh
ocean air and evening breezes of midApril, as I window shopped and made mental notes of places I would explore the next day. It was dark, about 11:00 p.m. As a truck slowly ambled past and the driver said, “Hello” from his window, I became suddenly aware that I had neither been instinctively watching my back, nor stressing over whether personal safety was at risk. Yes, this is a place where a solo traveler can explore in full peace. It is a place where decompression comes easily. Photo: View of St. George Street. More than 2 million tiny white lights glow in St. Augustine during the annual Nights of Lights Celebration. Courtesy St. Augustine, Ponte Vedra & The Beaches VCB. 12