No fast-food chains or hotel complexes, but the flair of “old Florida” in the Gulf of Mexico: Anna Maria Island is so refreshingly different.
It’s quiet on the streets and beaches of Anna Maria Island. If life here had a speed limit, it would certainly be under ten miles an hour. AMI, as the twelve-kilometer-long island is affectionately called, is about an hour’s drive south of Tampa on the Gulf of Mexico – and it took my heart by storm. Here, far away from the vibrant nightlife of Miami or the hustle and bustle of the amusement parks around Orlando, you can experience cozy Florida; a Florida of almost forgotten days.
If you ask people living or vacationing here how they would describe the atmosphere on the island, you always get the same answer: “Laid-back”, that is, relaxed, is life and everyday life. This is not just a phrase, no, on Anna Maria Island this philosophy is like a living practice, as I shall experience myself during the course of my trip.