The 2014 St Augustine Sister Cities Association Delegation to Avilés Spain.

Sister Cities International of St Augustine Florida USA is dedicated to improving the cultural and economic understanding and cooperation with member cities around the world. Our motto: “Think globally, thrive locally”.

In 1924, after years of no diplomatic contact between Spain and the United States, St Augustine Florida sent a delegation to Avilés Spain to commemorate the founder of St Augustine and native son of Avilés Don Pedro Menéndez de Avilés. That visit opened the door for the normalization of diplomacy between our two countries and reconnected our nations’ two oldest Sister Cities.

The above photo in 2014 was taken on the same site as the official delegate photos (below) taken back in 1924.

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome and charitable views of men cannot be acquired by vegetating in one corner of the Earth all one’s lifetime.” – Mark Twain