The Panhandle - Florida - page 1027

The only noteworthy accommodations in the area is the charming Hotel DeFuniak (
850-892-4383; www.hoteldefuniak.com ; 400 Nelson Ave, DeFuniak Springs; r from $99; ) , a 1920s
downtown hotel with 12 atmospheric rooms bedecked with vintage telephones and pedes-
tal sinks. On-site restaurant Bogey's has a menu featuring fish, veal and scampi and a
committed, wine-loving local clientele.
DeFuniak Springs is 50 miles west of the Florida Caverns and Marianna along I-10, or
47 miles north of Destin on Hwy 331.
TALLAHASSEE & THE BIG BEND
Florida's gracious state capital, blanketed by moss-draped live oaks and infused with a
blend of historic and university cultures, sits inland at the edge of what's known as the Big
Bend region - a little-traveled arc of the Florida coastline that curves around the Gulf of
Mexico. Within it you'll find remote fishing communities, freshwater springs, picturesque
islands and the edges of the Apalachicola National Forest.
Tallahassee
Florida's capital, cradled between gently rising hills and nestled beneath tree-canopied
roadways, is a calm and gracious city, far more Southern, culturally speaking, than the ma-
jority of the state it administers. Geographically it's closer to Atlanta than it is to Miami,
and culturally, like Jacksonville, its citizens consider themselves Southern, which is in-
versely the case the further south you travel.
Despite the city's two major universities (Florida State and Florida Agricultural and
Mechanical University) and its status as a government center, the pace here is slower than
syrup. That said, there are a handful of interesting museums and outlying attractions that
will appeal to history and nature buffs and could easily detain a visitor for at least a day or
two.
Sights