Tarpon Springs 2012
Bushnell, FL - Events of Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2012
You will notice a new feature in this blog post - captions for the photographs. The ability to add photo captions was just introduced by Typepad, the host of our blog. It is still in the beta stage (meaning it may still have some bugs and inconsistencies), but we decided to try it out. We hope you like the new captions.
Tarpon Springs is one of our favorite places in Florida. It is located along the Anclote River a few miles upstream from the Gulf of Mexico, and it is only about an hour away from where we spend the winter in Bushnell. We always make a point of going to Tarpon Springs at least once while we're in Bushnell, because we love the quaint atmosphere, the interesting shops and the delicious Greek food.
This year, we went to Tarpon Springs with our friends from Pittsburgh, Pat and Mike. This is their first year of full-timing and their first winter in Florida, and they have never been to Tarpon Springs.
Tarpon Springs was originally a location for winter homes back in the 1870s, but when the sponges began to be harvested from the Gulf of Mexico in the 1880s, sponge divers from Greece were recruited to help bring in the bounty. The industry thrived into the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. The waterfront has several historic boats with sponges festooned around the decks just like it would have been back in the day.
In 1947, a red algae bloom all but wiped out the sponge beds in the area, and many of the sponge boats switched to fishing or shrimping. Today, commercial fishing boats dock across the river.
The sponge beds have recovered, and there is still some commercial sponge diving going on, but man-made sponges and things like paper towels and micro fiber cloths have largely replaced natural sponges. Tourism is now the primary industry for Tarpon Springs. The quaint shops and Greek restaurants of Tarpon Springs draw visitors from all over.
Many of the shops specialize in sponges. We stopped to look at a few.
The morning started out cloudy, but it cleared up by the time we got to Tarpon Springs. Since it turned out to be such a nice, sunny morning, there were quite a few shoppers on Docecanese Blvd., which is the main street along the waterfront.
We usually walk to the Sponge Factory at the eastern end of Dodecanese Blvd.
The Sponge Factory has a good movie that gives a history of the sponge industry in Florida. This year, they have updated the movie and added some more recent footage.
The Sponge Factory also has nice displays of Greek-themed gift items that includes olive oil lotions and soaps and also nautical and marine items such as starfish and seashells.
Since we planned to be gone most of the day, we took Freeway with us. He got to tour all over Tarpon Springs in his carrier mounted on the shopping cart we bought about a month ago at the RV show. Paul and Freeway took a little break to watch the world go by from a bench outside the Sponge Factory.
The Sponge Exchange is a collection of shops and restaurants located toward the western end of Dodecanese Blvd. where the sponge clearinghouse used to be. We stopped there after leaving the Sponge Factory.
By the time we walked to the Sponge Factory and back and then visited the Sponge Exchange, it was almost 1:00 PM. We were all hungry, so we headed down Athens St. to Costa's where we like to have lunch. Tarpon Springs is a pet-friendly community, and we were able to take Freeway into the restaurant in his canvas carrier. He was a good boy and just napped most of the time.
Like most of the restaurants in Tarpon Springs, Costa's specializes in Greek cuisine. We ordered a flaming cheese appetizer called saganaki. A slab of cheese is placed on a little iron skillet (like the kind they use for fajitas in Mexican restaurants) and put under the broiler. When the cheese is all bubbly, they bring it to your table, douse it with brandy, set it on fire and serve it to shouts of "Opa!" Opa is a Greek exclamation that seems to mean about the same thing as "hooray" or "yeehaw." The cheese is melted inside and has a toasted, crunchy crust outside. Yum!
We all ordered gyros (pronounced YEE-ros) and Greek salad. We also enjoyed baklava for dessert. As usual, the food was excellent as was the company.
After lunch, we let Freeway stretch his legs along the sidewalk near the restaurant before heading back to Bushnell.
Freeway is really doing well on walks as long as you keep moving briskly. As soon as you slow down, he thinks it's OK for him to stop altogether. Once he stops, he wants to pick up in his mouth anything that is lying around - cigarette butts, stones, sticks, chewing gum, leaves, you name it. As we mentioned in our last post, we are looking forward to having him learn the "leave it" command in our next puppy class.
Back at Blueberry Hill, we took a few days to relax. Look for our next post to see what we found to do next.
I really like the photo caption feature. I like the way it italicizes the words. I might have to borrow this feature.
It sounds like the four of you had a wonderful time. I enjoyed reading about the Sponge Factory. What a cool place to visit.
I WANT that cheese...soaked in Brandy...bring it on!!!
Freeway is becoming such a little man. Still a cutie!
Posted by: Marsha | February 21, 2012 at 07:39 PM
I didn't know pets were welcome inside in Tarpon Springs. Kozmo will be happy when we make our next trip to Tarpon Springs. We love gyros-you've convinced us-it is time for a trip there.
Posted by: jeff & Barbie | February 22, 2012 at 01:43 PM