Savannah in a nutshell

My last installment of my Savannah trip.

What is Savannah all about?  When I first told people I was going down there they said I'd love it because of the quaintness.  Sure, it is old and historic, but honestly, it was different than I expected.  What is fabulous is that the downtown is all walkable. In fact, I highly suggest to anyone that visits to leave the car in the parking lot and start walking around.   Walk walk walk!   So, while I wasn't super impressed with Savannah, it is worth a short visit.

So, what is there to see?  There are quite a bit of antique shops and galleries.  There are a bunch of little local shops that are worth a quick walk around (especially if it is rainy).

The Colonial Park Cemetery is worth a walk through.  Many of the 'residents' of the cemetery had the yellow fever.  Also, during one of the wars, soldiers opened some of the caskets so they can sleep when it is warm.

 The planned city originally had 24 parks - 22 remain now.  Many of these 'squares' have a statue or fountain and of course benches and flowers.  Since there are so many in a small area, they generally are not crowded.  It is wonderful to have them when walking the city for a place to sit for a while.  The picture below is where Forrest Gump's park bench was in the movie - the bench is now in a museum - and was never a part of the park.

 In the largest of the parks, [Forsyth Park] is a large fountain and is one of the most photographed places in Savannah.  Near this park is the Mercer House, where the book "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" had a scene of a murder.   I haven't read the book (but will by next month) and I didn't take the tour. 

Spanish moss oak trees are all over.  They are spooky trees, especially in the cemetery...but they are more or less all over the city. 

The quaintness is evident on many of the side streets of the beauty of the buildings.  So many have these great staircases and outer decor (iron or wood), large windows, etc.  Some sidewalks are brick - but many are not. 

St. John the Baptist cathedral was beautiful.  I have to be honest, I am not a super religious person.  I stopped at a few of the old churches and saw a synagogue.  St. John's was established before the 18th century. 

 River street is a short area near the water that has a few shops and restaurants as well as a river front walking area with benches.  The Savannah river is narrow, however it must be deep since many large barges carrying containers travel down the river. The open area, when I was there, was used for a street fair. 

Food.  Such great food options.  I posted the other day about the new foods I tried.  Generally the restaurants seemed reasonably priced (although I am sure most areas outside of NYC tend to be more reasonable).  However, when I am with clients, we tend to go to nice restaurants (ones I wouldn't go to alone since they are pricier).  Unfortunately I can not remember the names of two of them at this moment, but the last one we went to was Elizabeth on 37th.  The mansion was beautiful and the food was amazing.  I had the seasonal soup for the appetizer - it was shrimp and squash soup.  For my entree I had Coastal Grouper Celeste (which I thought was delicious) and for dessert I tried the pecan pie with almond slivers.  The other food my clients ate looked amazing and delicious.

Tours.  There are TONS of tours.  Haunted tours, walking tours, trolley tours, house tours,  river tours, etc.  I did the one hearse tour which was about one hour in length. It was not spooky or anything.  I would have liked to do a walking tour, but there wasn't too much time. 

My overall experience was not amazing.  Maybe I like more 'action'...although I don't like nightlife.  I just felt like aside from the tours/home tours there was not a lot to do.  I walked the city quickly and then went back to take a nap...while it was still light out.  I felt like it didn't hold my interest as long as I would have liked it to.  I didn't get to see Tybee Island (that might have been nice) and I didn't see the non-historic area of Savannah.  I think my parents will like it (they will be checking it out soon) maybe I am too young to appreciate it?  I travel enough to know how to keep myself busy, but this was hard for the 3 days I was there.