Exploring Downtown Orlando - a walk around Lake Eola

After our interesting tours of the Orange County Regional History Center and well-built Museum of African American culture and history, we decided to continue our explorations of downtown Orlando and the surrounding historic district. adorned with a drive through beautiful residential areas surrounded by majestic oaks of Spanish Moss, we decided to go to a beautiful pond, Eola, which is minutes from downtown's Heritage Square, home of the Orange spreeCarolina Regional History Center, and every second, third, fourth Saturday of the month and is also home to a bustling Farmer's Market. At this time, was the sun begins to set and Lake Eola and the surrounding buildings skyscrapers were bathed in golden colors of the sunset.

Lake Eola is one of Orlando's 300 lakes and is surrounded by residential areas and formed the core of downtown skyscrapers call anymore. The park covers 43 hectares (17.2 acres) and provides generous sidewalksaround the lake on a 0.9 miles (1.4 km) around the water cycle that is used by hikers and joggers fans. The lake can be explored by boat, beach and other facilities include a playground, a small outdoor cafe, gondola rides, Walt Disney and the amphitheater for special events.

Lake Eola is closely intertwined with the history of 'Orlando S. The origin of the name can be associated Orlando Lake Eola: the first European settlement in OrlandoArea grew by an old army post Fort Gatlin. According to a story, an American soldier named Orlando Reeves was killed by an arrow during American Indian sentry duty today Lake Eola Park and may have given the name of the city. Originally, Orlando was named after a Georgia settler Jernigan, Aaron Jernigan, who settled in the territory in 1843. The name of the city of Orlando is not sure, but: Another popular story claims that aJudge Speer named some solution after the Shakespeare character, "Orlando" in the comedy "As You Like It."

In any case, the city has been called "Orlando" in 1857 and was the industry focused on cotton and cattle. The demand for meat has been fed by Cuba while cotton plantation until the Civil War, which prospered but aggravated the field of labor, a devastating storm in 1873. "Orange Fever" in 1870 hit Central Florida, encouraged by the completion ofRailways of South Florida in 1880.

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

Airport Orlando in 1922 opened first. Orlando plays an important role in defense and aerospace during World War II bombers were trained here. A rocket factory was built in 1956 by a predecessorLockheed Martin, which is still considered the backbone of the technology sector in the area.

Tourism has become the main draw of Central Florida. From an amusement park since 1895, creating the Cypress Gardens Adventure Park in 1936, the opening of Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom in 1971 really laid the foundation for the tourism boom in Central Florida. Other Disney attractions followed, including Walt Disney World Resort, Epcot, Disney-MGM Studios and Animal Kingdom.Universal Studios Florida, opened in 1990, followed by Islands of Adventure in 1999 and Universal City Walk, an entertainment complex.

Actually, the main industry of tourism of Central Florida is now over 50 million visitors each year and annual revenue of 28 USD bllion Tourism with high technology and the citrus industry are the three major areas in central Florida combined.

After the tour of historic Lake Eola, we strolled down the center back and grabbed a table onroad construction site of "Tijuana Flats", a Mexican restaurant located right on Heritage Square, and only one of many different types of food establishments in the city.

While some delicious and very filling Mexican food, we observed the early evening street life in downtown Orlando. We have seen how different the city is compared to the more recent and very extensive tourist-oriented areas of hotels and resorts, which often seem rather devoid of character.Here in town you really get a feel for the history and community development in the first half of the 19th Century began. Lake Eola and the areas of the center, all on a hike in scale, have a much more real to them, which we liked.

For more information about Orlando please contact the Orlando Convention and Visitors Bureau. L'Orlando Regional History Center can be foundhttp://www.thehistorycenter.org.

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