Jackie and I had a condo in Pompano Beach. Our condo was on the beach, there are two identical buildings on the property. We were staying in the North condo and in between it and the south condo was a great pool area. It was a cool place except we had pretty much nothing but blue hairs in the complex. The following week started spring break for many colleges and universities around the country so the area would fill up with a younger crowd at that time. At 44 years old I was probably the youngest person at our complex.
With the exception of all the keys and driving through the South Eastern side of Florida this was my first extended stay in that area. From the pan handle to Naples from Key West to Jacksonville I have seen the entire state now.
Back up: after the Gator Park on day seven we went to a little shopping area south of our condo. We parked and starting walking around. There are a lot of vacant commercial properties in this area. You can see the area has suffered from the recession. Anyway, we came across this little Italian bakery called Pan’e Dolci. I had a fruit tart which was the best! Jackie had tiramisu that she said was good but I don’t think it was great.
On the eighth day of vacation we decided to explore the area more.
For lunch we ate at a Greek restaurant called the Greek Islands Taverna. I like Greek food. Having spent a lot of time in the Clearwater Florida area we always make a trip to Tarpon Springs to visit the sponge docks and eat at one of the little Greek restaurants along the dock. The Greek Island Taverna was a pretty busy place. The parking lot was filled high end autos such as Bentleys, BMW’s, Mercedes, and so on. My little Japanese sports car convertible really looked out of place.
As we walked around to the front of the building in our flip flops and shorts we noticed that most of the people were pretty well dressed. We decided to sit out on the front porch area. The waiter saw us but pretty much ignored us for a while. Finally he brought us a menu and asked for our drink orders. Honestly, I don’t care that I don’t have the money that some of the patrons had. I’m sure next to the wait staff we were probably the poorest people there but my money is still green and still spends the same as everyone else’s. Our waiter was really kind of stand-offish when it can to us. He was clearly kissing the ass of the folks with the money but acted as if we were an inconvenience. We didn’t complain even though we didn’t get any pita bread with our saganaki and honestly I was afraid to ask. I wouldn’t recommend this place to anyone if the attitude and service we received is SOP for the place. I have had much better Greek Food in Indianapolis and Chicago.
Our condo was located on Ocean BLVD which is the main drag or A-1A which runs along the beaches. Ten miles south of us on Ocean BLVD is the Ft. Lauderdale beach area. We had been in Pompano Beach for a week before we went down to this area. As I said above, this was the first time I had really spent any time in the South East part of Florida so I didn’t know what to expect. There is a lot to do in this area and I think Jackie and would have spent more time in this area had we found it earlier in the week.
We explored every shop on the strip. Jackie was looking for a hoody and finally found one at an open air two story mall. We ate at the Hooters in this mall area. I like Hooters…wings because they are breaded. They also serve buffalo shrimp which is another favorite. We stayed in Ft. Lauderdale beach until after dark before heading back to the condo.
This was our last night in Florida. Morning would arrive and we would pack things up for our trip back to Indiana. Vacation would be over.
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