Atlantica - 01.01.2004, Side 21

A T L A N T I C A 19
makes it a very good place for someone
like me," Pablo says.
THE REAL WORLD
Walk around the streets of South Beach
and you’ll understand the area’s charm.
It’s unlike the sterilized tourist traps that
so many other seaside resorts tend to
be. This is especially evident when you
walk the two blocks from Ocean Drive,
over Collins Avenue and to Washington
Avenue, where you feel like you are
entering a slightly rougher world. On
Washington Avenue you’ll find more
dollar stores, tattoo parlors and seedier
bars than you’ll see on Ocean Drive and
Collins Avenue. And the local characters
are also very different from the domain
of the tanned and fit beach people. It
makes you feel as if you are in a real
place rather than in fabricated surround-
ings. As with everything else in life, if it’s
too sweet and perfect it becomes bor-
ing. And that is something Miami Beach
definitively is not.
Florida
Jón Kaldal is the editor of Atlantica magazine.
Translation by Anna Margrét Björnson.
Icelandair flies three times a week
directly between Keflavík
International Airport and Orlando
International Airport in Florida. It
is 371 km/232 miles from the
Airport to Miami.
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