Sarasota's Ringling Museum and Mansion

During his lifetime, John Ringling, along with his wife Mabel, used their fortune to build a beautiful Venetian mansion and art collection in Sarasota, Florida.

Their estate was bequeathed to the State of Florida, in hopes that Sarasota would become a cultural travel destination.

The State neglected the property, but in 2000 it was turned over to Florida State University and has been restored.

With funds raised by the University, a new Visitor's Center, featuring a museum about the circus, was added to the large estate, which already offered the art museum, the Ringling's lavish home, and the grounds with a rose garden.

As with any personal collection, the assorted pieces of art and artifacts are an idiosyncratic mixture, from notable pieces by the Old Masters to Cypriot antiques.

 

 

The mansion, or Ca d'Zan (House of John), is something out of the Great Gatsby. The house has been restored to the elegance it held during the Ringling's era.

 

 John and Mable would be proud of the legacy that they have endowed to the public as we can only imagine elegance and romance of this bygone era.

St. Pete

The cosmopolitan city of St. Petersburg has long been known for its scenic bayfront and renowned art museums.

Thanks to the city's charter, the bayfront can’t be developed so it’s perfect for walking or bicycling.

The city was co-founded by John C. Williams from Detroit, and Peter Demens, who was instrumental in bringing the railroad there in 1888. It was named after Saint Petersburg, Russia, where Peter Demens had spent half of his youth.

With 361 days of sun a year and a full spectrum of things to see and do, the Sunshine City (as it’s nicknamed) is one of Florida’s most visited destinations.

The Museum of Fine Arts showcases works by Monet, Gauguin, Renoir, O’Keeffe and others. 

 

In recent years, lively downtown St. Pete has also emerged as a hot spot for shopping, museums, dining, nightlife and entertainment.

In fact, it reminds me of Coconut Grove and South Beach.

Just down the street, the Chihuly Collection presented by Morean Arts Center features some of the most brilliant and intricate creations of famous glass artist Dale Chihuly.

The largest fresh market in the southeast U.S. is open every Saturday, featuring over 130 diverse vendors with a large variety of delicious food and live music.

I bought horseradish pickles and Thai dumplings. What a place!

This guy would move every five minutes and play a song for tips.

The iconic Dali Museum displays Salvador Dali’s work in a stunning, surreal new building with a flowing geodesic dome known as the “Enigma.”

The views from inside the dome are fantastic.

 

And the view from outside isn't bad either!

Tarpon Springs

The region, with a series of bayous feeding into the Gulf of Mexico, first attracted attention as a place for winter homes about 1876. Some of the newly arrived visitors spotted tarpons jumping out of the waters and so named the location Tarpon Springs. The first Greek immigrants arrived to this city during the 1880s, when they were hired to work as divers in the growing sponge harvesting industry.

In 1905, John Cocoris introduced the technique of sponge diving to Tarpon Springs. Cocoris recruited Greek sponge divers from the Dodecanese Islands of Greece, in particular Kalymnos, Symi and Halki leading, by the 1930s, to a very productive sponge industry in Tarpon Springs, generating millions of dollars a year.

The 1953 film Beneath the 12-Mile Reef, depicting sponge diving, takes place and was filmed in Tarpon Springs.

When a red tide algae bloom occurred in 1947, wiping out the sponge fields in that region of the Gulf of Mexico.

Most of the sponge boats and divers switched to fishing and shrimping for a livelihood. The city then converted most of its sponge-related activities, especially the warehouses where they were sold, into tourist attractions.

The Sponge Docks are now mostly shops, restaurants, and museums dedicated to the memory of Tarpon Springs' earlier industry.

Most sponges sold on the docks are now imports; relatively few sponges are harvested from the area, although attempts have been made in recent years to restart local sponge harvesting.

There are many restaurants serving traditional Greek cuisine and fresh seafood that dot the street as well as quaint boutiques that sell everything from real sponges to imported goods.

We met up with fellow loopers at Hella's Restaurant for a fun filled evening of some of the best Greek food in town.

Hella's Restaurant offers many appetizers and entrées and passed down family recipes. Our courteous waiter was happy to suggest the best appetizer in the house, Saganaki (Flaming imported Greek cheese).

OPA!

 

Bob dug into his lamb and beef Gyro Special and I had Hella's Grouper, which was to die for! We ate our way through Tarpon Springs.

We stayed at a lovely, quiet marina called Turtle Cove off the main channel, where crab boats passed us daily at sunrise and sundown each day. 

This was such a nice place to be, we stayed here two weeks, and ate, and ate, and ate. We are leaving tomorrow to go explore St. Petersburg. What a life.