Saturday, October 17 – We continued up the Gulf Coast of Florida this morning arriving in Palm Harbor (Clearwater/St Pete area). We are staying at Sherwood Forest RV Park for three days. We heard warnings about driving over the Bob Graham Skyway Bridge (I-275) crossing Tampa Bay. Everyone said it was pretty scary due mostly to it's height over the water and the low guard rails. Marsha was hoping to go around via Tampa but due to toll roads and congestion, Paul convinced here to “take the bridge.” It was nothing! We've been over many more scarier bridges than that. So, if traveling in the area.....take the bridge! 
Sherwood Forest has paved streets and grassy/gravel sites. We do have a patio and 50 amp full-hookups. This is a Passport America park. The volunteers in the office are very nice. There is a very nice laundry room, pool and rec center. There are only a few pull-thrus. We were able to get one.
Site 40A.
Looking right.
Looking left.
After getting set-up in our site, we drove up to Tarpon Springs to check-out “sponge city.”
Tarpon Springs was named for the fish found in abundance in nearby waters. But it also is known as the "sponge capital of the world." After the discovery of natural sponge beds in the early 1900s, Greek sponge divers arrived in Tarpon Springs. The Greek heritage is still strong here. Everyone is speaking Greek! Greek food, pastries, beer, and wine. Pretty neat! We walked around town for a couple hours enjoying the people and doing a little shopping. Even had a delicious Greek beer and a glass of Greek wine.
The very famous Sponge Factory.
Every type, kind, size, shape of sponge anyone would want.
Tons and tons of Greek restaurants.
Newly arrived sponges.
Greek pastries on every corner.
Don’t miss Tarpon Springs. A fun community that celebrates their heritage in many ways.
Paul found a nice paved biking and walking trail running directly behind the Sherwood Forest RV Park. It is wonderful for a morning or evening walk.
Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back real soon. Have a great day!
Love that place, we keep going back there when ever we can, first time was in the early eighties:)
ReplyDeleteThis is such a cool little town. I really enjoyed learning about how the sponges are harvested, dried, and prepared. Sure is a smelly process. The Greek restaurants are excellent, as are those pastries:) Glad you had a chance to visit.
ReplyDeleteSuch a quaint little town that is like a day trip to Greece...and the Greek food is scrumptious. The Greek Orthodox church in the town away from the waterfront is beautiful.
ReplyDeleteWe have visited Tarpon Springs a number of times over the years and really enjoy the place. I love Greek food, so it is right up my alley.
ReplyDeleteYou two really are on the move a lot the last month or so. Are you scouting places to spend the winter or just checking it all out? Our favorite places in Florida are Ft Clinch, the Keys and Naples area. Fort Picken in the Pensacola area is great also with beautiful beaches and close enough to the Naval Air Station to see he Blue Angels practice when they are in town.
Have fun out there.
Looks like another fun place to visit, keep enjoying.
ReplyDeleteHave never been there but it does look like a fun place. Did you sample some of that Greek food?
ReplyDeleteI'd would have wanted to go the longer way around.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great place to spend a little time!
ReplyDeleteWe took the boat ride there. It was very informative about the sponge business. Louise wants to return there while we are down here to do more sightseeing.
ReplyDeleteWe visited Tarpon Springs years ago while on vacation, now we want to visit as fulltimers.
ReplyDeleteHad a Gyro there back in the early 2000s. Make me home sick! Great photos. Did you take the Boat ride?
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