-I'm in a city where wandering is encouraged and time meant to be savored, a historic powerhouse of a destination where local events not only shaped it, but an entire country.

It's a city of firsts and also what's next with a food scene that is immersive and thoroughly enjoyed.

And speaking of joy, with protected wetlands, estuaries, and miles of beautiful beaches to explore, there's a lot to sink your teeth into.

How did you find that?

-I looked in the ground.

-I'm in St. Augustine, Florida.

[ Upbeat tune plays ] I'm Samantha Brown, and I've traveled all over this world.

And I'm always looking to find the destinations, the experiences, and, most importantly, the people who make us feel like we're really a part of a place.

That's why I have a love of travel and why these are my places to love.

Samantha Brown's "Places to Love" is made possible by... ♪ ♪ ♪ -The world is full of breathtaking destinations and experiences.

AAA wants to help turn vacation dreams into reality.

Wherever you want to go, AAA has services to help you before, during, and after your trip.

Learn more at AAA.com/LIVETV.

-The endless deserts, canyons, and stunning vistas between Denver and Moab deserve to be traveled.

Rocky Mountaineer.

Proud sponsor of "Places to Love."

-Exploring the world for over 150 years.

Guests cruise to nearly 400 ports of call around the globe, exploring over 100 countries.

Live music at sea fills each evening.

Dining venues feature selections from a Culinary Council of chefs.

Offering mid-sized ship experiences with handcrafted itineraries, personal service, and connections to the destinations guests visit.

-I'm beginning my trip in St. Augustine by enjoying what people love it for, the water, and I'm getting out there with a unique tour that is the only one of its kind in this city.

A lot of people coming to Florida, especially here, want to go out for a lovely boat ride.

How are you not that?

Like, what don't you do?

-You won't find us doing booze cruises or playing loud music, that sort of thing.

-Mm-hmm.

Getting too close to the dolphins, feeding them.

-Exactly.

Right.

The feeding and the approaching is totally illegal but hard to enforce.

-Mm-hmm.

-I'm Zach McKenna.

I'm the owner and founder of St. Augustine Eco Tours.

-And so what we're about to enjoy is something that you're trying to protect because everyone wants to be here experiencing this, right?

-Absolutely, yeah, The part that brings people here when it gets overwhelmed with even recreational users, you know, you can love it to death, so we're here as the ambassadors to tell the story.

-And where are we headed to now?

-I'm taking you to a protected island known as Julia's Island.

-This used to be called Bird Island, but in honor of Zach's advocacy, the biologist named it after his daughter Julia.

-And we have three really special species of bird that nest there -- the American oyster catcher, which is amazing because they can open a closed oyster with their bill.

-Mm-hmm.

-The real special one, because they're heavily threatened right now, is the least tern.

-The least tern.

-Because it's the smallest, the least.

And then we have another real special bird called the Wilson's Plover.

Pair bonding and eating all at once.

-Beautiful bird right there.

-The great blue heron.

That's a success story.

They were almost extinct.

Harvested for feathers in the late 1800s to make hats.

-That's right.

Feathers for her cap, right?

-Nailed it.

-Wow.

Zach's trips serve a double benefit.

One, you're on a boat enjoying the environment and, two, your support goes to further protect that environment.

-Here comes the Spanish fort on our right.

-Are they going to fire on us?

-I hope not.

-I just see -- now, tourists with cannons.

I just don't trust it.

[ Both chuckle ] -It is the oldest masonry fortification in the continental United States.

It is one of only two fortifications in the entire world made out of coquina stone.

And it's one of the only examples of Spanish colonial fortification style in North America.

I'm Jill Leverett.

I'm a U.S. park ranger at Castillo de San Marcos National Monument.

I've been a ranger for almost 15 years now and actually started my career here as a volunteer when I was a student at Flagler College.

-I tell you, Jill, it's not every day in America that you get to walk across a moat on a drawbridge.

-Yep.

[ Chuckles ] -Right?

This is a very rare thing here for our country.

-Yes.

That is one of the things that makes the Castillo unique, one of the reasons why it became a national monument.

The Spanish history.

The fact that it's almost a medieval-style, more a Renaissance-era-style fort, very European-style in the United States.

Florida was a Spanish colony, and even though it did later become a British colony, it was not one of the 13 that became the original United States.

1702 is the first major attack on St. Augustine and the Castillo.

Not long after it's built... -Mm-hmm.

-...the English attacked from Charleston, and the entire population of St. Augustine, a little over 1,500 soldiers and civilians, packed up and moved inside the fort, and they were here for 51 days.

-This is a part of American history that's, really, not taught.

And that's why we're all here, is to really understand a different perspective of history.

And one of the most fascinating for me is that people who were enslaved, if they escaped, if they got here, the Spanish -- Spain would grant them freedom.

-Yes.

As early as the 1690s, the king of Spain had declared that if enslaved people in English colonies specifically made it to Spanish territory as long as they became Catholic, swore loyalty to the King of Spain, and the men help to defend their new home by, say, joining the troops or local militia, they could be free Spanish citizens because they knew that if St. Augustine fell, if the Spanish were defeated and kicked out of Florida, they would be re-enslaved in English colonies.

-So this fort goes back and forth between the Spanish and the British for some time, but then eventually it becomes a U.S. territory.

All of Florida does.

So does the purpose of the fort change at that point?

-At first, the US Army uses it a lot like the Spanish had, as a military storage facility.

-Okay, that's not exciting.

-Yeah.

Well, a few times they also used it as a prison.

So, in 1837, the Army brought Osceola and about 200 other Seminole Indians here.

They were held as P.O.W.s for about two months during the second Seminole War.

They were kept in some of the rooms down in the southwest corner of the fort.

-Mm-hmm.

-And then later, in the 1870s, the Army brought about 74 prisoners from 5 different Plains nations here as punishment for their involvement in the various conflicts between their nations and the U.S. Army out west, as the United States was expanding westward.

-It's incredible.

Everyone coming to St. Augustine in present day comes to this fort to absorb the history, and we have no idea the history lesson we're about to get, right?

-And that's why this place is here.

That's why it's a national monument.

-If there's one building that really represents Florida becoming the vacation Mecca that we all know it is, it is this one right here.

-Absolutely.

And Henry Flagler would be very proud of that.

This was the Hotel Ponce de Leon, the most luxurious resort in the world.

It was also the most modern.

Thomas Edison did the power plant with more than 4,000 electric lights.

Louis Comfort Tiffany, at the beginning of his stained-glass-making career, this was one of his first projects, and there are 79 Tiffany stained-glass windows, the largest collection in the world, in their original location.

-So it's a national historic landmark, not only for what it is, but who came here to make it what it was.

-Yes, absolutely.

Yes.

-Guests would have checked into one of America's first luxury resorts here in this soaring rotunda.

This was the Gilded Age and 18- and 24-karat gold leaf was the preferred color.

Four original murals depict adventure, discovery, conquest, and civilization.

And this exceptionally civilized room is the dining hall.

One could only imagine the opulent feasts enjoyed at the hotel.

But, today... What'd you get?

Oh, pizza and a cookie.

Nice.

It's Pizza Friday, and there is no dress code.

In 1967, the hotel had its last season, threw a grand farewell party here, and transitioned the luxury hotel into what is arguably the most beautifully appointed college in the United States.

If you go anywhere in Florida, especially along the coast, you really hear about Henry Flagler.

He just, literally, again, changed the dynamics of Florida, its economics.

Why did he choose St. Augustine to be the first place that he really developed?

-Because it was the first place.

The oldest city in the United States.

The South had been very much left out of railroad building.

Transcontinental railroad is already over, linking California, so this was the last frontier, and that is what he joined with 10 other men to develop, was Florida.

-Are you going to eat your pizza?

I'm kind of hungry.

-Yeah, I think I might.

-[ Laughs ] Pizza by the slice in no way represents St. Augustine's food scene.

In fact, this city's culinary offerings can be described as deliciously game changing and historic.

And that's just for one restaurant.

-I am from Peru, and I started cooking when I was 8.

By the age of 16, I told myself I needed to have a restaurant by the age of 27.

And I did.

I am Marcel Vizcarra, and I'm the chef and owner of Llama Restaurant.

-Marcel's menu combines both the love and nostalgia of his home.

There's the traditional ceviche inspired by the city of Lima with fish, sweet potato, corn and spicy peppers.

But his favorite is the marinated beef hearts served impressively so you get to experience one of Marcel's favorite youthful memories.

-I remember being a kid, going partying, and coming out of the club and this lineup of ladies just cooking on straight charcoal in this smoke hits your face, and it's just a whole thing.

And we like to use our hands to eat this.

You know, we tell people just, like, use your hands, get dirty, enjoy it.

-So you, with opening up Llama, you really wanted to create something that people in St. Augustine and I dare say Florida and maybe the whole East Coast have never really experienced.

-Yes, I wanted to bring something different.

When I moved into St. Augustine, I saw there was a very limited menu in the city, and when I wanted to open the restaurant, there were a few people that discouraged me to do it.

-They did?

They discouraged you?

-Yeah, they did.

Yeah, they told me people will be, like, scared of it and, like, they won't come in.

It's too adventurous.

It's too out there.

-I mean, these are beef hearts.

-And octopus.

-Okay.

[ Laughs ] That octopus is a carpaccio featuring an olive aioli, an influence of the Italians who brought native produce into Peru.

Marcel trained at Le Cordon Bleu in Lima, but his biggest influence is his mom, who is part of his team in the kitchen.

-She was a frustrated chef.

-She was a frustrated chef?

-Yeah, she keeps trying to make the things that I have here better, as well.

-It's interesting.

Are there any similarities you see between St. Augustine and Peru?

Like, I'm thinking, okay, you have these places that obviously had their own native inhabitants.

Then you had Spanish empires come, right?

Then you had more Europeans come.

-It's very similar.

It does remind me of Peru.

Indeed, downtown St. Augustine is very similar to Cusco.

with the cobblestones and Spanish names and all that influence.

It's a beautiful city.

It's a beautiful community.

-St. Augustine is a walking city with narrow roads that still reflect the city's original Spanish colonial plan.

And just about everywhere you turn, you'll find firsts and oldests like the Cathedral Basilica, home to the first Catholic parish in North America, from 1565, and the Plaza de la Constitución, the oldest public space in America.

Sure, there are very busy touristed streets, but it's easy to slip away and discover a more quiet side of town.

You know, you'll be walking down a street, past buildings, and you'll never know the history of some of these places, but when you do, the history you find out about is absolutely amazing, and that's what your photography and this exhibit is really about.

-Yes, and Lincolnville was the first community and first incorporated community for freed slaves.

Fast forward into the 1960s, many of the civil rights protests and planning sessions started in Lincolnville.

So much happened here.

A lot of these protests greatly affected the passage of the Civil Rights Act.

I'm Lenny Foster, a fine art photographer, and I love taking pictures.

From the very first roll of film I shot in 1991 until two days ago, the feeling is still the same.

-Lenny was the first Black artist to have an exhibition of work shown in the rotunda of the St. Johns County Administration Building, 43 photographs in a project called "Where We Stand."

Looking at your photos, I just see 6 of the 43 right here.

But all of them, you've incorporated shoes.

How are shoes used as a vehicle to tell your story?

-Well, we know what happens when you can imagine yourself in someone else's shoes.

-Yeah.

-There's a little bit more understanding.

May even create a little bit more dialog.

These shoes represent Dr. King walking down Washington Avenue in front of St. Mary's Church with a bunch of young people on the way to protest at the plaza.

This is the first image of the series.

This is taken at the slave market in the center of town in the plaza, where enslaved people were sold starting in the 1700s.

-Mm-hmm.

-I originally had these slave shackles that my sister had brought back from West Africa, and I placed them on the bricks in the slave market, and I photographed them.

I said, "You know, actually, what I need are feet."

So I approached this one man and asked him if I could take a picture of his feet.

[ Chuckles ] He backed off a couple of steps.

[ Both laugh ] Then I told him what I was up to.

So I took him to the plaza with the shackles, and I photographed what I think is a very powerful piece, because this is an area where some Africans has first stood on this continent.

And then that kind of started me on this journey where I thought, "Well, I want to tell more stories -- where we stood, where we walked here as a people."

And so we go from that to the first settlement for freed Africans, Fort Mose, three miles outside of town.

It was the destination point for many coming from Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina.

Fort Mose recently got a $1.2 million grant to rebuild the fort as it was back in the mid 1700s.

I knew none of this before I got to St. Augustine.

-What's really fascinating to me is if I look at all of your pictures, they're of everyday places, they're of everyday items, and places that, you know, I'm sure, a lot of people here pass every single day, and what you do is make sure that this -- people understand that even everyday history has power.

-That is my hope with the exhibition, that people can come to both an awareness and understanding what happened then and and maybe what's happening now.

And with the shoes.

The shoe, I think, is a wonderful vehicle for storytelling because you can imagine yourself in these seats or you can imagine yourself as a witness of what's going on here.

It's easy, if you see an image, for you to step into that image.

♪ -The beaches of St. Augustine are absolutely gorgeous.

-Ah, this is beautiful, guys.

-It's a perfect day.

-We've got everything from dunes to long stretches that go out 100 yards into the shallows, sandbars, we've got coquina beaches full of shark teeth and large shells to white-sugar sand.

You can't compare it.

I'm Rob Taylor, the founder of 2TravelDads, the original LGBTQ family travel blog, and I started it with my husband, Chris, back in 2014, and our goal with it is to share the travel that we have with our kids with the world, and for other families like ours, or for those who might want to have a family like ours.

-Okay, so I have never in my life found a shark tooth, and I actually reached out to your dad and said, "I'd like to go to a beach where I can find shark teeth because that's so cool to me."

And you know the ways.

Elliott, what do you look for when you're looking for shark teeth?

What should I do?

-So you should find something black or white, like this.

-Okay, yes.

-Dad!

I just found a really good one.

-Oh, look at that.

-Whoa.

-Whoa.

Okay, now, that's a tooth.

-That's a sand tiger shark tooth.

-These are all still really cool.

-You know, the type, the species of shark?

Oh, my gosh.

I'm so out of my element here.

-Yeah, I got to tattoo, just to match it up, yeah.

-Which one is this?

-This is a sand tiger.

-Okay.

-And you can tell because it goes long and then it has little bumps on the edges of it.

-That's really cool.

-Alright, because I want to try to find my own.

-Or I can help you.

-You will?

-Yes, follow me.

-Thank you.

The lack of crowds and any development whatsoever may have you wondering where exactly in St. Augustine we are.

It has a name, but good luck remembering it.

-This beach is part of the Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve.

-Wow.

-Can I say that again?

-You married well, Chris.

You married well.

One thing I've always really appreciated about your travel perspective is that you really use travel as a tool to educate.

There isn't an opportunity you don't waste on educating your children through.

-When you find stuff, you have to learn about it.

-Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, that's what's really beautiful about following you on social media is that it's all just sort of blissfully normal.

But there are challenges, clearly.

-Oh, yeah, they're still kids.

-We face it sometimes, and that's something that -- it's becoming more and more rare that we come across either places or people that make us feel different or less than.

-Mm-hmm.

-And I love that.

-For folks out there who don't see, like a family with, like, kids and, like, two dads or, like, others who have two moms, like, for us, you know, it's for people to see that it's normal, and we're not different than any other family, you know, other than the fact that the parents are two dads.

-Yeah.

♪ ♪ -Right behind these unassuming warehouse buildings is a weekly barbecue extravaganza called Urban Asado.

It's a three-hour event where guests have the chance to mingle, enjoy unique cocktails, and watch a rotating collective of local chefs show off their own grilled specialties.

But the centerpiece is the giant bone-in ribeye steak called a tomahawk, which Urban Asado's owner Nick Carrera is preparing according to techniques from his native Argentina.

It's interesting to me because we are in Florida, which is a part of, you know, Southern America, and, you know, the South has its own form of barbecue.

This is very different from that.

-Yeah, specifically, "asado" means barbecue, and it's both, like, the act of barbecuing and it's the event of barbecuing.

But we primarily do everything with wood.

So what we're doing right now, this beautiful wall of just awesome.

-This is like -- this is like Christmas right here.

-Yeah, it's -- -This is, like -- these are decorations and ornaments.

They're so beautiful.

-It really is like Christmas year-round when we do this, but it's -- it's not just for, like -- like for show.

What we're actually doing is tempering the tomahawks.

We want to bring the temperature basically similar throughout.

So that's the heart of an asado is you're not rushing it.

It's something like this can't be rushed.

It's a process.

How long do the tomahawk steaks have to smoke like this in the fish before you bring them over to the grill?

-It's about 4 hours.

-Oh, my gosh.

Oh, my God.

-Yeah, it's a process.

-This is a life.

This particular week, one of the chefs was Marcel, making pork-belly sliders.

Meanwhile, I lent to hand to Head Chef Matt Brown, making the house chimichurri sauce, which really does taste different when you're not using a food processor.

You've been a part of Urban Asado from the beginning, right?

How have you enjoyed seeing it just sort of blossom and really become a part of St. Augustine and its local culture?

-Yeah, it's been an amazing evolution.

I mean, I think I did the first event with Nick Carrera about seven years ago at a cooking demonstration at a farm, and I don't think we could have ever imagined that it would have gotten to this point.

Really wanted this to be sort of a half-theater, half-food.

So this is -- -Oh-ho-ho-ho-ho.

-These are Argentinean red shrimp.

We top that with the salsa criolla.

-And is that the sausage?

-So this is our seafood sausage.

-Oh, I see what that is.

It's a cuttlefish.

-Yeah, exactly.

That's about 70% lobster.

A little bit of ground shrimp in there.

Sherry, spices, chili peppers.

-I honestly thought I was just coming here to get grilled fish.

-Yeah.

-♪ In the pale blue sea ♪ -By the time the main courses arrived, everyone's gotten the chance to get to know each other a little better, whether they're total strangers or newfound friends.

-Oh, who's getting the fish?

-Does this have the chimichurri that you made?

-Yes.

-Oh, excellent.

-Here we are.

-Oh, my gosh.

-We heard about Urban Asado as it's this event you have to do.

-Mm-hmm.

-And the fact that it's actually, like, on the River Marina, it's this other side of St. Augustine.

-Exactly.

-It's the fishing side.

It's not the tourism boats.

It's the actual, like, working boats.

-Yes, this was a historic district for shrimping.

You know, both African-Americans and -- and other folks.

That's people that wouldn't get hired or couldn't get hired, got on boats because they could.

They bought their own boats.

And so shrimping has been going on for 100 years.

-Yeah, and still is, it seems like.

Those boats still look hardworking.

-They still go out.

-Yeah.

-This is St. Augustine, isn't it?

-Yeah.

Cheers.

-Let's drink to that one.

-Exactly that.

-Yeah.

This is my first visit here, but it won't be my last.

-St. Augustine is a great place to visit because there's a little bit of everything, and there's something for everyone, whether you're really into history or you're a fisherman or you want to go on a boat tour, a nature tour, whether you're looking for great restaurants or are looking for a place to go to college.

-There's more culture in St. Augustine than I could have ever imagined.

I discovered a history that I will explore for years.

-And you just never know what you're going to find wandering through the historic areas of downtown.

-You've got this natural environment that is unique and -- and amazing, and then you've got some of the oldest European history in the country within a mile of each other.

So these are the things that make St. Augustine great.

-And I love that it's right by the beach.

[ Chuckles ] -When a city inspires you to wander past history that is more than meets the eye, to meet people who live and share their passions, that is when we share a love of travel, and that's why St. Augustine, Florida, is a place to love.

-For more information about this and other episodes, destination guides, or links to follow me on social media, log on to placestolove.com.

Samantha Brown's "Places to Love" was made possible by... -Exploring the world for over 150 years.

Guests cruise to nearly 400 ports of call around the globe, exploring over 100 countries.

Live music at sea fills each evening.

Dining venues feature selections from a Culinary Council of chefs.

Offering mid-sized ship experiences with handcrafted itineraries, personal service, and connections to the destinations guests visit.

-The endless deserts, canyons, and stunning vistas between Denver and Moab deserve to be traveled.

Rocky Mountaineer.

Proud sponsor of "Places to Love."

-The world is full of breathtaking destinations and experiences.

AAA wants to help turn vacation dreams into reality.

Wherever you want to go, AAA has services to help you before, during, and after your trip.

Learn more at AAA.com/LIVETV.

♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪