Description
Your tour departs from beautiful Curtis Hixon Park, ideally situated along the Hillsborough river with a front-row view of the University of Tampa and its lovely minarets shining across the water. As we make our way towards the high-rises and into the actual city, we’ll quickly come to our first stop (and what was once one of Tampa’s tallest buildings), the perfectly layer-cake-designed Old City Hall. As your guide tells you the fascinating history behind this building, you’ll hopefully be snapping a few selfies with our friend “Hortense the Beautiful” (Hint: Hortense is the stunning 4-facing clock at the top of Old City Hall). From here, you’ll make your way to many more sites where you’ll continue to gain more and more knowledge of this small but big city!
Florida Avenue and Franklin
As we stroll down Florida Avenue, weaving back and forth between here and Franklin, we’ll pass more key sights in the city, such as Sacred Heart Church, Le Meridien Hotel. The hotel is the former courthouse where names like Pablo Escobar passed through these doors. The Tampa Theatre is somewhat of a bonus stop as it comes with incredible history and then even more incredible ‘haunted history’ for those who believe. From here, we continue north by more significant stops such as the old 5&Dime block (location of the Woolworth Sit-In), the Floridan hotel, and last but certainly not least- the Tampa Postcard!
Once everyone has maxed out on Postcard photos, we make our way back towards our starting point, Curtis Hixon Park. From here, your guide will tell you about the Tampa Bay Hotel (now University of Tampa) sitting across the river before concluding the tour. But if you’re up for the challenge, our guide will gladly take walkers across the bridge to see the University up close. If you have the energy and the time, we highly recommend this short out and back ‘add-on’ before heading home!
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