The time had arrived; Saturday at 2:00 PM: CHOCOLATE TIME!

After first reading about this tour in the St. Augustine/ Ponte Vedra, Florida’s Historic Coast 2013 Travel Planner, I immediately ran to the computer to look up the tour on Trip Advisor. Good news; the reviews were positive, so I was ready to book our tour( http://www.staugustinecitywalks.com )!

As I mentioned in my previous post, I was very happy that Isabelle added a tour to their calendar, just for us. As it turned out, we were the only two on Ed’s tour, yesterday afternoon. Lucky us!

The reviews had all emphasized the quantity (and quality) of chocolates, chocolate desserts, and chocolate drinks that would be served during the tour. So, a strategy was hatched: Bring a thermal bag with a sheet of re-freezable ice and take my servings (except drinks) to go. We would then share Bruce’s servings.

As it turned out, it worked out to be a perfect strategy. At the end of the tour, we weren’t stuffed or sick. And, I am now enjoying another amazing serving of chocolate covered cannelloni, as I peck this out on my netbook…

Before I continue, I must pause here to thank my very willing and enthusiastic sherpa: Bruce. Without Bruce, I would have had a very sore neck from carrying and increasingly heavier bag, due to the full-sized desserts we were given on the tour, along with our packages of chocolates and bottled water.

Our guide for the tour, Ed, was a very upbeat and enthusiastic guy, who also happened to be a speech professor at Flagler College. Speech is the appropriate topic for him to teach, because, man, that guy could talk! But, he was very knowledgeable about the history of St. Augustine, so we received a good history lesson, in between our chocolate indulgences.

We didn’t have to walk far on this City Walks tour for our first chocolate stop; we went right next door from the Tours Saint Augustine/ St. Augustine City Walks office to meet Mark, owner of The Market on Granada; a specialty gourmet shop that sells a chocolate infused red wine ( http://www.themarketongranada.com ). We were poured a glass of Chocolate Rouge wine (Modesto, California) to pair with creamy Havarti cheese and Le Gruyere cheese. Wow; what a great pairing!

Ed asked us to save half of our wine serving for our next pairing: Claude’s Chocolates (http://www.claudeschocolate.com/ ) . Located in the back of the same shop, Claude’s is a small chocolatier, selling high-end, high-quality European style chocolates. Claude’s best friend and mentor is Jacque Torres; a world renowned chocolatier and pastry chef. The two grew up together and Jacque taught and trained Claude in the fine art of making premium chocolates.

Claude learned well. His chocolates were as exquisite as what I had remembered enjoying from the best chocolatiers I visited and bought chocolates from in Belgium. We tasted three different dark chocolates and paired them with our chocolate infused wine. HEAVEN.

We then got to select four chocolates each, as well as our preferred variety of chocolate bark to take in boxes to go. Bruce let me select his four for him. I married a great guy, didn’t I? Although, I’m sure any of Claude’s chocolates are amazing!

Next stop: Right next door (again!) to Hot Shots Bakery & Café (http://www.hotshotbakery.com/ ) . Hey, I thought this was supposed to be a walking tour! How are we supposed to walk off all that chocolate if we keep going door-to-door? We got a good laugh out of that, but it was very convenient!

Hot Shots served us a “Chocolate Cloud”; chocolate cake topped with chocolate mousse and covered with dark chocolate. Decadent! I was very happy they packed one to go, because it was quite rich and filling!

We continued on our walking tour to Vino Del Grotto, a “Galleria Lounge” where wine tastings are offered, desserts and coffees served, wine and gourmet goodies are sold, and gorgeous art hangs on the walls (http://vinodelgrotto.com/ ).

We tasted everything pictured below; some mixed together in a decadent chocolate cocktail. I enjoyed it all, but we went crazy over the chocolate balsamic. We returned later, after the tour, to buy a bottle. (Shhhh! Don’t tell them this, but we would have bought a bottle, anyway, even if we hadn’t each been given a $2 off coupon!)

In between stops, Ed filled us in on St. Augustine’s history; much of what we had already heard on the previous nights’ City Walks tour with Maggie. But, we didn’t mind; the history of St. Augustine is full of interesting tales, well worth telling and hearing again.

All of our stops were within the Old Town and Spanish Quarter of St. Augustine; the most historic and picturesque part of the city. And, we were fortunate to have a beautiful day to enjoy.

Our next stop brought us to Chianti Room (http://www.pizzalleyschiantiroom.com/ ); an Italian restaurant that gets very good reviews on Trip Advisor. If their chocolate covered cannoli is any indication of how good their other food is, I would highly recommend this restaurant when you visit St. Augustine. If you don’t go there for dinner, at least go for dessert; specifically THIS dessert. I have never been particularly crazy for cannoli; I can take it or leave it. But, one bite of this chocolate cannoli and I was smitten. No, I was HOOKED. Seriously. If I lived in St. Augustine, I would get into BIG trouble (both in the wallet and waistline) with that stuff!

Needless to say, when Bruce passed on sharing the remainder of the second serving, tonight, and let me polish it off on my own, I was seriously smitten with HIM!

At this point, we waddled out of Chianti Room, staggering in a chocolate stupor to our next chocolate stop: Crucial Coffee (http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g34599-d2390703-Reviews-Crucial_Coffee_Cafe-Saint_Augustine_Florida.html ) .

Thank goodness for our thermal bag. By this point, we really needed it. (Note to Isabelle at St. Augustine City Walks: Suggest to your boss he has some thermal bags made with “St. Augustine City Walks Tour de chocolate” printed on it. You could sell them to your tour customers, specifically for this tour! And, you can pay my commission for the idea in Claude’s chocolate or Chianti Room chocolate cannoli!)

At Crucial Coffee, we were killed with chocolate (and wine) kindness. We were first poured a glass of pinot noir, to enjoy in their lovely outdoor café, while admiring the quaintness of the little hut where they operate. It dates back to the late 1700’s where a blacksmith used to work.

Our glass of wine was followed by a frozen mint hot chocolate drink that was refreshing and delicious. We thought that would be it, which would have been just fine with us. But, it was followed by a dessert trio of homemade dark chocolate peanut butter cups, a chocolate covered strawberry, and vanilla ice cream topped with a dark chocolate garnish. Awesome!

Now, we were on a serious chocolate high, as we buzzed up the steps to Fudge Buckets (http://fudgebuckets.com/ ), to taste various flavors of fudge. I had previously purchased four “buckets” (and got a fifth bucket free), on the recommendation of other Trip Advisor reviewers, so I am now well stocked for a fudge tasting encore, upon our return.

Mercifully, this concluded our Tour de Chocolate. Ahhh, but I was one happy camper! My taste buds were smiling.

We had great fun on our tour and enjoyed our time with Ed. The only thing missing was not hearing more about chocolate history and facts; something I would include if I ran a similar tour. But, I did learn one thing about St. Augustine’s chocolate history: Chocolate made its way to St. Augustine’s shores in 1671; long before Milton Hershey came on to the seen!