| Florida's Cultural West Coast Tampa to Ochopee, Florida Florida's squeaky white-sand beaches, the Gulf of Mexico, and abundant sunshine attract vacationers yearround. More than just warm weather entices travelers to the Sunshine State, though. A host of cultural attractions sparkles along the state's west coast. Use our route planner to find hotels for your next trip. |  |  | ||||||||
BEST OF THE ROAD:
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| Ybor City State Museum 1818 E 9th Ave Ybor City, FL 33605  |  | Tampa's Ybor City once teemed with Cuban immigrants who hand-rolled cigars. The vestiges of this heritage can be explored at Ybor City State Museum, where one of the old hands demonstrates the trade Thursdays through Saturdays. The complex includes a typical worker's "shotgun" house, named for its long, narrow floorplan. | | |||||||
| Columbia Restaurant 2117 E 7th Ave Tampa, FL 33605 |  | Columbia Restaurant, just a short walk from the museum, has served hungry diners since 1905. Expanded many times since then, the restaurant now encompasses 18 dining rooms, features flamenco shows Monday-Saturday, and still serves a tasty Spanish bean soup. An insider's tip: Ask for a tour during weekday lunch hours by their ambassador, Joe Roman, who retired in 2002 after 48 years as a waiter here. The tour is free and gives a fascinating background on the restaurant's history. | | |||||||
| Tampa Theater 711 N Franklin St Tampa, FL 33602 | | Another Tampa must-see: the Tampa Theater, an opulent former movie palace open for theater, music, and other events throughout the year. | | |||||||
| St. Nicholas Boat Line 693 Dodecanese Blvd Tarpon Springs, FL 34689 | |  "In Tarpon Springs you can go to Greece without a passport," says George Billirus, the man known as the grandfather of Tarpon Springs and the owner of St. Nicholas Boat Line. "Everything here is real. It's a way of life." Billirus is talking about the sponge docks area of the city, where 125 gift shops, 25 restaurants, and a handful of pastry shops cluster around Dodecanese Boulevard. | ||||||||
| Taste of Greece Bakery 709 Dodecanese Blvd Tarpon Springs, FL 34689 | | The large selection of pastries at Taste of Greece Bakery range from sweet Greekstyle doughnuts called loukoumades to honeysoaked baklava. | ||||||||
| National Bakery 451 Athens St Tarpon Springs, FL 34689 | | A smaller shop nearby Taste of Greece Bakery, National Bakery, has been making koulouraki cookies and other treats since 1925. | ||||||||
| St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral 17 E Tarpon Ave Tarpon Springs, FL 34689 | | St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral, in the town proper, was modeled after St. Sophia's in Istanbul. Warning: the painted domed ceiling causes jaws to drop. | ||||||||
| Ca d'Zan 5401 Bay Shore Rd Sarasota, FL 34243 | | Circus magnate John Ringling and his wife Mable built Ca d'Zan, a magnificent Venetian Gothic mansion on Sarasota's bayfront in the 1920s. Donated to the state in 1936, it had fallen into disrepair by the 1990s, with weeds popping up through the marble terrace. A $15-million restoration from 1996 to 2002 brought back the glory. The best way to see this 32-room, 15-bathroom home aglitter with gilt is via the Private Places tour, when only seven guests at a time tour upstairs. Check out the Sienna marble tub in Mr. Ringling's bathroom, close-up views of the living room's painted pecky cypress ceiling, and circus-themed game room. The Ringling Museum of Art, Circus Museum, Original Asolo Theater, and gardens complete the estate. | ||||||||
| Philharmonic Center Cultural Complex 5833 Pelican Bay Blvd Naples, FL 34108 | | Naples has always attracted wealthy retirees and major benefactors. But when Myra Janco Daniels started cold-calling local residents in the early 1980s, even she was amazed at the money she could raise to start a philharmonic orchestra and art museum. The very doors to the Philharmonic Center Cultural Complex, a magnificent 16-foot-high artistic work of steel and bronze by Albert Paley, reflect the community's opulence. Check out regular, high-quality musical programs in the winter season, the Dale Chihuly three-story chandelier in the art gallery atrium, and the Chihuly glass ceiling in the 15-gallery art museum. | ||||||||
| Ochopee Post Office 38000 Tamiami Trail E Ochopee, FL 34141 | | Two driving routes plunge into the "river of grass," the Everglades. OneI-75, also known as Alligator Alleyleads to Fort Lauderdale. The smaller road, US 41, allows for more pullouts to take photos and heads right past the United States' smallest post office in Ochopee. You can mail a postcard and snap a picture, then head to Big Cypress National Preserve. | ||||||||
| Big Cypress National Preserve 33100 Tamiami Trail East Ochopee, FL 34141 Call (239) 695-2000 | | In Big Cypress National Preserve, rounded cypress domes mushroom up from otherwise flat expanses of marsh and prairie. Ibises stalk pools teeming with tasty fish. Alligator snouts break the surface of tranquil water. Big Cypress preserves these scenes intact but more importantly, it helps ensure the integrity of the Everglades watershed. In 1928 the Tamiami Trail between Miami and Tampa opened, enabling easy human access to this vast wilderness. Lumber, oil, citrus groves and sugarcane all danced before developers' eyes. Soon most of the enormous bald cypress trees, some over 600 years old, had been logged out and much swampy area had been drained. The Everglades, which depend on a constant influx of freshwater, suffered from the slow destruction of its watershed, prompting the park service to set aside 720,000 acres in 1974 and call it Big Cypress. Today, visitors hike or drive through a landscape that alternates from swamp to pine stands to hardwood hammocks to dry prairie in a tangle of variety unique to the southern tip of Florida. | ||||||||
| Big Cypress Gallery 52388 Tamiami Trail Ochopee, FL 34141 | | Keep to the road, but don't miss the sign for Big Cypress Gallery, a pearl of a place, nestled in an oyster of cypress tress. Clyde Butcher's black-and-white photography of Florida hangs here at his studio and home. Clouds wisp through images as large as 5 feet x 8 feet. Clyde's wife, Nikki, who also is a photographer and artist, explains how Clyde revealed the landscapes of the state, not just birds and alligators. "To live in the middle of a national park with 11,000 acres of wilderness and have our home and gallery here is a gift from God," she says. A visit may yield Butcher's latest works before the photos go on tour. | ||||||||
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Florida's Cultural West Coast