Field Trip!

Yesterday, Tim and I took a tour of Ybor City.  This little jewel in the Tampa area is approximately one square mile of brick streets and fascinating history where cigar smoke is soaked into the lintels of all the old buildings and Cuban Sandwiches are on the menu.  At one time this little town was the cigar capital of the world with over 200 cigar factories employing thousands of workers.  All gone now of course and while the history still lingers, in it's place we found a plethora of restaurants, bars, tattoo shops and a giant Church of Scientology.  Still the historic architecture primarily reminded us of the French Quarter of New Orleans which is so very charming and the history of the town is colourful. There was a barbeque restaurant nearby that smelled incredible and some day we will return to eat there.  One of my favourite bits of information:  There is a little gated park in Ybor City and once within those gates, visitors are technically in Cuba.  When the original owners of that land died, they willed it to Cuba. Yes, Cuba inherited that tiny little park.  So Tim and I were, technically in Cuba in the photo below.  No passport required.