Time Out in Tampa

by Paris Permenter & John Bigley

With its location on Central Florida's west coast, Tampa is a prime vacation spot for sun, sand...and a break from the crowds and prices of Orlando, just a little over an hour's drive away. While the city makes a good home base for a more budget-based to the theme park heaven, the two of you will find that Tampa is a destination all on its own.

Tampa dates back to 1824, with the establishment of Fort Brooke. The city really started to grow in 1885 when Henry Plant brought railroad service to Tampa. The next year, Vicente Martinez Ybor lead a wave of Cuban cigar manufacturers who settled in the city, founding the Latin community known as Ybor City. For fifty years, the area was the "Cigar Capital of the World," a boom town with over 4,000 cigar workers. Production was severely cut back in the 1930's, when machines could produce cigars much faster than skilled cigar rollers.

Today, however, Ybor City is as busy as ever, filled with shoppers, diners, and history lovers. Spanish-style architecture and cobblestone streets will take you back to the early days of the Latin Quarter.

At 9th Avenue and 19th Street, visit the Ybor City State Museum, housed in the old Ferlita Bakery, for a look the process of hand rolling cigars. Next door, you can tour an original cigar worker's house. During the Spanish-American War, many of these cigar workers pledged part of their salary to help fuel the revolution. They also paid 10 cents a week for medical care, one of the earliest examples of socialist medical services in the country.

During the past several years, much of Ybor City has been renovated and restored to its former glory. One of the largest projects was the revival of the the V.M. Ybor Cigar Factory. Today these three red brick buildings are known as Ybor Square, a marketplace filled with specialty shops. Here you can buy anything from hand-blown glass to antiques to (you guessed it) hand-rolled cigars. The fine art of cigar rolling is demonstrated every day but Monday.

One of the highlights of Ybor City is a visit to the Columbia Restaurant, a Tampa favorite for over 80 years. You'll be served Latin meals such as Salteado (a dish of Spanish onion, bell pepper, mushrooms, potatoes, Spanish sausage, and steak, pork or shrimp), Pincho de Camarones (shrimp skewered with tomatoes, green peppers, Spanish onion and mushrooms), or Paella Espanola (yellow rice with seafood, chicken, pork, Spanish sausage, onion, peppers and tomatoes). Every week, flamenco dancers perform a special show for lucky diners.

Columbia Restaurant often has long waiting lines, but don't worry--the two of you will find plenty of dining options in Ybor City. Our romantic favorite is La Terrazza (1727 E. 7th Avenue), an intimate, candlelit eatery that's perfect for talking over your day over a glass of wine and a dish of excellent Italian fare.

While you're downtown, take a drive along the waterfront for a look at the Port of Tampa. Besides the shipping industry, the port is also home to several cruise ships who use the port as a home base from which to sail the Caribbean.

It may seem like a long way from the luxury yacht docks to the jungles of Africa, but in Tampa it's just a drive across town. Busch Gardens (http://www.4adventure.com) is a combination amusement park, zoo, and shopping extravaganza in one. The park includes several themed sections: Bird Gardens, The Congo, Stanleyville, Nairobi, Serengeti Plain, Morocco, and Timuktu. You'll want to budget a full day to see everything, and if you're a big fan of roller coasters and other stomach-churning rides, two days might be a better choice.

Make your first stop the Serengeti Plain, an area where animals roam much as they would in the wild, with very few fences. This area has earned Busch Gardens a place as one of the top four zoos in the country. You can view the animals from a small steam locomotive or aboard a monorail for an air-conditioned ride through the cageless wildlife area.

And, if you're ready for a look at the creatures beneath the sea, make a stop at the downtown Florida Aquarium (http://www.flaquarium.org) on Channelside Drive. The newly built facility features alligators, rays, sharks and also birds found along Florida's wateways.

For more information on Tampa, see http://www.gotampa.com.

Copyright Paris Permenter & John Bigley