Northeastern Florida

Stop #2 was Jacksonville, Florida yesterday.  Jacksonville is a tough place, not easy to crack in a few hours.  We spent lunchtime at the beach (yay!), and then tried to explore, but the city is so dang big!  I'm sure there are great places, but they are well-hidden.  We did happen to find an absolutely delicious Brazilian restaurant with sandwiches the size of your head (we shared the X-Lombo:  pork, vinaigrette, mozzarella, bacon, egg, lettuce, tomato, and mayo), and yummy banana empanadas for dessert.

Besides the Brazilian spot, we had no other luck in Jacksonville, so we headed on to St. Augustine.  We had high hopes for this Spanish-influenced city, but were almost frustrated for the second time in a day when all we could find were tourist spots (fun, but we're looking for more authentic and less hokey.)  Just before we headed out we found some of the great historical places we were looking for.  Below are City Hall (if I'm remembering correctly) and Cathedral Basilica, established in 1565.  Unfortunately, since it took us so long to find these spots, they were all closed up for the night, and we couldn't go inside.  Too bad, because I would have loved to have seen inside this church.

We still had a few hours of daylight left, so we headed to Cocoa Beach to stay the night, and today we woke up and drove to Palm Beach, where we'll be for a day or two...super excited for this place!!  We napped post-lunch on the beautiful white beach and took an amazingly relaxing swim in the crystal-clear blue water.  (I've never seen a clear ocean before; so many firsts on this trip!)

Jacksonville:  Brazilian Corner Restaurant     100 E Forsyth Street   Jacksonville, FL 32202