Thrify Magic City: St. Augustine the Twilight Town

Approximately 41.1 miles south of my home is a little piece of ancient Europe. (The nation's oldest city.) St. Augustine is my playground, and a rather thrifty destination for weekend fun and exploration.

The Lightner Museum, St. Augustine. Wonderful Destination for Thrifters & Crafters, various collections of buttons & yarn within, among other things...

St. Augustine reminds me of my childhood in Naples, Italy. I really miss Italy, European design, street artists, texture, and culture. St. Augustine fills the void.

This Saturday was the perfect day to enjoy some of the last warm days of the year at St. Augustine's Vilano Beach (lots of 50s beach attractions fading in the scorching Florida sun) and the St. Augustine outlet mall.

A quick shot of the view above me while sitting on a fountain and admiring the sunset at the mall.

After snacks and a quick walk through the mall we sat outside and simply enjoyed a Twilight's Magic Hour that seemed suspended it time, it just continued for what felt like hours.

Twilight Town of Kingdom Hearts II.

Being the game geek that I am, I couldn't help but think about Kingdom Hearts II and Twilight Town. The town's music has a metered, relaxing, lullaby quality. (Listen to it on YouTube, it's beautiful.) The city is quaint and warm with European design elements. It's named Twilight Town because the city is frozen at Twilight, or more accurately, right at the Magic/Golden Hour. It's a city bathed in a golden glow.

Another shot from this Saturday.

And really, doesn't St. Augustine look a lot like Twilight Town?

Now when I visit St. Augustine enjoy it a little more with the realization that this is the closest I'll get to visiting a magical video game world.

Twilight Town, the "Old City" lined with shops in St. Augustine truly resembles this video game still.

I'll certainly have to do a post on "St. Augustine on a budget", The city is rife with fish/nautical/pirate themed shops, and various other little stores and boutiques with Spaniard and European themed items. There's also a couple of thrift stores with real antiques and ancient treasures. If you want to spend a weekend at St. Augustine, I highly recommend reading this article which has some amazing suggestions for touring the city, I'll have to try some of those soon.




Seen you again this weekend, St. Augustine.