The Castillo De San Marcos of St. Augustine, Florida: Review

The Make-A-Wish Foundation sent my daughter, myself, and my other daughter to Florida to see my family. While we were there we spent a day in St. Augustine. One of the places we were lucky enough to visit was an old fort (castle) built by the Spanish in 1695. This fort was called the Castillo de San Marcos. The purpose of this castle was to keep the pirates from robbing St. Augustine again.

The fort is unique in that it is made out of Coquina which is a kind of shell stone. I thought the kids would have been bored since this is basically a historical site, but they loved it! As soon as we got to the entrance to the castle we were greeted by a pair of Spanish Soldiers. We stopped to have the kids picture taken with them. We were the last people to get our picture taken with the Spanish Soldiers as they were heading to the roof for a live cannon firing demonstration.

The kids were told to hold their ears and it's a good thing because that blast was loud. I was impressed how they made sure the whole firing was done as it would have been back in the 1700's. Next, we visited all the rooms of the castle. We saw the soldiers living quarters and beds made out of straw. We saw old surgical instruments, and real cannon balls. We also got to hear a lecture about all the different weapons used at the castle. Three hours went by without me even noticing.

On your way out there was a cute little gift shop with gifts available for anyone's budget. I bought the kids each a wooden flute for $.94 each and a little miniature of the castle for myself at a low price of $4.95. Price for admission is cheap as well: $6.00 for adults and kids are free.

If you want to eat, you can bring your lunch, but you must eat it outside of the castle at one of their picnic benches. The view is beautiful. Of course you can always so what we did. Go across the street (yes, it is in walking distance) to the many shops and little restaurants. The Columbia restaurant is a good one and if you go make sure you get their unique 1905 salad. It actually tastes like you are eating a hoagie, but believe me it's good. You can even buy their special dressing down in their gift shop and take back home with you.