You're watching Vagabrothers,
and this place is rad.
What's going on, ladies and gentlemen?
Welcome back to Vagabrothers.
It's day two of our Florida road trip.
We've left Orlando, and we are
heading up Florida's historic coast.
Without further ado, let's go to the
oldest city in the United States.
All right ladies and gentlemen, we have
just arrived in St Augustine, Florida,
which is the oldest, continuously
inhabited European settlement
in the United States of America.
It's a beautiful place with a crazy story
that goes something like this.....
As we all know, in 1492 Columbus
sailed the ocean blue.
But on his second voyage, he came with
a conquistator named Ponce de Leon.
Ponce de Leon became the governor
of Puerto Rico.
The problem was that position was
promised to Columbus' son.
So he set off on a quest for new lands
in the name of glory, gold, and god,
and supposedly the fountain of youth.
But instead of the fountain of youth,
he discovered this land, which he called
La Florida and well as the gulf stream,
an ocean current that cut two weeks off
the return voyage to Spain, making
Florida crucial in protecting Spanish gold
and treasure from pirates.
But St Augustine wasn't founded until
1565 when the Spanish returned only to
find other Europeans, French protestants
known as Heugonots.
When they refused to convert or kneel to
the Catholic king of Spain,
they were slaughtered, making the blue
waters run red, giving the name
to the bay in front of St Augustine,
La Bahia de las Matanzas,
or the Bay of Slaughter.
St Augustine became the capital
of Spanish Florida for 200 years,
during which time it was raided by the
feared pirate, Sir Francis Drake,
before being seceded to the English,
then the Americans, making it the oldest
continuously inhabited European
settlement in the United States of America.
This castle is seriously awesome.
It's a citadel, which means it's like a
star-shaped formation.
This would have been important to
protect from pirates, like I said.
Sir Francis Drake did come here, raiding
all the gold ships that came from
Mexico and Panama from Peru.
This would have been a really important
spot pinching off those shipments
of gold treasure as they were headed to
the Old World.
What a view.
It's so cool, honestly.
As an historian and a history nerd,
pretty incredible.
It's a little bit late for coffee,
but, honestly, this could be the cutest
coffee shop I've ever seen in my life.
Behold.
In a little cabin with its own garden
with garden seating.
We are from San Diego, California
which also has an Old Town, but this one
is totally killin' our home town Old Town
This is really well preserved buildings.
It's got tons of ambience, and you feel
like you're in a pirate town, or something.
Especially because we just bumped into
a guy who's dressed as a pirate.
That really made it feel like a pirate town.
Walking down to the port is Treasury Street.
This is the narrowest street in
the United States.
It's wide enough to carry gold
from the ships to the treasury, but
not wide enough for a horse drawn cart,
which was basically designed to
prevent piracy.
This town was sacked twice, burnt down
twice, so you know,
call it a mixed record.
That guy just tried to dab in the back round.
This could be my favorite, favorite
historical area in the United States.
I really like New Orleans.
St Augustine is giving it a run for the money.
We've wandered our way through the
old town, and we've ended up at a place
called Michaels that does tapas and
"racciones," all Spanish inspired.
We're going to have a little tasting course
that's going to be paired with different
wines, and we're sitting outside,
under the sky, and I cannot wait to eat.
I'm starving.
Ladies and gentlemen, this meal has
just taken a turn towards the epic.
I don't even know what's going on with
the plate in front of me, but it looks
so good.
They are braised short ribs on top of
a yucca mofongo.
Mofongo is a Puerto Rican dish.
We're having it with a garnacha,
{grenache}, which is usually a blending grape.
It's mixed with syrah and montestrella.
It's from Valencia, and this is just an
awesome way to celebrate
Spanish heritage in the USA.
Supposedly, this city is haunted.
Is this city haunted? Yes. It is?
It's the oldest city in the nation with a lot
of bad stuff happening..
It's haunted.
We are going to go on a ghost tour, and
see if we can't find some spooky friends.
Okay. They failed to mention that this
is a wax museum.
Johann Sebastian Bach.
Papa Hemingway
Bach and Marko. Yes, my son....
Papa Hemingway want-to-be.
[screaming, pleading]
With the first turn of the rope
Branson could be seen fumbling with
something in his hands, and what was it?
What's an English pirate doing
Catholic rosary beads?
Branson began to gasp for air.
With the fourth turn of the rope, blood
could be seen trickling down his neck.
With the fifth turn of the rope, his face
began to turn purple.
With the sixth turn of the rope....
the rope broke. Branson gasped.
The crowd gasped.
The priest fell to Branson's knees.
[Be a priest] Oh, my God.
High sanctuary.
Please save him.
And carry him off into the safety of the church.
{You are done, Marko}
Last night was scary.
I'm usually a skeptic of ghosts,
and I do not believe that we're going to
see anything, but then today.......
I followed their directions.
It said to take a bunch of photos with the flash on,
and I took one of the gallows last night,
and when I looked at it,
oh my gosh... a ghost.
Cleary visible.
There he is. Zoom in. Oh wow.
He's definitely a ghost. Cool, man.
Great job, Bro. Ghost hunting.
You ready to go to Jackson?
Non believers...
you've got to see the evidence right there,
right in front of the wall.
Anyway, let's go to Jacksonville.
Non believers.
We are at Jacksonville Beaches
at the pier.
I know Florida isn't really known for
surfing, so my hopes are not super high.
It's definitely hot,
and it seems like a nice beach.
Let's go get a look.
Tony, the owner of the surf shop,
also shapes, and he shapes in the back
of the surf shop.
The long board that I just rode was his;
he shaped it,
and it was perfect for out there.
Nice little switch-up.
Wasn't expecting to surf today.
It's always a pleasant surprise
to get in the ocean.
And Marko, thank you for filming me.
That's what bros are for.
Now we're going to see where liquid
meets land at the Jackonsville Ale Trail
All right, Marko. What is the plan?
Right now we are in the Five Points
neighborhood of Jacksonville.
A lot of these houses here are from the
turpentine barons who made their money
making mattresses. Crazy story...
The moss, Spanish moss here, used to
be used to make mattresses.
One of the factories caught on fire and
burnt down most of the city.
But a few houses remain, and this
neighborhood has the best preserved ones.
We're going to get some dinner around
the corner at the Black Sheep Restaurant
and then hit the bars.
Good cheese. Good charcuterie.
Great beer. I'm having a flash back.
Friends of Ham in Leeds, Northern England
We tried some good local beers,
and now we're going to go to the source,
Hard Wolf Brewery in San Marcos.
One of the cool things about Jacksonville
is that there is this thing called
the Jacksonville Ale Trail.
Basically, there's a lot of craft breweries
in this city, and they've linked them all
together so you get a little passport.
You can go from one brewery to another
and sample as many beers as you can handle.
Number 1: Stormageddon... Black IPA
First up, I got the Nonchalant.
It's a session IPA, 5%
EBS..Early Bird Special breakfast stout
because, apparently, that's a thing.
Next up, I got the Dungeons and Dunkle
Let's see what's going on in here.
Cinco de Maize for Cinco de Mayo.
The BPA, Belgian style pale ale,
super smooth.
Lastly, the Eater of Dreams sour ale.
I might not dream, but I will sleep soundly.
We have followed our intuition to
Intuition Ale Works.
Florida
Time to reflect on the whole trip.
Is it? Yeah, it's time.
Honestly, we've been to Florida
two or three times before,
only really Miami and Orlando.
To come back to Orlando
and then hit up the historic coast....
it's just been such an eye opening
experience for us.
Short road trip. I guarantee you,
there's way more for us to see here.
I've been really pleasantly surprised.
Saint Augustine, the oldest city in
the United States. Amazing.
All the charm, the food....the food.
Food alone is worth the trip.
The ghosts.
Saw a ghost.
I'll tell you this.......
the beer in Florida , coming from
someone from San Diego......
"chapeaux" Florida. You guys have got a
good beer. Nice craft beers.
Overall, it's been a great trip.
I hope you enjoyed watching us wander.
And if you did, make sure you give this
video a thumbs-up, share it with your
travel buddies, and add any more travel
tips below in the comment section.
In the meantime, remember to stay curious,
keep exploring, and will will see you guys
and girls on the road very, very soon.
I don't know who's in that car back there,
but they just got in the vlog.
Peace.