Treasure Of The Gulf Coast

Set in a subtropical landscape, Sarasota is just 60 miles south of Tampa. Legend has it that Sarasota was named after the explorer Hernando de Soto’s daughter, Sara (hence, Sara-sota). In more recent times, the town's most famous resident was circus legend and visionary John Ringling. He built a bay-front mansion known as Cà d'Zan, erected a museum to house his world-class collection of paintings, and constructed the causeway out to St. Armands and Lido keys.

The area enjoys an average annual temperature of 75 degrees F (23º C). Sarasota's best-known feature is its powder white-sand beaches. Southwest Florida has the best beaches in the world (according to the Oceanographic Institute). Imagine 35 miles (56km) of sparkling white beaches that fringe a long chain of barrier islands called the Keys. Visitors can take the free Manatee trolley running along the island’s chain.

There are four distinct areas of Sarasota: downtown Sarasota, Lido Key, Longboat Key, and Siesta Key. Shielded from the Mexican Gulf by Lido Key, St. Armands has one of Florida’s most glamorous shopping and dining districts. Lido Key is a favorite destination for many European tourists.

To the south, Siesta Key is a quiet residential area popular with writers and artisans. Siesta Key Beach was rated one of the world's 10 prettiest beaches many years ago by Time magazine, and it is still very attractive (the sand here is like baby powder). Nokomis Beach on the southern tip of Siesta Key has been our favorite for many years. Every now and then, you may see a wedding on the public beach during the sunset, which looks very romantic. Stretching north to Bradenton, Longboat Key is one of Florida’s wealthiest islands (worth a ride to see a beautiful island with multimillion dollar homes, golf courses, timeshares, hotels, and restaurants).

Recreational options range from golf and tennis to water activities (like boat races) and professional sports. You have enough time to join in boating, golf, tennis, lawn bowling, water skiing, or something less challenging like shell collecting or bird watching.

There are plenty of accommodation choices in the area – you can rent a house or stay at one of the RCI resorts (there are 41 resorts within a 50-mile radius). But remember, it's difficult to get a timeshare unit on the West Coast, so take it when one becomes available.

Quick Tips:

Sarasota is the cultural capital of Florida, with gems like the magnificent Ringling Museum of Art, the very fine Asolo Center for the Performing Arts and the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall. Add to the list Florida West Coast Symphony, Key Chorale, Gloria Musicae, the Jazz Club of Sarasota, Sarasota Ballet of Florida, Sarasota Blues Society, Sarasota Opera Association, the Sarasota Concert Band, and two film festivals, and you will understand. In addition, vacationers can visit beautiful Mary Selby Botanical Gardens, Sarasota Jungle Gardens, amazing Mote Marine Laboratory, Spanish Point museum and more.

Enjoy discovering charming town of Venice (15 minutes away by car). Its historic district is filled with amazing Mediterranean Revival and Northern Italian buildings, fascinating antique stores, cozy restaurants and coffeehouses. You will enjoy local arts visiting a Community Theater, the Art Center, and the Symphony Orchestra. The Venice’s gorgeous beaches are also good for shell collecting and ancient sharks teeth hunting (the city’s nickname is the Shark Teeth Capital of the World). Our favorite beaches in Venice are Brohard, Caspersen, and North Jetty Park).

Visit the Warm Mineral Springs, the only mineral spring resort in Florida (28 miles from Sarasota).

Best Way To Get Around:

The closest airport in the area is the Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport, (SRQ) located about 15 miles north of Venice; it offers several major carriers and many quick connection routes. The Southwest Florida International airport (RSW) located approximately 70 miles southeast of North Port in Fort Myers. The St Petersburg/Clearwater International Airport (PIE) is located roughly 36 miles northwest between St Petersburg and Clearwater. Most likely, you will fly into the Tampa International Airport (TPA), located around 77 miles north of resort in Tampa. Rent a car (a convertible if possible) or take a shuttle bus from the airport. Local public transportation, called SCAT (Sarasota County Area Transit), links Sarasota with Venice and Warm Mineral Springs. For a day, rent a boat and enjoy the Inter-Coastal waterways.

The John and Mable Ringling Museum Of Art is my favorite museum in Florida. Actually, on the 77 acres of lushly landscaped grounds of the estate, you will find not one, but three museums – the Art Museum, the Circus Museum, and Ca d’Zan mansion (your $15 admission includes it all). Believe it or not, it is the largest museum complex in the nation.

Take a trip back in time as you stroll through 21 galleries of this world-class museum (allow 4 hours, at least). Housed in a pink U-shaped Italian Renaissance villa, Ringling Museum is filled with more than 500 years of European and American art. The collection contains now over 10,000 objects, including paintings, sculptures, and decorative arts objects. The Old Master collection (over 750 paintings) includes five world-renowned tapestry cartoons by Peter Paul Rubens – those are actually giant paintings, 14 by 19 feet. Visitors can see also paintings by Cranach, Poussin, Hals, Van Dyck, Pietro da Cortona , and others. You can easily spend a day exploring the treasures. The use of photography (cameras, video) is permitted without a flash indoors and freely outdoors.

A gallery of 91 antique Italian columns of various styles surrounds the courtyard. Some of the columns date from the 11th century. Inside the courtyard, you will find a sculpture garden (copies of the Greek and Roman gods and goddesses), with the West Galleries dominating one end of the courtyard. John Ringling hand-selected over 50 bronze sculptures, cast from originals in European museums such as the Vatican in Rome and the Louvre in Paris.

In the Circus Museum, you can watch the 45-minute television show about circus, costumes clowns, etc., and see some circus memorabilia, including parade wagons, costumes, calliopes, and colorful posters. But there are the wonderful estate grounds too, including the Rose garden and the Dwarf garden. And the view of the Sarasota Bay is breathtaking.

Museum open 7 days a week, 10am – 5:30pm; Estate grounds open until 6pm
Admission: Adults: $15
Seniors (65+): $12
Children 12 and under: Free with adult
Florida Students: Free with ID
Florida Teachers: Free with ID
Admission is free on Mondays to the Museum of Art only.
Admission to the Cà d’Zan public tour and Circus Museum is only $10 on Mondays.

The mansion is the part of the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art. We have been waiting for several years to visit the palace (it was closed for restoration). John was the youngest son of poor, hard-working immigrants. Ringling’s wealth was derived from a circus empire he built with his brothers in the beginning of the 20th century. The man behind the Greatest Show on Earth also built one of the most interesting palaces in the country. Reflecting Ringling’s love of Venice, Cà d'Zan was modeled after a Venetian palace (Cà d'Zan is Venetian dialect for "House of John"). To construct it, John Ringling imported materials from Italy, France and Spain. Built between 1924 and 1925, the Ringlings’ 32-room palazzo is filled with European art.

Cà d'Zan, built in the Venetian Gothic style (with some Renaissance and baroque elements) on the Gulf shore looks awesome! The view of front façade resembles the Doge’s palace in Venice.

Terra cotta balustrades enclose the huge marble terrace overlooking Sarasota Bay; I still remember the red barrel tiles on the roof. Inside the mansion, arched windows and other decorative details remind you that the palace was built in the Venetian Renaissance style. You will see the Steinway grand piano, the 17th-century Flemish and English tapestries, painting. John Ringling's bedroom furniture was crafted by Antoine Krieger, the finest furniture maker in Paris from the 1820s to 1850s, while Mable's was by Francois Linke, one of the most celebrated cabinetmakers of the 19th century.

Some furnishings were acquired from other estates, including those of the Astors and Goulds, and reflect Italian and French Renaissance influence and the styles of Louis XIV, XV and XVI of France. On the ballroom and playroom ceilings visitors can see several scenes in which the Ringlings appear in Venetian Carnival costumes.

On the estate grounds near the mansion stands the historic Asolo Theater. It was built in Scotland in the end if the 18th century as an opera house. Then the Baroque theater was moved to the Asolo Castle in Italy, hence the name. Eventually, the state of Florida purchased it and shipped across the Atlantic. The theater is used for special programs, such as lectures and films. Unfortunately Asolo Theater was closed during our visit. The Banyan Café comes handy after several hours spent in the estate (the banyan trees came here as a gift from Thomas Edison who had an estate nearby, in Fort Myers).

This area of Sarasota County was inhabited by the Native Americans who lived here millennia ago. Findings of the remains of prehistoric men at huge shell mounds, called middens, date early man to have lived, hunted, and fished thousands of years ago. South of Sarasota, at Warm Mineral Springs, 45 feet below the surface of the mineral-rich waters, the skull of a 10,000-year-old Paleo-Indian was found, representing one of the oldest finds of this type in this hemisphere.

Archaeologists have discovered remnants of early architecture and lifestyles in the shell mounds of the Calusa and Timucuan tribes, who settled the coastlines more than 2,500 years ago. The Timucuans inhabited the Sarasota Bay Coast for many years and then migrated northward; the Caloosas later moved into area around Sarasota and were headquartered around Charlotte Harbor.

First European, Ponce de Leon arrived in Florida on Easter Sunday in 1513, near present-day St. Augustine at the Atlantic Coast, christening his discovery "La Florida". It was in that same year that the legendary adventurer explored the tiny stretch of Anna Maria island a few miles north from the future Sarasota. As the legend goes, in 1539 Hernando de Soto came ashore near the mouth of the Manatee River.

Three hundreds years later, a log cabin stood on land that would eventually be fronted by the Tamiamy Trail, a highway linking Tampa to Miami. This cabin was the home in 1842 of William H. Whitaker, the first permanent white settler in what is today the city of Sarasota. Whitaker married Mary Jane Wyatt, daughter of Col. William Wyatt, in 1851. They raised a family that would include Furman Whitaker, who became the first area native to became a doctor, practicing from 1896 until shortly before his death in 1945. Sarasota also attracted attention from British developers, who helped establish the city of Sarasota in 1880s (The Spanish Point Museum depicting the lives of the settlers will help you to imagine how the life looked like then).

Later, in the 1920s, circus magnate John Ringling and his wife Mable made this unique area on Florida’s west coast their home and a trove for their legacy of art and architectural treasures.

Marie Selby Botanical Gardens is an place you should not miss. This open-air museum on the shores of Sarasota Bay occupies 10 acres and is said to be the only botanical garden in the world specializing in the preservation, study, and research of orchids. Botanical Gardens is home to more than 20,000 exotic plants, including more than 6,000 orchids. You will see some of them in the greenhouse. The gardens comprise several distinct areas including the Tropical Display House, Waterfall, Hibiscus, Tropical Food and Butterfly gardens, Bromeliad, Cycad and Cacti collections, Shoreline Restoration and the Banyan Grove. Spend some time in the Garden Museum (housed in the Payne Mansion). Explore the subtropical grounds, taking baywalk along the mangroves and huge banyan trees. Allow two to three hours to enjoy the gardens. Here, a philodendron greets visitors following the brick road, amaryllis grace the paths near shore, a forest of bamboo draws you down one of many garden paths, and orchids, of course, are everywhere. My favorite place? The pond with exotic Koi fish.

There are facilities for special events and a plant shop with orchids, bromeliads, ferns, and succulents (the orchids which we bought there bloom every year).

Open daily 10am–5pm. Adults $12, children 6 through 11, $6.

Using Sarasota as your base, explore the amazing county. I would recommend making a daytrip to Venice, a lovely seaside town 15 minutes away by car. Venice’s historic district is filled with amazing Mediterranean revival and Northern Italian-style buildings, charming antiques stores, and good restaurants. One of the best-known events in Venice is the annual Shark’s Tooth Festival. This colorful event, which celebrates the area's natural bounty of fossilized sharks’ teeth, is held every spring. The 13th Annual Sharks Tooth Festival will be celebrated April 8–10, 2005, at the beach near the Venice Pier. The festival features live entertainment, educational booths, fossil vendors of course, more than 100 artists from around the State, and great food! The festival showcases shark teeth, shark jaws, stingray spine fragments, stingray teeth, alligator teeth, sea biscuits and more. Local artisans sell homemade crafts, jewelry, and sea-related treasures. But if you can collect the teeth yourself combing a beach of your choice (it’s free and will keep you occupied). The teeth you are looking for are from sharks extinct for millions of years. Sharks which have died, sink to the Gulf of Mexico floor. Over time, the cartilage of their bodies disintegrated. Eventually some of the teeth were washed up on shore with tides. Combing these shores to look for the dark gems has always been a favorite pastime of visitors and residents here because these teeth make great collectibles. The teeth range in size from one eighth inch to three inches and may be black, brown, or gray, depending of type of minerals, deposits, and vegetation in the soil in which they have been buried. The locals claim that the Caspersen Beach is the place. To start your own collection, you have to take a walk along the shore and hopefully discover sharks' teeth, for which the beach earned national acclaim. Success is almost guaranteed.

The Springs is a sinkhole. But not a regular one, pretty common in Florida. It is a hour-glass-shaped, water-filled sinkhole. Warm Mineral Springs, around the sinkhole-lake, has been in operation as an international day spa since 1946.

From the spacious parking, you enter the resort’s lobby. From here you walk towards the lake. The picnic area is on your left followed by the drinking fountains. Yes you can drink the water too. I would not say that I enjoyed it but it was interesting to try. Next come the facility rooms (massage, homeopathic doctor etc) and café. In the café, they serve healthy Mediterranean cuisine (the café called the Springs café, of course). Finally, from the terrace, you see the Springs. Allow from 3 to 6 hours to enjoy it fully.

Surrounded by 84 acres, the 1.4-acre spring is 230 feet deep in its center, has a constant water temperature of 87 degrees Fahrenheit, and produces nine million gallons of fresh recirculated mineral enriched water each day. On the surface, it looks like a lake, 80 yards or so in diameter and 230 feet deep, where warm, heavily mineralized water enters from regions far below. They say that the water in the lukewarm lake can provide relief for many ailments, including skin conditions, stress, pain, muscular problems, and arthritis. In addition to swimming, the facility offers massage therapy, facial rejuvenation, and acupuncture. And curious visitors can learn more about the history of the Springs at the free Cyclorama presentation that takes place every day at 1pm.

The water's buoyancy makes it easy to wade around the lake's edge at least eight times, which is the equivalent of a mile. An estimated 600 to 800 people a day walk around the circumference or swim in the lake. The water is good for humans but definitely bad for metals - dimes and quarters corrode quickly. You will enjoy swimming in the warm mineral springs, but remember to take off your watch.

General Admission $14; Students $9; AAA members and age 65 and over $12; Children 12 and under $5.

We found the place at the end of small Annex Road in South Venice (off the Tamiami Trail). There is ample free parking just to the south of the side road where the rookery is located. Walk across the street and you'll see the pond directly in front of you. There is no entrance fee. It's not the only bird rookery in Florida, but we like this one because the place is easy to access, and the birds are fantastic. The best time to visit it from November through May, especially during the peak wading bird breeding season January through March. The best time of the day to take pictures is early morning or late afternoon.

The rookery is located on the small man-made island in the middle of the oval pond and supports wading and nesting birds (blue heron, snowy egret and many other species). The island is full of small trees and bushes where the birds build their nests. You'll see birds fishing, fighting, feeding young, building nests – you've got the idea. Bring your camera with a long lens (to shoot across the pond) and be prepared to see many other photographers, both amateurs and professionals.