Fort Lauderdale Area

The southeast portion of Florida, on the Atlantic coast, surrounding Fort Lauderdale, is a fun place to visit.  It’s one small town after another–it’s hard to tell when you leave one and enter another.

In West Palm Beach, Havana has some of the best Cuban food in south Florida–and the crowds prove it!  Though much of the food is awesome, their cubano is the best I have ever had!

Delray Beach is a great little town.  The main drag is Atlantic Avenue.  Sit on the deck of Rappaport, on the intercoastal waterway, for delicious shrimp or mahi tacos, or Hudson’s, on the same waterway, for a drink while watching for manatees.  Shop at Snappy Turtle for affordable beach bright cashmeres or across the street at C. Orrico for a Lilly Pulitzer popover shirt.

Down the street is  the Colony Hotel, built in 1926.  It still has its original wicker furniture in the lobby, as well as its manually operated elevator–it has been owned by the same family since its inception.

 

The Porch Bar is a terrific place to sit and watch the world go by!

 

Or have a drink on a sofa under a banyan tree at Salt 7.

Head east on Atlantic Avenue to A1A, then north for one of the most scenic drives on the east coast; the next 20 miles will take you by white-capped stretches of turquoise ocean and meticulously manicured waterfront estates.  On this drive, you will pass Southport Raw Bar, which has excellent fresh seafood.

The Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens is a quiet and beautiful place to visit.

 

The Wakodahatchee Wetlands has a mile long boardwalk over tropical waterways with cooters (turtles), gators, massive iguanas, heron and spoonbill.  When the weather is unseasonably cold, iguanas fall from the trees to the ground below, appearing to be dead; once the sun warms them, they come back “alive”–watch out!

Before leaving for home, we picked up truly delicious bagels at Brooklyn Water Bagel Company, where the bagels are just as good as they are in New York.

Good food in the Plantation/Weston area are Arepa Pueblo for Colombian/Venezuelan eats; Tin Fish for very good seafood and live music on the patio; and Kristof’s Café for tremendous breakfasts.

The most fun thing we did was to take the new Pompano Beach Water Taxi for a 4-hour ride through all of its route, from Lighthouse Point to Bokampers in Fort Lauderdale.

Upon our return to Lighthouse Point, we took a 5-minute ferry to Cap’s Place for dinner.  You feel like you are on an expedition into another era–and you are.  Built in 1928, it was a rum running operation and speakeasy in the middle of the swamp; since then, a lighthouse, houses and a marina have built up around it.  You now have dinner and drinks in the original old building.