Savannah, GA.

We tried to think of another town similar to Savannah.

I think, when you travel, you try to match an area in your mind with somewhere else you have been before.

We simply could not do it with Savannah.

The water, the bridge and the fog reminded us of San Francisco. Savannah is more manageable though.

It does have a bit of a mysterious feel, comparable to Salem. That comparison really doesn't work either. The town is bigger, and the history is more established. It feels more current.
Savannah is unique. I cannot think of another place that is similar.

We only had a couple of days in the area, and we wanted to make the most of it. There were a ton of things we wanted to do and see. A co-worker friend used to live here and made many suggestions.

The main suggestion was to eat a lot of local food. No problem. To be honest though, I am not one to travel for food. I know a lot of people who put dining at the top of their list for reasons to travel.

I look at eating on vacation as a pleasant necessity. I would rather spend half an hour eating at a local sandwich shop and 2 hours site seeing than 2 and a half hours at a notable restaurant. My time on vacation is more valuable to me than that.

Still, we made time to hit a couple of nice places.

At the suggestion of some locals, we spent $11 each at Windows, the restaurant at the downtown Hyatt. For 11 bucks, you can have their buffet. This included an amazing sweet tea.

For the record, ALL sweet tea in Savannah is amazing. I think there must me a law in Savannah that restaurants must have perfect, fresh sweet tea. I would go back here for the sweet tea alone.

Windows was a nice place all around. I had some great crab soup, chicken, and salad. PLUS, they have an entire wall that is a window looking out. The bridge photo posted was taken from my seat inside of Windows.

The other great restaurant we ate at (again, a nice affordable buffet with sweet tea!) was the Pirate House. The meal was great. Oddly, they had some BBQ on the buffet that rivals any. They had some greens and pie that was perfect too, but they did their BBQ right.

Savannah Jim (one of our trolley drivers) told us that there were two pits in the Pirate House that pirates used for kidnapping! Savannah Jim was right, there were two pits inside! There is a pirate at the Pirate House that gives tours of the place too! I am glad we went to the Pirate House.

We went by the Mercer house, famous for its associations with Johnny Mercer and also for a murder later that inspired the film and book, "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil."

Johnny Mercer is mentioned everywhere! There is a cool statue, and our trolley drives sang and played "Moon River" more than once. It was actually very pleasant!

We stopped by the small shop that is entirely devoted to "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil." I think is is so exciting that an entire store is devoted to a book! One book!

There are many other houses here to check out. The former homes of Flannery O'Connor and Juliette Gordon Low (founder of the girl scouts) are here.

We spent a lot of time on a trolley tour this time around. We spent more time on the trolley this time around for a couple of reasons.

We arrived in Savannah on a very rainy and cloudy day. We planned on doing a haunted/ghost type tour that evening. We changed our mind at the last minute, because of the weather.

The concierge at the Hyatt recommended a trolley ghost tour. Not only that, but he helped us get a great deal on a historic trolley tour the next day!

I think this was our 1st ghost trolley tour ever. We usually do the lantern thing. I do prefer walking on the side walks and taking late tours like this on foot. It feels more authentic and creepy. The trolley felt like a safe bet, considering the weather..

That's a personal preference though. The trolley tour was still very fun. This tour was a bit more theatrical than tours we have taken in other towns, which was an enjoyable change. Our tour guide was witty and comically creepy (she was almost a female version of the Crypt Keeper). There was a stop on the tour when we went into a small pirate themed theater for a short presentation from a period dressed actor. This was effective and fun.

The next day, we took the historic trolley tour around town. This was well worth the ticket price. There were 15 trolley stops and pick up areas around town. The drivers talked non stop about the sites and places of interest. It was very informative. Plus, with the on/off privileges thing going on, you could hear about the sites and get off for a closer look. We took the tour around once, and then took it around again getting on and off several times. Savannah Jim was one of the many drivers we really liked. If you are going to Savannah, check out the orange and green trolley tour guys.

http://www.trolleytours.com/savannah/

The river front shopping area is a lot of fun here in town. In addition to finding a bunch of t-shirt and postcard type shops, there are some amazing candy shops around. They all were very attractive with fun to watch furnishings (one candy shop had a conveyor belt transporting pieces of candy to a display from the back of the shop to the front). Most were giving away samples as you walked in.

This is a great town for statues and monuments too. In addition to historic cemeteries, there are some nice war monuments, and some great statues. Check out my photo of the Johnny Mercer statue and my photo of the torch monument from the Olympics.

All of the locals and our tour guides gave a lot of praise to local Paula Deen and the Savannah College of Art and Design. It seems the College has restored a lot of historic buildings and really made some places look better than they did previously. I heard nothing but praise for those guys. I think Paula Deen is just popular everywhere. I love her.

The town feels very historic, but also very happening. There is the history and the past. There is also the now. You feel the history here, but you also feel like more is going to come out of the area. There are names of legends from the past who have lived here- and you also hear the names of legends in the making.

And, as the area moves forward, there is a deep respect for the past. I think that is what I enjoyed most about the place. Walking down the streets you see well preserved homes and park areas left and right- all well maintained.

This is a very attractive town.