Miami Adventures Part II

On the Way to the Wynwood Walls

Friday was our hectic day of moving around in the crazy Floridian heat.

We woke up, had some yummy breakfast at the hotel and then headed to Bayside Marketplace.  

The Bay

We weren’t originally going to go there, but our native Miami Uber driver suggested it. We thought it would be a real marketplace but in reality it was an air conditioned outdoor mall.  It was quite a cute shopping mall, but we probably didn’t actually need to go there. Jersey and New York are filled with similar shopping spaces so we could have skipped it if we had known but as a result of going we did have some hilarity ensue as soon as we realized how much New York stuff was around.  We even made a video because we were so amused by the abundance of NY stores and buses… plus the fact that not once, but twice, we unexpectedly found stores filled with Turkish merchandise.

The start of our art journey for the day

First I found a store that was filled with the Turkish Eye. Then I looked at some lovely men's shirts. When Baros tried one on, we discovered that it was made in Turkey. I am quite good at finding things from Turkey by accident.

Bayside is a really nice mall, and if you’re traveling to Miami from an area lacking a large mall, it's a nice place to visit, beat the heat and do some souvenir shopping.  It’s a great combination of local and touristy (you can get boat tours from the bay and bus tours from the lot). However, if you’re coming from within the U.S. and you have a good mall in your area, this might be a bit redundant.

The good thing about going to the mall is that we found some hats to prepare us for our sunny, humid walk to Kush and the Wynwood Walls.  Even though we were slathered in 100 SPF neither of us felt safe in the bright sun and heat. When two lobster prone people take a walk in the hot Floridian sun, they have no choice but to take extra precautions.

So armed with our hats and waters, we took a forty minute walk to Kush in the blazing sun, through a neighborhood that is currently mostly under construction (things we didn’t realize ahead of time). We had a good walk, but we would definitely just uber next time.  

We got to Kush with its glorious A.C. and had a lovely light lunch of gator bites and guacamole with tortilla

Glorioua Gator bites

chips.  We also tried some amazing beers and the State dessert: Key Lime Pie. The gator was really good so I definitely recommend trying some gator whenever you have a chance! Everything at Kush was delicious and it was such a nice calm spot to eat so going there was definitely worth it. !

Once we were sufficiently cooled, we walked over to Wynwood Walls. This

15-minute-walk was well worth it. I had to reapply my sunblock again since the sun was pounding us, but the walk itself was gorgeous.  There was so much beautiful graffiti and street art to admire. Here are just a few that we saw, you'll find the rest in another post.

Then, about a minute from the Wynwood walls, we stumbled upon Morelia Gourmet Paletas.  We took a couple of minutes to refresh ourselves and shared a delicious paleta/ice pop. So fresh and delicious. It was a great way for us to recoup momentarily so we could really enjoy our time at Wynwood.

Our dark chocolate covered mango paleta with coconut

After that we popped into the Wynwood Walls and had so much fun staring at the different graffiti art. It’s the

first time that Baros and I have been to an art-museum-esque place so we had a blast exploring it.  Wynwood Walls is a lovely space that really lets grafitti/street art shine. It had different modern/contemporary styles with different mediums and scale. We had a lot of fun running around seeing the different pieces.  We took a ton of pictures and just enjoyed discussing the various works and about what we thought about them. There were a lot of fascinating pieces: some made you think, while others inspired laughter and joy. I think there was definitely something for everyone to like.

Making Friends

Chilling with  a golden elephant

Chilling with a view of the city

 Being one of the birds 

Once we saw all of the Wynwood Walls (including the indoor areas) we took another brief walk.   

A little love

We took some more pictures of street art on the way to BoxElder. I wish we could’ve spent even more time in the neighborhood, but heat was definitely a major factor for us. Next time, I would love to go closer to the evening so we can avoid some of the heat but still enjoy the golden hour.

By the time we got to BoxElder, we were definitely hot and sweaty again and possibly just a little sunburnt so the cool air was most welcome.  The very chill atmosphere and laid-back vibe was also very welcome. The bartender and patrons were super friendly and helpful It was bright inside so you could see the colorful bottles of beautifully labeled beer lining the wall. The lighting was perfect to see the numerous taps and the wooden bar and floors.  

We had decided to go to BoxElder after watching a youtube video (which one you ask? I don’t remember anymore lol) that gave it high reviews.  It looked like a nice place to relax and try an interesting variety of beers which is very true.

The list of beers is quite varied both in types and where they’re from.  Some are local, others not.

Even though BoxElder doesn’t have flights to try, we decided to get a few half pints to try more than one beer each.

We tried four of the ever rotating batch. I wish I could remember which! And the menu has already rotated so I have to look closely at my pictures to check.  

My favorite was the strawberry cider but I was still sad that I couldn’t try the other cider.  When we walked in, the bartender stamped our menu to show that they had run out. Sadness.

I would definitely love to go back whenever we get back to Miami and Wynwood.

After some refreshing beer and lovely conversation, we headed over to Little Havana for some music and ice cream.  

Little Havana wasn’t quite what I expected, maybe because we arrived at 5 it felt a little lifeless.  The Calle de Ocho Walk of

Fame was in front of McDonalds and a little disappointing. It felt like a passive idea that people just walked across without giving a second thought. I still loved the artwork on the walls and the exuberance of the people we did encounter, however, overall Little Havana was more quiet than I had been expecting.  I wish we could have made it for Viernes Culturales, but that’s only on the last Friday of the month which we missed by one week. I liked the Domino Park but we didn’t go inside since we didn’t want to interrupt the games, but maybe we should have attempted to play a round. I was a little shy.

There was one spot in Little Havana that was vibrantly alive and it was a bar called Ball & Chain right next to the famous Azucar Ice Cream Company.  It had amazing live music playing right by the doors and people were Salsa dancing right in the entrance. They added some much needed energy and vibrancy to the street. Sadly, we weren’t hungry enough to try any food or drink so we didn’t go inside to order but we’ll definitely stop in next time we make it to Miami.  However, we did listen to the music and video the music for a little while because the live musicians were amazing and so talented. It was so much fun to be a part of, even though we chose not to dance this time.

After listening and walking for a while, we circled back to try Azucar Ice Cream Company. It was the one place that we had heard about over and over again when researching Little Havana so we were really excited to try it.  We both LOVE ice cream. It’s basically my favorite food. Given the opportunity, I would eat it every single day of my life. That’s only a minor exaggeration. Baros is slightly less obsessive about it, but he still loves ice cream too.  We were a little sad though because although it was good, it did not quite live up to the hype. It was tasty, but not the best ice cream I’ve ever had and not the best Baros has had either. We are ice cream aficionados and I have been spoiled by my love of gelato as well, so take that with a grain of salt.  I'm also going to include a separate review so you can understand why we felt that way.

After our ice cream escapade, our energy levels were depleted and we went back to the hotel to rest a little and get ready for dinner.  

We decided to try YardBird, another restaurant that had consistently appeared in our searches.  Yardbird had incredible reviews and after trying it, Baros and I are completely on board. I have so many amazing things to say about Yard Bird, from the food to the waiter, to the bartender, we just had an overall fantastic experience. You should definitely go to YardBird if you have the opportunity! They have, I believe, 5 other locations and we would definitely eat at all of them after this first experience with them in Miami.

Mac and cheese plus the famous chicken and waffles and watermelon

Between Yardbird and Joe's Stone Crabs we have not been able to pick a favorite. They are such different restaurants with incredibly different menus that you have to try both.  If you want some Southern home style cooking Yardbird is the place to go but if you're in the mood for incredibly fresh seafood, you have to try Joe's Stone Crabs. These were definitely the top two restaurants we tried while in Miami. Kush was a close third.

After eating our fill at YardBird, we went back to the hotel and after some debate we went for a midnight swim. We were so full and sleepy after our meal that we almost went straight to bed but we're glad we didn't since it was one of the most relaxing moments on our Miami trip. We got to enjoy our the moonlit pool.  It was delightful even though there was part of a wedding party being on the loud side at the other end of the pool. We ended up swimming and relaxing till 2 in the morning without realizing how much time had passed.

It was the perfect end to a long day!

See Part I and Part III of our adventures too!