Top St. Augustine Florida Restaurants

People love to eat. This is sometimes what life means to them. Tasting the local delicacies of a place is one of the most exciting parts of travelling and visiting various places.

St. Augustine has the best cuisine that makes many tourists coming back for more. Some of the most visited restaurants in St. Augustine Florida are the following:

·         Amici Italian Restaurant

The Amici Italian Restaurant also known as the Milano Room is a restaurant that will be really enjoyed by those people who love authentic Italian cuisine. The restaurant is located in St. Augustine’s beach part that made the scenery more interesting. The best part of this experience is that different types of Italian food can be tasted in this particular restaurant. Amici Italian Restaurant is voted as one of the best Italian restaurants in St. Augustine for 9 long years now.

·         Athena Restaurant

Owned by the Chryssaidis Family, Athena Restaurant has the most unique and authentic Greek specialties to its customers. They serve breakfast, lunch and dinner that consists of Kebabs, Gyros and Moussaka. They also have some food for those people who are strictly vegetarian such as salads, sandwiches and soups with a Grecian touch. Looking forward to having the ultimate Greek experience? Athena Restaurant is the best choice for you!

·         Barnacle Bill’s Restaurant

This restaurant has been in business for the past 29 years and is still serving many visitors and tourist in St. Augustine Florida. They serve mostly seafood dishes and were very successful in giving an atmosphere of the South Beach Art Deco.

·         Bistro de Leon French Restaurant

This is one of the best French restaurants that one can find in the Historic Downtown of St. Augustine’s town. They do not only serve French cuisines, they have the most wonderful French owners that do not merely manage the restaurant but also are hands on with cooking all the cuisine. They serve breakfast, lunch and dinner for all the visitors in the area.

·         Cabo Taco Mexicali Grill

If you are one of those people who enjoy Mexican foods, here is the right restaurant for you. Featuring the all famous Cabo Taco in Mexico, this grill restaurant gives a whole lot more of the Mexican atmosphere from food to the style of the establishment. They also have some Asian cuisines that will surely be enjoyed by those tourists coming from Asian countries.

 ·         Collage

Name by TripAdvisory.com as one of the country’s “Top Ten Most Romantic Restaurants”, Collage prepares only the finest and world-class menus that everyone will surely love to eat. They have a wide variety of food from seafood to all the other cuisines from other countries, Collage have made it to a point that everyone will have the food of their choice. So if you have the will to try first-class servings of food, Collage will be the most appropriate stop for you. 

Mouth-watering foods from different countries combined with the perfect atmosphere and scenic places that one can only see in St. Augustine in Florida. This will going to be the best vacation ever for you and your family!

Florida Four Point Inspection

Many houses need to be inspected first before getting a Home Insurance in Florida. The four point inspection is required to have credits and discounts from housing insurances that the government of Florida is giving out to their residents.

Mainly, this Four Point Inspection will cover the following:

·         Roofing

·        Heating

·       ·         Electrical; and

·       ·         Plumbing

These are the most important part of inspecting a house because most incidents in houses start with any of the above said points. A lot of people are unaware of this but for one to ensure the safety of their household; they must have confidence upon the inspections that they will have to conduct into their houses. Once the inspection is done, people will be able to get the insurance that they are planning to have thus getting about a lot of benefits from their State.

Moreover the four point inspection will have to comply with the conditions being set upon by those insurance companies thus they must all be working properly in accordance to the manufacturer’s specifications just to make sure of the safety of the product. Most home insurance companies in Florida (and in any part of the state that is) must be able to make sure that all of the four systems are working properly before they grant insurance upon the systems/ house.

If by any chance the house is an old house, the owner must make sure that the specified systems are upgraded before pursuing with the insurance proper. Forms will be provided during inspections to clients just to ensure that the inspectors will be able to fill them out properly after the inspection proper.

Before getting any home insurance, companies must be confident that their potential clients have complied with the necessary inspections, including the four point system so they will not be reluctant to give out credits and discounts whenever a disaster happens.

A lot of household in Florida is securing one because it is according to their law. The homeowners need not to worry about the funds that they will need for house repair when they have the insurance that their government is offering to them. Amidst all the controversies behind the discounts and credit funds that the government of Florida is facing, people are still hopeful that in the end, they will still have the benefits that they should be having.

The four point inspection is included in the policy that home insurance companies are requiring their clients because it will have them the security that they deserve to have. All four systems listed above must be working in their good condition granting that upon securing the insurance, all are working properly. Granting that the house is old, the listed systems must be upgraded and inspected once again by the certified inspectors so that there will be no problems encountered with regard to the insurance policy being met by the clients.

The four point inspection must cover all the necessary requirements that Florida Home Insurance companies are giving out so they will not have any problems in getting their discounts and credits when they need it.

Fun Activities and Historic Landmarks of St. Augustine, Florida

St. Augustine in Florida is where many historical events have happen. Amidst of all the attempts to colonize the place, they survived and remained undefeated. Some people can’t get enough of the great places to visit in this very beautiful town of St. Augustine in Florida.

Many tourists are taking their vacation at St. Augustine’s beautiful and scenic place because they say that the place has many fun and exciting things to offer their visitors with.

Some of the activities that tourist could do are of the following:

·         Tour to Ancient Cities

Informative is something that will describe this kind of activity. People will be able to learn a lot from tour guides and due to the rich history that St. Augustine has, this will be one-of-a-kind-experience that every visitor can have get.

·         Museum Tours

Since St. Augustine, Florida has filled the history books with majestic stories of epic battles between the Americans, the Spanish and the French. There are many museums that mirrored the colorful history, housing a lot of ruins that made a wide collection of historical symbols during the time of war. This will enable the visitors to understand St. Augustine’s history landmarks today.

·         Visit to Old St. Augustine Village

This is considered one of the historically rich towns in the United States of America. Letting people experience a once in a lifetime experience that people may get while visiting and exploring the land from where many historical battles took place is one of the most rewarding part of being in this place.

·         Shopping at St. Augustine, Florida

This is probably one of the best activities that a tourist would be able to do in any places. St. Augustine has a wide variety of shopping centers from where people will be able to buy gifts and treats that they could bring back home as souvenirs.  St. George Street is one of the famous shopping centers in the town.

·         Tour at the Flagler College

This is known to be the former Ponce de Leon Hotel during the late 1880’s built by Sir Henry Flagler. The building exemplifies a great Spanish Renaissance structure that one can truly adore.

·         A Visit at the Bridge of Lions

This is the historic bridge between St. Augustine and Anastasia Island. The bridge has two Carrara marble lion statues and was constructed during the year 1927 resembling the Loggia dei Lanzi in Florence.

·         Swimming and Diving

This is one of the greatest activities that a person could do in the breath taking town of St. Augustine. The place is surrounds by beautiful beaches thus an exciting scenery to put on those swim wear and have a great time.

·         Visit at the Ripley’s Believe it or Not Museum

Housing the unusual, unique and exotic creations and world records that will surely be enjoyed by the whole family, visiting the place will give you a taste of world class intelligence and awesomeness.

There are still a lot of activities that one could do in St. Augustine, yet these are those things that you can discover yourself. So go ahead, visit the wonderful place of the most historic town of St. Augustine to experience one great deal of vacation and adventure all in one.

Effects of Wind Mitigation Credits on Florida Home Insurance Market

People are guessing about the effects that might be brought by wind mitigation credits on Florida home insurance market. And due to the risk that Florida faces with regard to hurricanes and other wind related disasters in their state. Moreover, there have been so many studies that had a great impact to the home insurance market in Florida most especially because of the credits that they have to give out.

According to many studies and researches, the government of Florida has given their people with home insurance with a lot of credits thus getting it on the budget that will be allotted on the housing properties and construction for their people. Some homeowners have strengthened the structure of their homes and spent thousands of dollars just to avail the discounts that will be allowed by Florida Home Insurance companies.

But later on, there have been a great impact of excessive credits and discounts being given to homeowners. To answer the great dilemma that the government of Florida is facing with regard to excessive wind mitigation credits, they decided to cut on some insurance discounts and credits to people.

Some homeowners have experienced not getting the posted refunds that they must have in order for them to at least get all the annual premium credits that they must have. There have been other reported claims that some insurance were not able to give the amounted annual premium discounts that they are entitled to have. There have been some rumors going out that home insurance providers do not have enough funds to support all of their clients.

Some homeowners are re-inspecting their properties that will make just to ensure that the computation that they will be getting will stick unto what they have to get.

Homeowners fear that in the later years, the government might pull out the home insurance wind mitigation credits. It will have a great impact on the security in the case of homeowners who are depending on the credits that they will be getting from their houses insurance.

The State have stressed a big importance on the way people must build (or reconstruct) their homes just to make it stronger. Inspectors will have their way of computing the correct value for your home. Never settle for those who have made their conclusions based on by just looking at your house. The inspection of a house for wind mitigation will last for an hour or so.

As all the effects have sighted upon, it is a good time to at least say that homeowners must be extra careful in making and dealing with wind mitigation inspections and the credits that they have to get. Discounts are prevalently use when a house is properly secured. Strengthening your home will not hurt if in the long run, you are sure that you will be able to get the same exact value to repair it in case of disaster. Things will surely get right into their own perspective places once you know the benefits of getting wind mitigation inspection.

City of St. Augustine, Florida General Info

Many have wanted to go to St. Augustine, Florida because of the beautiful sites that a tourist can see in that state. Holding a great historical pieces and stories, St. Augustine has been famous because of it being the state that one had never successfully been conquered before.

Being the city in the northeastern part of Florida, St. Augustine was made the county seat of St. John’s County in Florida. The town was first founded by Pedro Menendez in the year 1565 and later one, was continuously settled upon by European citizens.

The town is very rich when it comes to the history that it had. Having fought with many different attempts to colonize them, was burned and rebuilt several times, one can say that St. Augustine has been into many ups and downs making it have the most colorful history in the United States of America.

Other fun facts and trivia about St. Augustine will be of the following:

• St. Augustine was said to be the oldest and ancient city in the state of Florida.
• The people in the town are boasting about the mild climate that they experience all year round.
• Many golf courses are established in the area making it the hot spot of those golf lovers.
• Water sports are quite rampant in the area due to the perfect location that it was in. Swimmers and divers are the usual visitors of St. Augustine. There are also many beaches boasting it up to a 43 mile pristine.

They have several landmarks that are believed to be the seat of the history in the place. The landmark includes:

  

Castillo de San Marco

·         Castillo de San Marcos- the people in the town would always say that the Castillo de San Marcos National Monument was closely related to the city and other nearby towns’ structures that served as their defense from outer part of the state. This is made from lime stones that cannot be destroyed. It is mostly comprised by broken seashells and corals. The wall of this monument was never destroyed for 300 years now.

Lighter Museum

·         Lightner Museum- This is one of the most unique museums in the state. Among other museums, Lightner exhibits a wide variety of ruins from those of the shrunken heads up to the mummies of undeniable beauty being exhibited, stained glass and other crystals, mostly, the precious ones. It homes a lot of the historical pieces that the archeologists have found in search for the St. Augustine’s history.

Flagler College

·         Flagler College- named after Henry Flagler, the institution offers at least 20 majors and 26 minor courses in the whole 40 years of its existence.

Many tourists will surely enjoy their visit in St. Augustine, not only because of the beautiful beaches and hot spots, they are also be able to experience the warm welcome of the history that will be unveiled into their eyes once they visit the place.

Musical Tour Of St. Augustine, Florida

More and more people are eager to visit St. Augustine, so why not be one of them? Experience the best of St. Augustine, Florida’s sight and sceneries.

Florida Wind Mitigation Inspection

Recently, there have been so many changes in the weather condition that we are experiencing in the world. One of the greatest challenges that people from Florida are working out is the process of measuring the wind and insuring the homes of the people in the said area.

House For Wind Mitigation

The process of getting a wind mitigation inspection will help the house owners known that whatever disaster may come, their house will be insured to be rebuilt with a new one. It is the government of Florida’s way of helping their people during windstorms and other wind known disasters that might occur in their area. Sighting the house’s condition, the homeowners could get discounts and credits from the government letting them have all the full benefits that their town offers.

This wind mitigation inspection program in Florida checks the method of construction that will eventually make and create wind mitigation discounts and credits that the officials will based upon several methods that eventually will provide high protection from damages that can be caused by wind hurricane and windstorms.

Wind Mitigation Typical Construction Features

Most of the time, the inspection does not take longer and will only last up to a hour of inspecting the whole household. The savings that the homeowners could get will be in a form of check that will be directed from the house insurance company that will usually take 3-6 weeks to be claimed upon.

Only the Licensed Building Contractors or the Certified Architects of Florida will be able to conduct the wind mitigation inspections. In conducting this wind mitigation inspection, you are able to save a lot from the discounts and credits that you will be getting after the said house inspection. Every buyer must be very cautious when it comes to getting cheaper prices for the licensed professionals that will conduct the inspections.

It is a law in Florida that states that all the insurance companies are REQUIRED to offer every homeowner in Florida with discounts and credits that will help them in the process of rebuilding their homes whenever disasters like hurricanes and windstorms cause a big damage.

The discounts for wind mitigation are applied to a windstorm portion of one’s total premium insurance for the household. This will actually depend on what area of Florida you are living in. This windstorm portion will be about 15% -70% of the total premium that one can get.

Wind Mitigation Instruction

With regard to the location of your house, the discounted rates for wind insurances must be adjusted in accordance to the location of the property that is located on within the state of Florida. Discounts can also be determined with the use of the value of purchase for your house- the higher the cost of your home, the bigger the discount that you will be getting.

Those people who have high wind resistive houses will have lower windstorm losses. The lower the wind storm loss will entitle to a reduced cost for the insurance companies and will therefore be passed on to the homeowners.

History of the city of St. Augustine, Florida

View of St. Augustine from the top of the lighthouse on Anastasia Island

The city of St. Augustine in Florida is said to be the oldest and unconquered city in the United States. Don Juan Ponce de Leon first sighted the Northern mainland of America on Easter dated back in the 27^th of March year 1513. He was the one who claimed this part of America for Spain and named it “La Florida” meaning the Land of Flowers. There were several attempts of Spain to conquer the land during the year 1513 up until 1563 but all failed. Some French built a colony somewhere in St. John’s River in the year 1564 scaring away all Spaniards.

Archeologists have searched for more digs that will give them the ruins that can tell further history of St. Augustine’s city. Barely enough, they have seen some factual ruins at the Fountain of Youth where in stories tell that an Indian village called Seloy was first located marking the beginning of St. Augustine city.

Europe had their way of manipulating over the city, but like what happened to the Spanish colonizers, their attempts were all failed. An English corsair named Sir Francis Drake burnt down the town after attacking the people living in there in the year 1586. After several years later, in 1668, Captain John Davis has ambushed the town leaving 60 people in that town dead. But because of the bravery and perseverance of the people living in the town, St. Augustine has survived all of the trials that they have experienced under the Europeans.

The feast day of St. Augustine dated August 28, 1565, was the same day when Menendez have arrived off the coast of Florida. They forced in making the town named St. Augustine. Menendez was tasked by King Charles of Spain to capture Jean Alfonse who was named as one of the French corsair at that time. After killing Alfonse, the king positioned him to become the chief head in charge of the Casa de Contratacion. He further excelled in briberies of other nations and thus excelling in the many fleets that he had against the French people.

After several year later, Menendez disrespected the Casa causing him to be exiled and put into prison. Menendez was freed after 20 months where in he received an order from King Phillip to journey for Florida. This does not make a new improvement in the way they treat St. Augustine’s city.

Long after, the locals of St. Augustine were able to regain their town out from the attempts of conquering from many other colonizers like the Spaniards and Europeans. There had been many other attempts of conquering but St. Augustine, Florida did not made it very difficult in regaining their glory and defeating those attempts to stabilize their territory in their place.

The bravery and courage of the local settlers in the town made a great way to see that they could stand alone in building back their ruined town. It was their own way of protecting their selves in doing a great favor for their town.


For further information, check out this cool video about St. Agustine, Florida!