Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Apalachicola, Florida

"Apalachicola" I just love that name, it rolls off the tongue.  It comes from the Apalachicola tribe and is a combination of Hitchiti Indian words "apalahchi" meaning "on the other side", and 'okli", meaning "people".  With the original settlement there it probably meant "people on the other side of the river".

Also people from certain parts of the South are called Oki's well I guess mostly from Oklahoma, but that is very close to the work "okli" meaning people, just a thought.

Apalachicola is on the bay and mouth of the Apalachicola River.  Sitting on the Gulf of Mexico.  It was the third largest port on the Gulf, starting out in cotton and lumber.  In 1831 there was a Trading Post there called Cottonton.  At the turn of the century they moved into sponge diving, oyster and shrimp fishing.  Today this is what they are known for.


As we were driving to St George's Apalachicola was on our way and Rob says "let's stop mum", and what a great idea that was.  We loved this town, slow quiet, but a lot of little interesting places.  A wonderful second hand book store in a small old warehouse type building with big open front.  Old sofas and carpets with big fans running, you needed it.


An old shrimp boat.  You felt this was Bubba Gump country.  We can say the oysters are wonderful.  We ate them steamed with butter, oh! so good.  Sitting there on the waterfront in what must have been an old tin fish warehouse, not too much changed.


We wandered down to the Bay front and walked around, just soaking up the atmosphere and imagining what this must have been like.



The bridge leading to the St George Peninsula.


Some of the old cotton warehouses turned into shops and apartments.



It was a scorcher of a day, so we stopped off here at a true soda fountain bar, and we had Root Beer Floats.



Now to be quite honest to an English person root beer tastes somewhat like medicine, but on a hot day a cold root beer float, which is a scoop of vanilla ice cream in root beer soda, well it hits the spot.  Hard to explain why, but it just does.








I loved this store, a lot of things from Mexico.  Pots and fish water fountains, even some lovely bathroom sinks all patterned that come out of Mexico.


Easy parking, wide streets.  No driving round and round.


Some of the boutique type shops.




What a lovely memorable time we spent here.  Old world Florida, I would recommend a visit here to anyone.

Christy

P.S.  The whole trip I kept saying Apalachicola,  "mum don't say that again"  it's a lovely name.

1 comment:

  1. You have shown me a different side to Florida to that normally shown on travel programs. It usually looks so crowded and touristy. Your holiday seemed so peaceful.

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