We're going out on a limb here, but, if you're touring any great city on anything besides your own two feet, you're probably doing it wrong. Yeah, cars, double decker buses, and tacky trains are cool, but you're fooling yourself if you think you can get intimate with all the nuances of a great, historic city in or on a motorized vehicle. Ok, maybe with a Segway, but have you seen anyone riding one of those things around? Exactly....
Lucky for us Tampa folk, we've got Ybor City Historic Walking Tours put on by the Ybor City Chamber of Commerce to entertain our exploratory needs.
Going down every weekday at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. and Sundays at noon, Ybor City Historic Walking Tours are a great way to get familiar with this history-rich city outside of just its nightclubs and restaurants (not that those are bad or anything).
The 90-minute tour meets at the statue of Vicente Martinez Ybor on the 7th Avenue side of Centro Ybor and the cost is $15 for adults, $5 for children ages 6-12, and free for kids 5 and under.
On the tour, you'll explore "La Septima Avenida", or, as we know it now, 7th Avenue. You'll hear about the foundation of Ybor by Spanish-American buisinessman Vincente Martinez Ybor and why it's been historically dubbed as "Cigar City".
Learn about the 100+ year old Columbia Restaurant as well as how La Gaceta, the country's only tri-lingual (Spanish, English, Italian) neighborhood newspaper was founded.
True crime fans will take delight in the notoriously mob and crime-riddled past of Ybor as told by walking tour guide, Lonnie Herman, a veritable human encyclopedia of Ybor City knowledge. Learn about Bolita, an illegal gambling game typically put on by mafia rackets and played by the many Latino and Italian immigrants throughout the city.
As you can see, there's plenty to learn and see on the Ybor City Historic Walking Tour. Check it out today and see Ybor City in a way you never have before.
