While spending a week at a timeshare in Doral FL we made a day trip to Vizcaya located between Miami and Coconut Grove. Named after one of the most captivating shorelines on the Spanish coast, Vizcaya Museum & Gardens captures jaw-dropping European extravagance in an enchanting American context. The home’s builder, James Deering, was a prolific industrialist (International Harvester) who explored uncharted territory in the creation of this ambitious home, planting his Renaissance-inspired estate at the heart of Miami’s tropical hardwood hammock. Although inspired by the earlier architectural style, the home was very innovative in it’s incorporation of the modern technology available at the time of it’s construction (1914), including everything from details on how the structure itself was built to the incorporation of modern touches such as a telephone switching system and a central vacuum system. Though he only wintered at Vizcaya from 1916 to 1925, upon James’s departure, the estate was left to his half-brother Charles. Deering’s adventurous spirit lives on to this day. The estate’s very emblem – “The Caravel” – commemorates a ship used during the “Age of Exploration.” As you begin your own exploration of this historic Miami icon, you’ll notice an image of the mythical voyager “Bel Vizcaya” at the entrance, marking the beginning of a most memorable journey ahead. ( https://www.miamiandbeaches.com/thing-to-do/attractions/vizcaya-museum-and-gardens/2025)