The land of Spanish Moss.
In our trip through the South, Charleston and Savannah were a blast. We’d visit them again in a heartbeat over New Orleans. NOLA is somewhere to check off the been-to list, with nothing terribly memorable other than packed dirty streets. Charleston and Savannah have character, the kind of character I’d go back to visit.
Charleston, SC
We started off using Yelp to find 167 Raw for oysters, where we asked the bartenders for drink recommendations, which led us to The Belmont for cocktails, where we asked the bartenders for more food options, which got us a double-sided hand-printed list of restaurants. As a city, it’s surprisingly very hipster like the Bay area.
Recommendations
- 167 Raw. Oyster bar and good drinks. It’s a bit hefty on the wallet, but their oyster selection is great. We got a sampling of all east coast oysters.
- The Belmont. Cocktails.
- The Craftsmen. Beer.
- City Market. Open-air market with local artists and vendors.
- James Island County Park camping. Pricey but we hit it when their Christmas lights went up. It’s a HUGE 2+mi loop with a lake, dogpark, climbing wall, and they put up a giant light show around the park funded by local businesses. It’s the most impressive Christmas light show I’ve ever seen, and even more awesome that we stumbled upon it!
- Plantation tour. There’s 10+ plantations right near Charleston, each with their own focus. We went to Magnolia, which has a large garden and arboretum. Others focus more on history, or have more authentic era buildings.
Savannah, GA
Savannah is a smaller more quaint version of Charleston, is America’s most haunted city, and is where Forrest Gump was filmed.
Recommendations:
- Walk. Savannah’s main downtown area is only about 1mi x 2mi, with 22 green squares every 2 blocks or so in each direction. The streets are lined with heavenly Spanish moss covered oak trees that you see on magazine covers. Don’t miss the Colonial Park Cemetery, which you can walk right through, and which has tombstones dating back to the 1800s (not counting the tombstones that have worn off completely). Each square and historic site has a sign for your education.
- Savannah Bee Company. This was truly one of the best finds in Savannah. There’s a couple storefronts where you can taste their whole selection of honey (single flower vs mixed wildflower, whipped honey, spiced honey, honeycomb…). They also have a full offering of bath and body products, shirts, and awesome trinkets like woodcut keychains. Everyone in the store is energetic and passionate about bees. If you call a week ahead, you can schedule a tour of their bee garden in their Wilmington Island location.
- Take a historic carriage tour. We did this after getting 2 recommendations, even though it seems touristy, but I’d do it again. The tour guides educate you on the history and ghost lore of the city. We saw the first girl scout house, learned how to date buildings based on the brick laying, and saw filming locations from Forrest Gump.
- Jen’s and Friends. Hole-in-the-wall bar that serves 300 martinis, including rice krispy, pecan pie, fruity pebbles, and more. They’re really a work of art–think glass rim dipped in caramel and then coated with pecans (or a whole piece of rice krispy treat).
- Alligator Soul. Pricey restaurant, but the to-go place for exotic meat like elk, bison, yak, pheasant, alligator.
- Mata Hari. This is one of those not-on-google-maps, no sign, entrance in alleyway, secret key joint that you find in San Francisco. We had our server at Alligator Soul draw us a map of where it was–literally down an alley. We didn’t make it in, but it’s supposed to be a throwback to the 1920s with singers and absinthe.
- Camping. Can’t forget this. Red Gate RV, 6mi from town, was great.
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