Visit Savannah

As a fun getaway for July 4 weekend, Johnny and I trekked to sweet Savannah, Georgia!

First of all, wow. This city is BEAUTIFUL! We could’ve spent the entire weekend walking between parks and enjoying different views of the city from park benches.

{This is a Savannah photo dump. You’ve been warned.}

Since I almost always fly Southwest (collecting those points), and since Southwest doesn’t fly direct to Savannah, we instead chose to fly to nearby Charleston, SC, and pick-up a rental car to travel the rest of the way. What an awesome decision!

As a result, we got to spend July 4 afternoon at Fort Sumter in Charleston. Very patriotic, indeed. After a short ferry ride to the fort, we spent about an hour exploring the remains and what has been restored. The history nerd in me loved every moment!

We made the short 2-hour drive to Savannah shortly after leaving the fort, since we  had dinner reservations at The Olde Pink House.

Since we got to see and do so much in just a few short days, I’m organizing the rest of this post by food and fun. Half the fun in Savannah is the great food!

FOOD

We started at The Olde Pink House, something that nearly everyone recommended when I mentioned our trip on facebook. The history of the house was fun to learn, the backdrop was fun, and the food was delicious. This was our priciest meal of the trip, but it was fun to spoil ourselves with a luxury meal in an historic home (if you’re going to spend money on something, it might as well be great food, right?!).

We both started with a delicious watermelon/arugula/feta/balsamic salad, which was a perfect treat for a hot day.

Then I had the pecan-crusted chicken in blackberry sauce with collard greens and sweet potato. Absolutely amazing!

We also had recommendations to check out Leopold’s for ice cream. Done and done! There was a line to get in the door, but we were entertained by a young boy who just absolutely loved smiling and chatting. The ice cream was definitely worth the wait, too.

B. Matthew’s Eatery was another place recommended, and it was probably my favorite meal of our trip. So simple, we both ordered the classic burger. Not only was the meat delicious, they topped it with spicy/sweet homemade mustard and cooked mustard greens. I’ve never had cooked greens on a burger before, and I don’t think I can go back to cold lettuce!

The only photo I managed to snap was of the bread with homemade honey butter. A-maz-ing.

Speaking of honey, we stopped by Savannah Bee Company to enjoy a tasting! You take a small spoon and can sample all the different kinds of honey. My favorite was the Tupelo Raw Honey. They didn’t have any of the carry-on 3 oz. size containers, but I did order some online when I returned home! It’s delicious, I highly recommend it.

Our final Savannah meal was enjoyed at Huey’s on the River. The food was ok, pretty standard breakfast fare (Johnny’s breakfast omelettes are better!), but we loved the scenery — right on River Street, a must-see point in Savannah. We even ate at one of their outside tables.

FUN

One thing Johnny definitely wanted to do on our trip was visit the Mercer Williams House. We watched Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil prior to our trip, which is filmed in Savannah, partially in the Mercer Williams House. Though the house is privately owned, the gardens and first floor are open for tours.

We also took an historic trolley ride through the city. I’m so glad we did this, even though I usually shy away from anything that screams ‘tourist’! We had a blast with our tour guide/driver and picked up a few facts we would not have found on our own. She did a great job of combining the high points of Savannah with her own personal experiences.

River Street was another area people recommended we check out during our trip. We made the mistake of first checking it out on July 4, when it was super packed. After quickly deciding that we couldn’t see much while fighting our way through the crowd, we decided to come back the next day when it wasn’t so full of people.

My favorite part about venturing to River Street? The stairs! They’re steep and old, and I loved every moment of climbing them. (there are elevators to gain access to River Street, too.)

Savannah is the first “planned” city in the United States, and James Oglethorpe designed it to have wide streets, lots of green squares/parks, and easy access to the river.

Forsyth Park is the biggest green space in the city, and by far my favorite to visit. I loved walking from Forsyth to River Street and back…we did this several times, mostly to “walk off” our amazing meals.

We spent the better part of one day visiting Tybee Island, Savannah’s “coastal” destination. Johnny was enchanted by the warm Atlantic waters – we Marylanders are used to cold ocean water, even in the middle of summer.

The beach was crowded for the July 4 holiday, but we found a sweet spot and spent some time in the sun and sand.

Savannah was such a fun, romantic, southern city to visit. I can’t wait for our next adventure!