Exploring Downtown Orlando - A Beautiful Walk Around Lake Eola

After our interesting visits to Orange County Regional History Center and is well-built museum of African-American culture and history, we have decided to continue our exploration of downtown Orlando and the surrounding historic neighborhood. After driving through the beautiful residential area, framed by majestic oak trees decorated with Spanish Moss, we decided to walk around beautiful Lake Eola, which is just minutes from downtown Heritage Square, home to Orange County Regional History Center, and every second, third and fourth Saturday of the month is also home to a lively marketplace. By this time, the sun was starting to set and Lake Eola and the surrounding highrises were bathed in the golden hues of sunset.

Lake Eola is one of Orlando's more than 300 lakes and is surrounded by established residential areas and highrises ringing the downtown core.Park stretches of 43 hectares (17.2 acres) and provides generous sidewalks around the lake at 0.9 mile (1.4 km) loop around the water, which enthusiastically used by walkers and joggers. The lake can be explored on paddle boats, and other facilities include a playground, a small outdoor cafe, gondola rides, and the Walt Disney Amphitheater for special events.

Lake Eola is intricately connected with Orlando's history. Even the origin of the name Orlando may be connected to Lake Eola: the first European settlement in the Orlando area has grown around the old Army post Fort Gatlin. According to one story, an American soldier named Orlando Reeves was killed by an American Indian arrow while on guard duty in what is now Lake Eola Park and may have given the name of this city. Originally, Orlando was called Jernigan after a Georgia settler, Aaron Jernigan, who settled in the area of ​​the city of Orlando 1843.Podrijetlo name is not certain, however: another popular story claims that a certain Judge Speer received its name after a Shakespeare character, "Orlando" in "How do you like ."

Either way, the city was named "Orlando" in 1857 and was centered around the cotton and cattle industries. Demand for beef has boosted Cuba, while the cotton plantations until the Civil War progressed, who stole away the area workforce, compounded by a devastating hurricane in 1873. "Orange fever" hit Central Florida in 1870, with the completion of railways of South Florida in 1880.

The Great Freeze 1894 - 1895 destroyed the Florida citrus industry and it took 15 years to recover. Florida's citrus industry peaked in 1950 with more than 80,000 acres (32,000 hectares) of crops.

Orlando's first airport opened in 1922. Orlando also plays a significant role in the defense and aerospace industry: during World War II bomber pilots were trained ovdje.Projektil factory was built in 1956 by a predecessor of Lockheed Martin, which still serves as the backbone area of ​​the technology industry today.

Tourism has become the main draw of Central Florida. Since the beginning of an amusement park in 1895, the creation of Cypress Gardens Adventure Park in 1936, the opening of Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom in 1971 really laid the foundation for the Central Florida tourism boom. Other Disney attractions followed, including Walt Disney World Resort, Epcot, Disney-MGM studios, and the animal kingdom. Universal Studios Florida opened in 1990, followed in 1999, Islands of Adventure and Universal CityWalk, an entertainment complex.

Indeed Tourism Central Florida a major industry today, with more than 50 million visitors annually, and annual revenue of $ 28 bllion. Tourism in conjunction with high-tech and the citrus industry are the three dominant economic sectors in Central Florida.

After our walk around historic Lake Eola, we strolled back into downtown and grabbed a table in the street garden "Tijuana flats", a Mexican restaurant located right on Heritage Square, and only one of many different types of food establishments in downtown core.

while tasting some delicious and very filling Mexican food, we watched the early evening street life in Orlando's center. We reflected on how different the city center is compared to the newer and very spread out tourist-oriented Hotel and Resort areas, which often seems quite without character. Here in the center area to really get a sense of history and community that began developing in the first half of the 19th stoljeća.U downtown and Lake Eola area, all of which are easily walkable scale, have a much more authentic atmosphere for those who thoroughly enjoyed it.

For more information contact the Orlando Convention and Visitors ured.Orlando regional history center can be found.