The Antique Trail in Pensacola, FL

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The Antique Trail - in South-West Florida might not be on your radar when pondering about shopping for antiques or browsing vintage stores. If you ever spent time in Pensacola, FL, you might think differently! There are several antique malls, even a part of HWY 98, (Navy Blvd) west of downtown Pensacola lines dozens of antique stores. 

Some are single stores on Navy Blvd, and others occupy a larger building where you can browse dozens of antique and vintage vendors. One can spend days and days visiting all the numerous stores in Pensacola, a lovely break from boring days on the beaches.
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So much fun to explore the treasures of a bygone world, style, and culture of past centuries.  Are antiques a better buy?  You bet!  Not only are antiques a great investment, but they are also built to last, look beautiful, and are more environmentally friendly than their modern-day equivalent!  Buying and selling antiques is a good way to repurpose and recycle furniture or other household items. 

And at the same time bring style and class into your home.
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Antique furniture is 'greener' than the modern-day equivalent! No plastic ... New furniture has a carbon footprint 16x higher than the antique equivalent 

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One of the stores on Navy Blvd shows the largest doll collection I have ever seen. Some are 200 years old. The owner also restores antique dolls and gives them a new life.
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You never know what treasures you will find...

Compared with the heyday of antiques collecting, prices are now “60 - 80 percent off” and can all be had for a fraction of what they cost 15 to 20 years ago.
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Miles Antique Mall with over 500 vendors is located across the street from 'Sacred Heart Hospital' in Pensacola, close to the Cordova Mall.

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Antique furniture was made over one hundred years ago, crafted in an age before mass production and assembly lines -  when each piece was handcrafted by an artisan with a lifetime of experience. Even the wood used for such valuable pieces was of a higher quality than timber on the market today, because trees were older and denser. From antique chairs to antique tables, all pieces of furniture have a story to tell.

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One of my favored places in Pensacola: Cinema Art 

Classic and Retro Movies at the Historic REX Theatre

and the best: Admission is Only $7.00

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For more of Florida's past, visit the Florida State Museum in Historic Pensacola

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Want to learn more about history? The Florida State Museum - among many others in Pensacola - is a museum of history and part of the Historic Pensacola Village museum complex in downtown. The building, reminiscent of the Alamo mission style, was built in 1907 as the Pensacola City Hall and served as such until 1985.

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Don’t miss the Pensacola Antique And Vintage Show

4530 Spikes Way, Milton, FL, only a couple of miles from Pensacola downtown

March 7 - 8, 2020, Saturday – Sunday

PensacolaAntiqueAndVintageShow.com

Read more about antiques:

https://www.rauantiques.com/blog/5-reasons-decorate-antique-furniture/

http://www.floridaantiquetrail.com/

http://www.historicpensacola.org/

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Blue Angels and the Naval Museum

What can be more fun than to hang out at the lovely Gulf Beaches around Pensacola and watch the Blue Angels training for their next air show? See their unbelievable precision flights at the Sun’n Fun air show - or any other air show in the country?
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4e0GMwy2s4

The next best thing would be a visit to the National Naval Aviation Museum, the world’s largest Naval Aviation museum and one of the most-visited museums in the State of Florida.  Open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.  More than 150 beautifully restored aircraft are representing the Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard Aviation. 

Best of all: Admission is free!

The entrance is at the West Gate off Blue Angel Parkway 

(1878 S Blue Angel Pkwy)

Forms of identification acceptable to get on base: Driver’s License, Passport, Voter Registration, School ID, Native American tribal Document, Federal, State or locally issued ID Card. An international passport is required for non-U.S. Citizen visitors to access the Naval Air Station Pensacola. After all, visitors are entering a military base!

Movie Times in the Museum:

9:30 a.m. Journey to Space

10:00 a.m. Magic of Flight

11:00 a.m. Aircraft Carrier

12:00 p.m. Magic of Flight

1:00 p.m. Aircraft Carrier

2:00 p.m. D-Day:  1944

3:00 p.m. Magic of Flight

4:00 p.m. Aircraft Carrier

National Naval Aviation Museum visitors can now even take a virtual walk on the moon through the museum's new attraction: The Apollo 11 VR Experience.

One day at the museum is just too few to admire all the wonderful artifacts and the skillful arranged vintage decorations which creates the mood for the times in which the airplanes have been flown.  Very moving also to watch Navy veterans who are visiting the museum, some are in their nineties.

Light Tower Museum at the Naval Air Base

Just a minute from the Naval Air Museum is the tiny Pensacola Lighthouse Museum.  Do your daily workout and climb up 177 steps to the top of the light tower.  During the week you might be even able to be at flight level with the Blue Angel squadron. 

Have a picknick in the lovely grounds around the light tower and walk or jog the foresty surroundings and admire the many native plants - year round - such as these berries in late December.

American Beauty Berry

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