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We were less than an hour from our final destination (Miami Beach) when we set out this morning, so we decided to find our hotel early and then head over to Homestead for the day to visit the Coral Castle. When we found the hotel (the Beach Place Hotel, located in North Miami Beach), our room had already been cleaned so we were able to check in two hours early. We settled in, dropped off our luggage and hit the highway to Homestead. It was about an hour away and also our first run in with Florida traffic since we've been here. There are also an abundance of toll roads between here and there. It was $2.25 in tolls from here to there, and another $3.50 to get back. The highways here seem to be quite well maintained however, so I guess our money is being well spent!
We got to Coral Castle at about 3pm. It's a small place, but definitely worth the trip. Constructed between 1920 and 1940, Coral Castle was built by Ed Leedskalnin as a monument to his lost love Agnes. Ed and Agnes, both from Latvia, had been engaged to be married. However, Agnes (who
was 10 years younger than Ed) canceled the day before the wedding. Devastated, Ed set out to win his true love back by buiding her this coral tribute. Using over 1,100 tons of coral rock, Ed built the entire monument single-handedly and without any large machinery. The most amazing part was that Ed stood only 5 feet tall and weighed about 100 pounds. As you can see in the photos, this was quite an amazing feat! If you're interested, you can read more about Ed and the Coral Castle
HERE .
After touring the castle, we headed back to our hotel in Miami Beach. By this time we were absolutely starving and headed out on foot to find dinner. We walked south about 15 blocks along the main road and came across a decent looking place called Manolo's. We split a cheese pizza and then headed back out to explore the area a bit. There were several Paramount Pictures movie trucks parked along the street so Chris asked one of the guys what they were filming. The guy said that they're filming the movie "Confessions of a Shopaholic" (starring Isla Fisher and Hugh Dancy). We didn't see anyone or anything
Coral Castle
Entrance to Coral Castle...you can still see the original admission price sign (10 cents...today admission is $9.75)interesting though... maybe tomorrow. On the way back we stopped at a place called The Sandbar and had a beer before heading back to the hotel again.
Tomorrow we're leaving the car at the hotel and walking/busing it to South Beach for the day!
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Interesting
The castle definitely looked fascinating. Also looks like you are having great weather. By the way, we don't think your vehicle is ugly...