Is Mount Dora the perfect place for a weekend getaway? Let me show you this beautiful southern town

when you first step into mondora you get that immediate feeling of a real southern town the historic buildings bring you back in time and the southern hospitality greets you immediately it definitely wants to make you explore all of the cute little stores and the fabulous restaurants and the delicious food oh my god so mount dora mondora it's a beautiful little town that is located in the heart of central florida it is about one hour from orlando and about two hours from tampa in my opinion it should be called mount adorable because it is simply adorable having said that not everybody knows about the adventurous side of mondora did you know you can do segway tours hydroplane tours boat tours you can even go wakeboarding and of course our favorite the cat boat tours i don't know about you but i didn't know what a cat boat was until i went to mandurah this last time i still don't know how to explain it but let me try it basically looks like they put together two surfboards and it has a motor engine on the back and it goes really fast or at least it feels like it goes really fast and you're going right over lake dora which is full of alligators but you know we'll tell you a little bit more about that later today i'm going to be your tour guide i am teacher catalina and i'm a spanish teacher but right now i am on summer vacation so i'm going to be sharing all of the places that i visit with you this video is in english and i will have another one that will be released and it will be in spanish and by the way if you want to learn spanish i have over 150 videos that you can use to start learning or practicing your spanish let's start exploring mandurah so right now we are at the lakeside inn right next to lake dora and it is absolutely breathtaking the day is gorgeous it's still early and the weather is beautiful we should go check out the lake so we're only going to be able to get to this part of the dock i heard that the rest of it was damaged by one of the hurricanes that came a couple years ago but this gives us just a beautiful view of lake dora i think these people are gonna go on um yeah they're going on this boat tour and it takes you around the lake and it's really like really something special this early in the morning where you have the sunrise just before you and it's not too hot yet i know the weather is like beautiful it's breezy and comfortable so we had a bit of a wait for breakfast so that's why we decided to go to the lake and check it out but it seems this time to go eat and i am certainly starving and i've heard that the breakfast here at the lakeside inn is absolutely delicious when you step into the lobby of the lakeside inn you can admire all of these beautiful photographs and artifacts that take you back in time the way the hotel was back in the day this beautiful hotel was built in 1883 and it is the oldest continuously operating hotel in the state of florida so we're finally having breakfast oh yes the coffee is good the coffee is very good and i see people already boating in one of those cat boats which we're excited to try as well that looks delicious thank you so much this looks really good so i had the farmer's omelette and i think this is x bendict look at the mushrooms i love them okay look at this farmer's omelette it's totally full of veggies and ham and that buttermilk biscuit the entire property is surrounded by huge moss draped oak trees so now that we have breakfast let's go ahead and head into town to see what we can find and the things that we can see i'm hoping that the little stores and the little cafes are already open everybody seem to have woken up and everybody seems to be active so let's go check it out let's take one more walk through the lake and it seems people here are already talking about the sunset um again mount dora is famous for their sunsets and i cannot wait to see it i'm super excited too that we have an activity planned for the sunset um not today but tomorrow and we can't wait to share that with you let's find out if that sunset is everything the locals talk about so one of the things that mount dora is famous for is for these beautiful little stores that have all sorts of beautiful things and one of my favorite ones is this one that's called the checker moon they have some of the most cutest things that i have ever seen and they're also super nice every time we've come in the service is fantastic and the things that they sell are so unique so how about we go check it in together let's check it out look how beautiful it is you can find all sorts of unique things look how colorful it also smells incredibly amazing and it's very much florida themed lots of things from florida and we tend to buy a lot of the things for our house right here and this little kit section is just adorable i remember when our little one was little we used to get a lot of things here look at this adorable books [Music] a lot of florida themed things [Music] absolutely beautiful and i could spend hours and hours looking at all of the beautiful things that they have here the charming downtown is lined with historic buildings quaint little shops and boutiques coffee shops antique stores and all sorts of restaurants with different types of cuisines from italian to german to indian florida classics and seafood if you really like this video go ahead and smash that like button it really helps me bring this video to more people around the [Music] the best world that you did everyone's a star cup in their head but every heart remembers a love's first kiss a soul that can't enough just to forgive so we are now at the donnelly house right in the center of mount dora and the donnelly house is this beautiful queen and style yellow house that was built back in the day in i believe it was 1893. it is a queen and style home that was built by john donnelly for his wife as a gift and i have to say this is quite the gift don't you think it is absolutely beautiful it is in the national register of historic places in the united states it is not open to the public however you can stop by and admire everything about it it's architecture it's details it's colors and just imagine the live of john donnelly and his wife right here in mount dora nowaday it is a masonic temple so again it's not open to the public but you can still come and check it out after all it's in the national register of historic places in the united states definitely worth checking it out so we're now going to go down donnelly street which is right in the downtown of andorra and as you can see there's all sorts of stores and beautiful cafes and restaurants if you look up here there's that rooftop cafe that has a really yummy food and you can kind of overlook the downtown area it is already noon so as you can see now it is pretty packed with people people have kind of come out to have late brunch or even lunch one of the coolest stores in mount dora is fyi creations we talked to ronnie the owner who told us that he and his wife make the famous chill sticks from driftwood from the springs they love to give this wood a second life this wood has been in the spring water for hundreds of years to be corroded like this to later become chill sticks in their new life when we asked ronnie to tell us what a chill stick is he told us that a chill stick is basically a decorative art piece that incorporates driftwood from the great outdoors embellished with ambient accent pieces to set a relaxing mood they are really cool pieces the fyi gallery store is set up to guide the visitor through a journey each room is different and every item is unique and beautiful so mount dora is not only a place to see historic places look at beautiful shops and restaurants another thing that i love is that it's surrounded by this nature everywhere you go you've seen lake dora you've seen some of the boar walks and right now we are at elizabeth evans park and we're just going to kind of hang out here for a little bit they even have a hammock and i cannot resist a hammock so i am going to go ahead and just chill here and watch the boats go by while we wait a little bit for our next adventure [Laughter] even if you flip over sometimes that's part of the fun so we took a little drive about 12 minutes from mount dora to tavares and we're still in front of lake dora and here you can take the hydra planes and kind of explore lake dora as well we came to the other side of the lake because we are going to go ahead and go on a boat tour it's called dora cruise and we're gonna take it from here and explore the area this way so the door queen is a luxury 80-foot new orleans style paddle wheel boat and it is out of tavares florida which again we're at lake dora here they offer all sorts of cruises they have today a two-hour cruise that we're gonna go ahead and get on and we're gonna go ahead and explore we're gonna see the majestic views of the beautiful lake dora from the comfort of this beautiful boat we are in the middle of lake dora enjoying the views the live music upstairs and the breeze it's just phenomenal look how beautiful and intricate this paddle wheel is we are heading down to dinner but as you can see we are in the middle of a typical central florida thunderstorm so this happens pretty much every afternoon during the summer and it should clear up but since we're going to dinner it doesn't matter we just got to make sure we have our umbrella and let's make it to the restaurant so let's go while we're on our way to the restaurant let me tell you that if you're not from florida or if you haven't been here during the summer months the weather can be very unpredictable this thunderstorms come out of nowhere however they tend to clear up quickly and you can continue on with your day don't forget to take shelter when you see lightning but don't worry it will clear out soon and you can continue on with your adventure we had dinner at gianni's italiano restaurant the service was awesome the fresh bread was to die for and the dinner was delicious we are at the port of mount dora or as the locals call it the lighthouse park and as you can see there is this tiny little lighthouse and it is one out of three freshwater lighthouses in florida but the locals really wanted it to help the boaters come into town and now it's right here in this beautiful park and as you can see we're right in front of lake dora and the sunset should be taking place pretty soon as you can see this is truly a sunset you do not want to miss a lot of the locals congregate in this area every day to see the sun come down the park's lakefront views are ideal for photographers and videographers looking to capture the area's fantastic beauty so make sure that you get there early so that you can find the best spot and just as we were leaving we spotted a little gator here in the water also enjoying the sunset there's all sorts of fishes jumping around as well and here he goes swimming away swimming into the sunset okay so it's still early welcome to mount dora day two and what we're gonna do is we're gonna take advantage that people are still sleeping in and the streets are not crowded yet and we're gonna go check out some of the murals that locals have said that have popped up some beautiful art that has popped up throughout the city so let's go see what we find i love when mount dora is full of people and everybody around here is pretty friendly but when the streets are empty at this time in the morning and it's about 8 30 9 a.m you really have the city all to yourself and it's a different kind of beautiful now you can already see some color brightening up the city right in the middle of the alleys that is absolutely true you do meet the nicest people here and again these are just in some of the little alleyways that you can find some of the little alleys that you can find in mount dora i really love how such a historic place like mount dora also appreciates urban art and all of these murals that are popping out throughout the city it really brings so much color and so much life into this cute little town all right guys so we're going to go ahead and leave downtown mondora which is literally right here on the corner and we're just going to take a little walk down this road because there is a house that we want to show you and you're going to see quite the view and how it was done of course there was a bit of a ruffle between the owner and the city and we're going to tell you a little bit more about that in a second but first we want to go ahead and kind of show you the masterpiece so here it is and again it's just a few minute walk from downtown mount dora the original painting obviously didn't have mount dora but as you can see they've added right here right into the masterpiece that this house is this house is appropriately named the van gogh house now the locals and a couple of newspapers that we read informed us that this house was painted this way because the family that lives there has a special needs son and this gentleman loves starry night therefore the family wanted to paint the house this way to give him comfort nowadays the house sits on the outskirt of downtown mondora and you cannot miss it it's blue and it is a clear representation of van gogh's starry night with a twist of mount dora so let's head to the farmer's market try to get some breakfast and some coffee so that we can continue exploring mount dora and you can see the farmers markets already set up so let's go check it out there's all sorts of local vendors oysters fruits handmade things crafts let's go see what we find fresh pasta looks beautiful this gentleman was commenting how he was so happy that we showed up in the morning to record when his stand and his fruits and his vegetables look perfectly organized before the end of the market when everything tends to either sell out or it can get a little bit messy that looks really interesting you're not gonna be perfect for your mom's birthday that would be actually pretty awesome oh my gosh is he making them by hand yeah wow making a room just like they did back in the 1800s like this one right here was always round and so the shakers actually invented this broom press back in the 1800s this actually was the first design in 1878 so that the shakers can make round rooms to flat brooms and so this is basically just a table broom um it's with a cedar handle this multi-color right now i'm doing the weave on it and with that it's just like an over under the mountdora farmers market has so much to offer it happens every sunday from nine to two and you can find all sorts of fruit vegetables food in general but you can also find people like this gentleman that will show you how brooms were made back in the day so you can not only enjoy the delicious food the crafts but you can also learn a little so let's hear a little bit more about those rooms so if it doesn't make me a liar oh let's see don't make me a lighter today not today there we go so it's not magic that's about a pound and a half two pounds worth of broom straw that'll last you 20 years that's actually my rainbow broom i have every color that is possibly um here we can take this basically just for making sure it doesn't get messed up this is actually a cedar handle um from florida thank you ma'am and this is actually braided the same way this one had a lot of work i carved off all the the bark on it and that's actually a 70 dollar broom but that one doesn't stand up like the other one does because i want the natural color see how it's all natural like like in the old days like they had it yeah look at it it's handmade by steve gordon steve steve gordon look at this this is beautiful though kettle corn and then some bread bread hi guys good morning good morning good how are you fantastic we're hungry that's where we are as we were walking around the farmers market we were captivated by this delicious aroma that came from a stall with a nice gentleman and a very sweet lady the gentleman shared with us that his wife loves to cook and share her food with everyone here at the market we can relate to that given that we understand the food means so much more than just something you eat it means connections it means relationships that's why we also have our cook and learn with baba and nano youtube channel you should go check it out so that you can learn how to make some delicious things so you you stuffed them with banana banana and sweet rice and black bean oh my goodness how did you make it her specialty is a pot pie and a spring roll but she just started doing the banana rolls about six or eight months ago oh my god very good it's like sweet and it's got black beans in it in the right and a sticky rice which really to me adds a lot of but it reminds me of a little bit of this dessert my mom used to make in colombia it's like um it's like it's sweetness do you know you can use this one when you have ice cream oh my gosh but you can't even taste the beans that surprises me oh my goodness have a good one guys bye see you later bye so now guys i have pad thai pastries i am a sucker for farmers markets and i end up buying pretty much everything i taste because everything's so yummy and delicious so maybe we can sit here and enjoy the pad thai and some of the pastries here so now let me tell you about that pad thai hands down the best pad thai that we have ever had it was absolutely delicious but it did have a little bit of spice at the end so we had to get some natural juice to cool ourselves down and to continue enjoying the day we cannot wait to go back and have more pad thai in the future when we return to mount dora you want to see how we do that absolutely all right here's how we do this first thing i'm going to do is we start with a lime whole lime then we're going to wedge it see we wedge it now we're going to get the juice out of it we're going to smash it [Music] wedge and smash this is my invitation of tom cruise in the movie cocktail tom cruise in the movie cocktail all right you're doing better than tom cruise oh my gosh all right take a sip of that one too i will too it's a good thing i wore a stretchy dress today that yummy too now i don't know which one i like the best is this one sweet this one's more refreshing that's going to be more tart that's going to be more is this like a mango-ish yep that's our mango salsa and then we have a traditional tomato tomatillo pineapple uh peruvian style ceviche blue crab salad and then starve to show the guacamole oh my gosh and look at those avocados gorgeous they are gorgeous thank you for playing with me it looks beautiful so colorful look at the look at the watermelon though even though we had pad thai and pastries we had a little bit of room for dessert and we immediately craved some delicious fudge that we saw as we walked right in front of uncle phil's fudge they had over 25 flavors but my favorite was dulce de leche make sure you check out uncle phil's fudge at the mondora market have you ever been to a farmer's market where is your favorite farmer's market i'd love to hear about it in the comments and if you haven't been to a farmers market i still want to hear from you where do you get fresh veggies and fruits or is there a place like this around your town go ahead and leave me a comment i love to read what you have to say all right so let's take a little walk let's head towards this side of the lighthouse park we kind of explored the lighthouse yesterday today we're going to go a little bit further a couple of the locals have told us that there's a beautiful boar walk that we can kind of check out and sometimes see alligators you know how alligators are sometimes they get a little shy so i'm not sure if we're gonna see any today but let's go see what it's all about it's supposed to be a very beautiful tranquil nature spot and i'm i'm a lover of boar walks they're always so pretty so let's see what we find haven't even started the boardwalk where we have a little gator right here waiting for us so as you can see this one's just relaxing there and now i think it's what about three four feet about four feet moving slowly lots of boats already going out on tours a lot of people already out for sunday and a lot of fishing too so we're excited to be here bye they're all saying bye so by the way mount dora sits on 184 foot plateau over the sea level which makes it mountain worthy for florida that's where maldora comes from now remember mount dora is pretty famous too for the amount of birds there's a lot of burr watching here and we've seen a lot of people walking around with cameras photographing them look at this big turtle i told you it could be pure relaxation here in mandurah just taking the sun enjoying the day right by lake dora i am so glad that the locals told us about this boar walk it is just absolutely beautiful you can see all these gorgeous trees vines we've seen birds turtles alligators and it's very very well maintained makes for a perfect little stroll we had of course we had the pad thai earlier so we're walking it up there is literally so much to see at palm island park this would be a great place to bring your binoculars your camera your video camera or anything you use to document this walk and as you can see most walkways most boardwalks most streets lead to lake dora and what's there not to love about it so this is all joe on lake dora at the turn of the 19th century an alligator named all joe could be seen cruising the waters the captains of the paddle wheel boats would point out all joe the largest fiercest and most respected alligator on the lake it was said that he would eat not only fish but also deer and other large animals today when you see an alligator you're seeing one of all joe's offspring like him they're dangerous and are to be respected this statue is for your enjoyment so please leave the real ones alone so we took a little break at the uh bakery coffee shop and during that time we went ahead and booked a last minute tour so we are getting ready to walk there we're gonna go ahead and go on just a quick 30 minute tour uh on lake dora so let's see what we have in store by the way don't forget that you can look below for a lot of information and a link to a blog post where we give you much more in detail information about all of this adventures don't forget to check it out just look in the description below and click that link and as you can tell the farmer's market's still going on quite a bit so we're going to go right through it to get back to the yacht club where we're going to go ahead and take our [Music] teacher catalina teacher catalina teacher teacher like a teacher i'm a teacher yes and we ate the whole fudge by the way hi we're good to go michael awesome thank you there you go i was gonna say hi michael lewis awesome so we'll just sit here then too this is pretty here though this little area here it's called alligator alley and it definitely lived up to its name look at this little guy so right now we're going to go ahead and head towards the salted fry which again they're pretty famous around here we kind of want to grab a snack before we go on our cat boat tour i always forget what is what goes first this is the cat or the boat so it actually seems like it's not too packed right now which is surprising because it's been packed all day so here's the fries and it's gotten pretty packed out there actually so i'm excited to give them a try they gave us some mayo and of course i grabbed some ketchup and i grabbed some blue cheese sea salt so can't wait to try that and of course we are just grabbing a snack before we go on our cat boat tour which all the people inside the locals were just telling me that it's going to be so much fun and i cannot wait they're worth it guys they're pretty amazing while we were having our fries here at the salted fry we met a couple that was visiting from fort myers she was a teacher and he was retired from florida wildlife i kind of talked about my fear of alligators and he told me oh you don't have to worry you only have to really worry a done or dusk little did he know that we had an activity planned for dusk on that day and we were on our way to it and i was thinking about alligators see this is what i was talking about these are the boats and this is the adventure that we're about to do and you're only inches away from the water that is filled with alligators we saw them all throughout the last couple of days have you hit the like button if you haven't go ahead and hit it that will help us make it through this adventure yes hi guys there we go wow [Applause] right now so i don't know if they're out flying around or what but there's a bald eagle nest there in fact there's 12 balls eagle snaps on lake laura and lincoln [Applause] [Music] uh [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] so you're probably wondering if we saw alligators during this adventure and the answer is right out of the marina the captain stopped us to see two resident gators that live right by the lakeside inn that's how this adventure started so imagine how the rest went this is something you definitely don't want to miss it's exhilarating it's a different way to see like dora it's a different viewpoint to mount dora from the cat boat and the sunset from your front row seat it's pretty much indescribable it's something you definitely have to try out thank you so much for joining us today we hope that you learned about mount dora that i helped you plan your next trip to mount dora or that i help you kind of see what a trip to mondora would be like if you have not yet subscribed to my channel i'd love to invite you to subscribe and don't forget to click that like button it really helps my channel oh and by the way if you want to learn spanish remember there's a ton of resources here and also at teachercatalina.com muchas gracias and adios

Channel: Teacher Catalina

Views: 10,555

Keywords: perfect place for a weekend getaway, weekend getaway, weekend getaway ideas, weekend getaway vlog, downtown mount dora, lake dora, best places to live in florida, best places to live in florida 2021, best places to live in florida for families, best florida vacation spots, mount dora florida, mount dora fl, where to go in florida, where to go in florida for vacation, where to go in orlando florida, lake dora florida, mount dora, Teacher Catalina

Id: uzAvEsLxWks

Length: 37min 39sec (2259 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 12 2021