Car Rentals Tampa      

Discount Car Rentals in Tampa

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Things to do in Tampa

• Lowry Zoo
  Voted the number 1 zoo in the nation, again, by Parents Magazine, the Tampa Lowry Zoo is also a center for conservation and biodiversity for the state of Florida.  It is this area's only devoted zoological garden that was designed to increase the quality of life for the residents and visitors, with regard to leisure, education and conserving endangered species.  The wonderful and natural outdoor exhibits showcase the love and affection the state's residents have for the more than 2000 animals that reside here.  Coming from Florida and other habitats that are close to our own environment, this zoo includes a manatee hospital, a primate world, a safari Africa area, a native Florida wildlife center, Asian gardens, free-flight aviary and children's zoo, called Wallaroo Station.  There are rides, interactive exhibits and shows that will enthrall you and your family for an entire day or more.  Set on 56 beautiful tropical acres, with 7 natural habitats, the zoo continues it objective of educating the public and schools about the spectacular animals, plus it contains a center for saving endangered species from the state and world.  The zoo was first created in the later 1930s in Plant Park, with the usual animals indigenous to the Florida area and continued to grow.  In 1957, Mayor Nick Nuccio had it moved to Lowry Park, where it could be maintained by the Parks Department.  Gen. Sumter Lowry gave the zoo an 18 month old Asian elephant, Sheena, and this created an environment for greater growth and diversification.  Over the many decades since, the zoo has done just that, and today it is a marvel for adults and children alike.  In 2007, the zoo entertained over a million visitors and it was the fifth straight year that it had grown and was included in the best zoos in the country.  It is a fantastic place to bring the family and spend a day just watching and enjoying the many zany antics that these lovable creatures do for the many visitors to their world.
   

• Busch Gardens
  Busch Gardens in Tampa is celebrating their 50th anniversary this year and it has become the number one attraction in the bay area.  Back in 1959, the park was a free sanctuary for birds and a hospitality center for the Anheuser-Busch Brewery.  Today, it is home to over 2500 endangered and exotic animals, with the best roller coaster rides in the state.  Offering its visitors a fantastic adventure with wild animals, gift shops, restaurants and games, it is a spectacular destination for families from all over the world.  The new Jungala exhibit is a marvel for all those coming here with its delightful village set within tall trees, stone buildings and meandering waterways.  There is a 3 story play land with nets, mazes and tunnels and a zip line that whisks you through the trees or jump from a 35 foot waterfall.  This magnificent adventure allows you to come close and personal with many African animals and you can even have a tug of war with a Bengal tiger.  The Serengeti Night Safari allows you to see the feedings of hyenas, lions and hippos, and then the use of night vision glasses will open the plains to allow you to view the many herds that are roaming the property, giraffes, rhinos and zebras; plus a number of other wonderful animals.  This tour starts and finishes in the Safari Club, where special beverages and appetizers, coffee and desserts are served to keep your strength going.  A wonderful time to be enjoyed by all the family.  There are a few great dining spots, but the newest is the Zambia Smokehouse that sits just beneath the new roller coaster ride, where you can enjoy your smoked meal watching these frenzied folks screaming down the rails.  The new Sheikra coaster ride is very exciting as it travels a quick three minutes but seem more like hours as you climb 200 feet, then dive down at a 90 degree run, all in floorless cars that have you dangling like a small animal caught in some gigantic bird.  The 70 mile an hour thrill ride will startle your senses, but then you have a loop and roll, twice and a 138 foot drop that goes into a tunnel and finally a water basin.  Just one of the many roller coasters that will thrill and chill your spine and bring your adrenaline levels to new highs.  As you should guess, this is not for the faint of heart, but the more adventurous thrill seeker that loves to test their courage and resolve.  The Kumba, Montu, Gwazi, Cheetah Chase, Scorpion, Wild Surge and Jungle Flyers are the other roller coaster rides that will awe you.
   

• White Lightning Jet Boat Tours
  At Sandy Feet beach, the White Lightning Jet Boat tours is more than just getting into a jet boat and flying around the bay, there are so many other types of rentals that will give you and your family the best time in Tampa.  They have jet ski rentals, kayak rentals, kayak rentals with fishing equipment, dock fishing equipment with bait and instruction included, canoes, peddle boats, bike rentals, snorkeling gear, beachcomber packages, children's eco excursions, floats and rafts, water proof cameras, duck boat tours, beach transportation, dolphin cruise and parasailing.  The company also has a water shuttle to the downtown area, with various stops and drop-offs through out the area.  They have a dolphin and marine life tour that takes you down a river where the ocean fish will breed and feed, especially the dolphins, then after leaving the saltwater portion, you'll enter fresh water, where the manatee and other creatures will grab your attention, including alligator, snakes and wild birds like the eagle, osprey and vulture.  The sunset cruise is the perfect way to end a wonderful day, with fantastic colors spread across the water's horizon, with the grey-green-blue of the ocean water and the spectacular blue skies starting to disappear in the purple, red and orange sky.  Another exciting venue is the charter fishing that takes you into the bay where the tarpon weigh over a hundred pounds and are great to pull in, huge redfish, snapper, trout, bass, shark and more tug on your line giving you a one on one fight to the finish.

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• Museum of Science and Industry
  Hillsborough County set up funds for a youth museum on the side of the Hillsborough River in Sulphur Springs in 1962.  Soon after, the museum was renamed the Museum of Science and Natural History, with exhibits and educational agendas that were beneficial to adults and children.  It became the Hillsborough County Museum in 1967, with more exhibits and programs being added; and in 1972, added a professional director.  The museum's advisory board and staff received the money and land to create a unique building that would house the exhibits and programs in 1976 and moved to North Tampa and renamed to the Museum of Science and Industry.  Taking great advantage of past directors and staff, the nearby University of South Florida's design staff and the growth of the tech, industry and scientific areas to the Tampa area, this visionary, high-tech facility was constructed in 1980.  It opened in 1982 and has remained a fixture of enlightenment and education ever since.  In 1987, all the plans and needs of the museum for the present and future were considered and in 1988, 38 acres next to the museum was bought for expansion in the future.  Again in 1995, 23.5 acres were purchased and in 2000 another 3 acres bought, bringing the total size of the museum's property to 74 acres.  A 190,000 square foot science center with IMAX Dome theater, planetarium, library and additional exhibition expansions were finished in 1995 and in 1996 the Whitney Andrews Lang Center for Learning was incorporated and the Back Woods Nature Center built.  The renovation of the exhibits and programs started and the Southwest Florida Water Management District/Bank of America Bioworks Butterfly Garden was created that was a new type of water treatment facility and exhibit.  2005 found the opening of Kids in Charge!, a children's science center, the biggest in the country and the Gladys Shafran Kashdin Welcome Center was finished in 2001, making this museum the biggest in the southeast and 5th in the U. S.
    

•  Florida Aquarium
  Four distinct galleries are open to the incredible scenes of the ocean and waters around the state of Florida.  The gallery of the wetlands contains turtles, otters, alligators and a mangrove estuary with multitudes of fish.  In the gallery of bays and beaches, there are a number of animals that lay claim to the shores and near the shores their home.  They have dive shows each day, with close encounters and two tanks that allow you to touch them and cause the creatures inside to be attracted to the glass and come close for your personal viewing.  The next gallery contains a coral reef, set within a half a million gallon tank with over 1600 animals that make the reef their home.  The offshore gallery contains bigger marine animals like sea turtles, sharks, jellyfish and stingrays.  A touch tank is also included here that allows you to enjoy the closeness of sharks and rays.  The aquarium showcases the African black footed penguin with a wonderful show that has the penguins promenading for your enjoyment.  There is a newer feature called the explore-a-shore park where the children can play on a pirate ship and an area where streams of water shoot up from the ground.  There are slides, water spouts and playground equipment that will keep the kids busy for hours and another area where the kids can spray each other with the many water jet sprayers all around.  With over 20,000 plants and animals, you will never run out of things to see and do; and a new venue that allows children age 6 and above to swim in the tank with the fishes.  A penguin package encounter will let you have 30 minutes behind the scenes with the penguins to pet them and have a fantastic time interacting with these marvelous little creatures.  The aquarium has some spectacular programs for the children with on-site classes, field programs, boat programs, water wheels programs, outreach, sleepovers and teacher workshops.  They have camps for the children to learn, sea stars, scout adventures and so much more.  A really amazing adventure for the certified divers that are 15 years and older is the chance to dive with the sharks in a 93,000 gallon tank, that will show you how these monsters of the deep really interact with people.  A fantastic journey for kids of all ages.

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Local Restaurants in Tampa

Bern's Steakhouse At Bern's Steakhouse in Tampa, Florida, you will be pleasantly surprised by the attention to detail that these fine dining connoisseurs have lavished upon your plates.  Their extreme passion encompasses the hand cutting, preparations and precision broiling that brings your steak to the impeccably dressed table.  Raising the simplicity of cooking a steak to the intricacies of an artists vision of perfectly prepared steak, Bern's will take you into a world class dining establishment that will raise your perceptions of the culinary arts.  With the express understanding that the finest ingredients arrive only during a season, the menu does change, but only to offer the freshest and perfect organically grown ingredients.  A perusal of their exquisite menu follows; for appetizers; oysters on the half shell with 6 different oysters offered each night, with truffled mignonette, classic cocktail sauce, green Tabasco granita and horseradish sorbet; charcoal grilled day boat scallops in spicy herb butter; lump crab cakes with asparagus, golden mushrooms and choron sauce; Bern's spicy seared tuna with crispy shiitake scallion firecrackers, green papaya salad and spicy mango coulis; surf roll with Maine lobster, sushi rice, avocado, Thai herbs, coconut, mango, passionfruit ponzu and macadamias; black truffle tenderloin steak tartare with house potato chips; golden steak tartare with rye caraway toasts; chicken Bern is a marinated organic breast of chicken dusted in flour and sesame seeds, lightly sautéed with crispy mushroom Brian, organic mizuna and soy Armagnac sauce; goat cheese raviolis with wilted organic arugula, balsamic glazed portobellos and sundried tomato nectar.  Soups offered; vichyssoise with black truffle crème fraiche, osetra caviar, white truffle oil and shaved fried potato; Maine lobster bisque with golden mushrooms, roast corn, smoked bacon and chervil oil.  Salads include; steak house salad with house made bleu cheese, buttermilk ranch, cabernet sauvignon vinaigrette, citrus vinaigrette, Cleopatra (Caesar), creamy white balsamic Italian, French, Macadamia Vanilla bean vinaigrette, maple Dijon or thousand island; roast beet with goat cheese, herb salad, Dijon black truffle vinaigrette.  Entrees include their own French onion soup au gratin, steak house salad with choice of dressing, baked potato, onion rings and organic vegetables.  The steaks; filet mignon, Delmonico, chateaubriand, t-bone, porterhouse, strip sirloin.  They also offer lamb t-bones, and racks; veal strips, chops, filets and chateaubriand; pork tenderloin and chops; charcoal grilled chicken, roasted duckling; salmon, swordfish, or tuna Diane; lobster, or shellfish.   The Colonnade For over 65 years the Colonnade in Tampa has been serving nothing but the freshest finest ingredients, fish, beef, poultry and shellfish in the Tampa Bay area.  Using only the best ingredients, the restaurant makes its own dressings, soups, desserts and bakery goods.  The menu is mostly fresh fish, including grouper, served a number of ways like charbroiled, crunchy fried, piccata, Rockefeller, Russian and Oscar; Alaskan salmon charbroiled with dill Hollandaise sauce; catfish that are mild farm raised fillets, golden fried or Cajun fried; baked stuffed flounder with crabmeat stuffing; and whole mountain rainbow trout broiled or pan fried.  Shrimp specialties include; golden fried and hand breaded in their own blend; tropical marinated orange marinated jumbo shrimp on a stick charbroiled with special orange curry dipping sauce over rice pilaf; broiled stuffed with crabmeat, shrimp scampi, coconut fried and a sampler.  Crab and shellfish include; Maryland style crab cakes; bay scallops broiled in garlic butter, fried or sautéed; oyster pan fried or sautéed in garlic butter; crab imperial in a light cream sauce, served with potato, vegetables, tossed salad and hot muffins.  Pasta is seafood or jumbo shrimp, served with house or Caesar salad; combo platters with choice of any two; sos platter with jumbo shrimp, oysters and bay scallops; salmon and shrimp; anglers platter with grouper, scallops, oysters, jumbo shrimp and clam strips; captain's platter with clam or conch chowder, grouper, oysters, jumbo shrimp, scallops, clam strips and crab cake; all served with potato or vegetable, tossed salad or cole slaw and hot muffins.  The steaks and chicken menu includes; roast prime rib; Delmonico, filet or New York strip; tropical chicken breast orange marinated, charbroiled and rice pilaf with orange curry; southern fried chicken livers; or crunchy chicken breast with almond and corn flake coating, golden fried, served with sweet-n-sour dipping sauce, served with potato or vegetable, tossed or slaw and muffins.  Lobster is served in various ways, and sandwiches for the lighter fare.

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• Museum of Art Tampa
  Sitting on the banks of the Hillsborough River in downtown Tampa, the museum of art contains a variety of artist antiquities for people of all ages and backgrounds.  The collection includes 20th century and contemporary art, and a grand well known collection of Roman and Greek art.  Although the new location hasn't opened yet, not until the start of 2010, the exhibitions are spread out through the city.  The summer art camp is still running until the end of July and is a great place to let your children learn about the wonderful world of art.  The writing workshop will be held for eight weeks starting the end of August and is a great chance to fulfill your dream of writing.  The new building is 66,000 square feet and designed by Stanley Saitowitz of San Francisco fame.  The exterior of the building will be made of pierced aluminum and shimmer against the waters of the Hillsborough River, reflecting the scenery all around the area.  With translucent ceilings and stone floors, the state-of- the -art gallery will contain 5 different galleries and one exterior sculpture gallery; with an additional educational classroom equipped with the most modern technology in the world today.  These will all raise the level of enhancements that the overall experience will thrill you with.  There will also be outdoor events along the riverwalk and the museum is expected to become a world class venue for the arts. 
   

• Ybor City State Museum
  In 1886, Don Vincente Martinez Ybor, a Cuban exile who had been a cigar manufacturer ventured into a sandy palmetto covered area and started a city that attracted a multitude of immigrants, bringing their cultures and dreams to a new world and a new beginning.  Over the next few decades, Ybor City became the cigar capital of the world and Ybor City grew like Jack's fabled beanstalk.  The first factory opened its doors in 1886, that same year, and became the biggest factory in the world employing one fifth the 20,000 workers in the city.  Soon Spaniards, Italians, Cubans, Jews and Germans came and started businesses of their own with restaurants, hospitals, social clubs, newspapers and mutual aid societies.  The coop medical services was the first of its kind in the nation.  During the turn of the century, Ybor City was the support hub for the Cuban Revolution, and when the Spanish-American War started, many troops were stationed here; including Teddy Roosevelt and his Rough Riders.  As the years rolled by and the cigarette industry began to grow, as well as technology and machinery, the depression finally dampened the cigar industry in Ybor City.  Families were forced to move as the factories closed down and the unemployment rose.  The museum complex takes up a half a city block and has an ornamental garden and three houses that have been renovated that belonged to the workers of the cigar factories.  In 1976, the Ferlita Bakery building, that was listed in the National Register of Historic Places, was procured and opened in 1980 as a museum.  It was in its heyday, one of the main sources of bread and is the centerpiece of the complex.  The displays, ovens and other items have given visitors great joy and knowledge about the early years of the city and the shotgun houses of the cigar workers showed how the families lived during those times in history. 

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• Henry B. Plant Museum
  The museum is in the south wing of the Plant Hall on the University of Tampa's campus and was formerly the Tampa Bay Hotel, an opulent Moorish revival monstrosity that exemplified the Victorian age of gilded times by the super rich and the tourist industry that was just sprouting its wings in Tampa and the rest of Florida.  Constructed by railroad magnate Henry B. Plant in 1888, at a staggering cost of 2.5 million dollars, this hotel was one of the eight that Henry built to be the anchor of his massive rail line.  The hotel spreads out over 6 acres by itself and the length is a quarter mile.  The first elevator in Florida was installed here,  and it is still be used presently.  With 511 rooms, with electricity and telephones, many are suites made of 3 to 7 rooms each.  Most have private baths with full sized tubs and the overnight price range was $5 to $15, while the other hotels in the Tampa area were charging anywhere from $1.25 to $2 a night.  The structure was made of concrete and steel and advertised as being fireproof.  The impressive grounds included a casino, racetrack, golf course and bowling alley; all on 150 acres; with an indoor swimming pool that was heated.  There were 21 buildings on the property, 6 minarets, 3 domes and 4 cupolas.  During the early 1890s, they were brought back to their shiny stainless steel condition.  It operated from 1891 until 1930 and had some of the most famous people in the world stay there.  At the start of the Spanish-American War, Henry told the government that they could use the hotel as a base and while the high ranking officers stayed in the luxurious rooms, the enlisted men camped on the grounds.  Colonel Teddy Roosevelt and his Rough Riders were stationed there and used the grounds for training exercises.  Other well known included the Prince of Wales, Babe Ruth, Stephen Crane, Sarah Bernhardt, the Queen of England and Clara Barton.  Babe signed his first contract in the Grand Dining room and he was rumored to have hit his longest home run at the Tampa Fairgrounds stadium that was on the hotel grounds.
   

• Tampa Bay History Museum
  Hillsborough County was originally 14 times its present day size when Panfilo de Narvaez and Hernando De Soto came to this land in the early 16th century and exchanged food, technology and fibers with the natives that lived here.  Those historical moments are the earliest recorded dates when the European peoples came to this country, earlier than Jamestown and Plymouth; by almost a century.  The Tampa Bay area history came out of a task force that was created in 1986 and the mission was to inform and educate those that lived here and came here about the early history and beginnings of this fantastic state.  This history center gives the three million residents and fifteen million visitors the historical and educational services and programs about the events that followed that first year.  The permanent building, near the Fort Brooke reservation and home to the start of Tampa, holds 60,000 square feet of exhibits showcasing 500 years of recorded history and 12,000 years of humans living in the area.  Spanish conquistadors, Native Americans, cigar workers, pioneers, settlers, immigrants and emigrants, cowboys, entrepreneurs, workers, military and sports heroes, black, white, Hispanic, rural, old, Jewish, urban, young and visitors from all over the world have invested in this magical land called Florida, and no more so than the citizens of Tampa Bay and Hillsborough County.  With a tremendous amount of relics and items, totaling over 40,000 thus far, the history of the area is revealed and comes to life.

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• Fantasy Flight Balloon Rides
  Big Red Balloon sightseeing adventures will give you the best views of the Hillsborough and Pasco county landscapes.  These exciting flights will take you up to a 1000 feet in the early morning hours, with the big orange sun rising in the east, against a backdrop of brilliant bright blue skies.  Feel the light breezes caress your face, as the hot air balloon rises slowly in the morning mist, with the strange exotic aromas of the Florida tundras.  Get ready to watch deer dancing in the morning fields, alligators slowly crawling out of their watery homes to lay on the banks of ponds, rivers and streams, raccoons scurrying along the water's edge, and an eagle lift off of a tall southern oak full of Spanish moss.  The sense of adventure and anticipation spreads through your body and the hairs on the back of your neck perk up, ready for whatever sights will come your way.  Herons, storks, sandhill cranes and ducks fly by quizzically wondering what and who you are that enter their private realm in the skies.  Watch for a moment the vultures that sit serenely in their lofty lairs waiting patiently for the smell, the sight, the last sounds that their breakfast makes.  The thrilling adventure of a lifetime stirs up inside you as the balloon reaches its 1000 foot height and you start cruising by the wind's soft powers.  With a perfect safety record, these professional pilots take you over the bay of Tampa, the city itself and out a ways into the Gulf of Mexico.  You will watch the balloon as it is inflated, then take off for the fantastic adventures that will await you.  Share a champagne toast and hot brunch, while you sail the winds and view the incredible sights that unfold below you.

• American Victory Mariners Memorial & Musuem Ship
  The mission; create an authentic environment that is conducive to the ongoing education of the maritime's history and all the peripheral people, wars and memorabilia that are important facets of the Merchant fleet since its inception in 1775. The museum is a living growing entity of historical significance that entails everything that is related, or part of the maritime industry and the people involved in it.  One of the main aspects of the museum is the complete renovation of a 1940s period merchant cargo vessel that was part of the Second World War, the Korean and Vietnam Wars.  The entire ship is available to be viewed, including the cargo holds on three separate levels, weaponry, lifeboats, radio and gyro rooms, flying bridge, crew cabins, hospital, reefers, chartroom, engine room, crew and officer messes, steering stations and signaling equipment.  This museum on the water, called American Victory, contains U.S. Merchant Marine uniforms, documents, medals, photos of the Victory and other ships, personal recollections of sea life, hands-on displays, documents and navigational equipment.  This ship's great history began just after it was launched from the Los Angeles California Shipbuilding Yard on May 24, 1945.  Its initial mission was to carry military cargo to the Philippines and Shanghai, China to unload, then onto Calcutta and Port Said, Egypt; and finally home to New York in January 1946.  She continued on making her exciting history throughout the 40s, 50, and 60s, then into the 80s and 90s; when she finally make her last port of call, Tampa, in 1999.

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• Big Cat Rescue Tampa
  Sometime during 1992, Carole Baskin and her husband, were visiting a animal auction for exotic animals, when a man entered pulling in a six month old bobcat his wife no longer wanted.  Carole ended up bringing her home and started raising her; named her Windsong, fed her, gave her the love she wanted and responded the normal ways that pets do.  Except that Windsong only could bond with one person, and Carole's husband was left out.  They decided to get a cub for him, and found a seller in Minnesota the next year.  They drove up and found that the place was a fur farm, raising cubs for fur, but selling a few for pets.  They would raise the cats for a year, and then slaughter them for the underbelly fur that was the softest, and threw the rest away.  These beautiful exotic animals were kept in cages with fur and feces layered so that that the bottom couldn't be seen or found and the flies were so thick that Carole, her daughter, husband and friend had to cover their mouths with handkerchiefs so that they would not inhale the pesky nasty flies.  Thrown to the side of a  shed, they saw the discarded carcasses of belly skinned bobcats, Siberian lynx and Canadian lynx.  Dumbfounded by disgust and disbelief, she inquired if the market was that good; and the response was that it was dying out as so many had protested the fur business, and others were sold.  What couldn't be sold for pets would be skinned for the fur.  There were 56 kittens in the cages located there.  Making a deal with the breeder, Carole bought all the kittens and the entire lot of cats, if he would stop breeding cats for fur; which he said he would since the trade was dying out and he still had mink, fox and other animals.  They bought every king of carrier they could find to bring the cats and kittens home and headed back to Florida.  Carole and her family had taken on an enormous responsibility, that turned out to be time consuming and life consuming.  They got back to Florida and started a sanctuary on 40 acres they picked up in foreclosure and the Big Cat Rescue sanctuary was started.  God bless you Carole, and all those that are part of this magnificent center.  The horrors that have gone on and continue to happen to animals, exotic or otherwise in this country, is deplorable, disgusting and evil.  The site is http://www.bigcatrescue.org/.  The Florida panther is one of the endangered, rare breed of cats.  The biggest threat?  Humans..  Did you know that is legal to raise lions for people, human beings, to eat?  Restaurants with lion meat on their menus.  This country raises enough cattle, pigs, chickens, lambs, and vegetables to feed its people with plenty of food being scrapped or wasted.  Should we also include exotic animals, pets, and other creatures that help us, in so many ways?  With a nation that has a third of its population becoming obese and needing medical and other attention, do we really need to eat all these animals?
   

• Tampa Rico Cigar Company
  The King Corona Cigar company is on its fifth generation and has brought the family business to it finest heights.  Their hand rolled cigars has been a fixture for many years in the Ybor City business and has now moved into the Tampa area to better serve its clientele and the millions of visitors that come to this great city on the Gulf of Mexico.  Selling the world's best handmade cigars, they also feature many of the handmade cigars still being created in Ybor City and Cuban Cuayaberas, the Cuban dress shirt that is very comfortable and in style still today.  The shop plays a lot of music to enhance the atmosphere and cigar making, and sells all the music it plays, especially Cuban and Latin American.  Some of the wonderful cigars that are hand rolled in Ybor City include Churchill, Rothchild, Light of Ybor, Pluro Placer, Don Barco and Torpedo.  The cafe is located in the shop with many great delicacies, coffees, homemade sangrias and other foods for your pleasure and enjoyment.  The store sells Tampa t-shirts, hats, and more.  It is a great place to visit while in the Tampa area and the best spot to stop and have a hand rolled cigar and drink.

July 30, 2009