Best Florida attractions from Jill Podehl: West Palm Beach anchors Palm Beach County in South Florida and is a fast-growing urban area with numerous cultural attractions, countless excellent restaurants, and a bustling city center. It’s a place where people congregate to enjoy one-of-a-kind shops, superlative dining, and countless entertainment options. And, lest we forget, West Palm Beach is just minutes away from the Atlantic Ocean, with easy access to 47 miles of some of the best beaches in Florida. And just across Lake Worth is the tiny island of Palm Beach itself. One of the wealthiest towns in the USA, this ritzy community was built by industrialist Henry Flagler at the turn of the 20th century. Read additional information at Jill Podehl West Palm Beach.
The Ancient Spanish Monastery is famous in Miami for being one of the country’s best examples of historic religious buildings. It was built in 1133 in the northern region of Spain, where it was named The Monastery of Our Lady, Queen of the Angels. It was a home for many Cistercian monks for over a whopping seven centuries. During the First Carlist War, the monastery was seized and turned into a stable and granary. But in 1925, William Randolph Hearst, who had fallen in love with the monastery’s building and history, decided to purchase it for himself. The monastery was slowly dismantled, each stone placed in 11,000 or so crates to be shipped to America. It was a long time before the monastery was eventually rebuilt – in fact, it was after Hearst’s death! It was set up as a tourist attraction 25 or so years after its original purchase.
Well recognized for its cultural flavor, Little Havana offers a great deal of entertainment from open air social areas to its many restaurants and specialty food shops. With non stop lively Latin music drifting through the air and street art depicting important Cuban figures you will feel completely immersed in the distinctive cultural atmosphere. While Calle Ocho is know as the heart of little Havana and setting for most of the activity , the district has slowly spread into the surrounding streets and avenues. But to truly enjoy a vacation you also need a nice place to stay.
Do you want to enjoy the blue sky and the warm sun ? Miami is a perfect place to relax. What can you do in Miami? Little Havana, the Cuban district of Miami, isn’t known for its wealth of tourist attractions but more for its distinctive cultural scene. Restaurants and specialty food shops line the streets, and Latin music drifts through the air. Locals socialize in the open spaces. Murals grace the walls of buildings, showing important Cuban figures and scenes of daily life. Calle Ocho is the main thoroughfare running through the district and home to much of the activity, but Little Havana spreads well beyond, into the surrounding streets and avenues. For people-watching, the area offers a great deal of entertainment. And of course, this is the place to come for Cuban cuisine. The Calle Ocho Festival, held in March, is a celebration of Cuban culture and the largest of its kind in the world. Over the years this street festival has expanded to include more Latin American cultures and is now a great way to experience Latin American music and Caribbean cuisine.
Top rated Florida travel destinations from Jill Podehl: Coral Gables, one of the nation’s first planned developments, was built almost entirely out of the coral limestone quarried there. The quarry itself was turned into Venetian Pool, an exotic swimming hole with romantic stone bridges and waterfalls. Gracious Spanish colonial-style homes line twisty streets vegetated lushly and sequestered aesthetically from the big-city world.
While you’re here, check out the Art Deco Museum or go for a walking tour, which spans about 90 minutes, through the neighborhood, led by the Miami Design Preservation League. You’ll be able to learn more about the finer details of each architectural decision, ranging from the floors to the facades, in a more in-depth, crash-course-type way. It’s undoubtedly one of the top things to do in Miami! The Ancient Spanish Monastery, known originally by the rather long name “The Monastery of Our Lady, Queen of the Angels”, dates back centuries to the year 1133. Read more information at Jill Podehl.
If art is your thing, the Wynwood Arts District is a perfect spot to explore the eye-opening world of street art. Find it at Wynwood Walls – an outdoor museum dedicated to the artform – and throughout this hip neighborhood. Or, pay a visit to the Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM) to peruse its collection of contemporary art of the Americas, housed in a stunning building overlooking Biscayne Bay in Downtown Miami that was designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architects Herzog & de Meuron. Right next door, you can see amazing sights at the Phillip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science, which houses both an aquarium and a planetarium. You’ll never run out of things to do in Miami, no matter what tickles your fancy, how much you have to spend, and who you’re traveling with.