By Cathy H. Burroughs, International Travel Writer & Adventure Blogger, journeyPod.com
It is no wonder Conde Nast Traveler voted Savannah – home to much loved composer of Moon River’s Johnny Mercer, writer Flannery O’Connor and cotton gin inventor Eli Whitney – one of the top 10 cities in the US. You may recognize from its resplendent 2.2 block historic district the settings for so many movies it could almost be a Hollywood South (after Atlanta that is!), revealing what a treasure this city truly is.
Getting Around: Try a Personalized Tour of Savannah
This imminently walkable city offers trolley tours, romantic horse and buggy rides, absolutely free buses, water taxis and more, even affordable custom tours. Harriet Meyerhoff’s Personalized Tours of Savannah (912-234-0014 – www.savannahsites.com) will immerse you in the layers of intrigue that the trolley tours only tease you with.
A Haven for Foodies
Savannah showcases an amazingly versatile culinary scene that will appeal to any palette. These range from the outrageous, heaping, gravified Southern style home cooking buffets such as Lady and Sons or Mrs. Wilkes to sophisticated sea to table/ farm to table nouvelle inventions. There’s a cool outside South African snack bar Zunzi’s with Dutch, Swiss and Italian influences now with an indoor restaurant you’ll want to try. Definitely prepare to make some restaurant finds here, and plan on doing some serious eating. It is no wonder that Travel + Leisure considers Savannah an American Best City for Foodies.
Leopold’s Ice Cream Parlor: Ice Cream and Movies
At Leopold’s all worlds converge. Considered to be one be one of the world’s ten best ice cream parlors, Leopold’s original owners were big-time movie producers, hail from Greece and fiercely guard their secret recipe. We had double scoops of peanut butter and coffee chocolate chip three times (but who’s counting) and lyricist Johnny Mercer’s favorite was tutti frutti in the interior designed by a Hollywood set designer.
In Savannah expect to run into movie stars or at the very least you can sit on Forest Gump’s actual bench or eat or drink at a venue you may have seen in Julia Robert’s Something to Talk About (The Six Pence Pub on Bull Street) or catch familiar scenes from The Legend of Bagger Vance or any one of the nearly 50 movies that have been made in Georgia’s first capital.
If it’s History You’re After, You’ve Come to the Right Place
Architectural lovers will find every type of American architecture here – from Gothic to Greek and Romanesque Revival to Italianate, Regency and more – now returned to their original splendor. We thoroughly enjoyed the elaborately detailed and knowledgeable guide at one of Savannah’s finest house tours -the Owens-Thomas House, a National Historic Landmark, that boasts an English style parterre garden, carriage house and one of the earliest authentic slave quarters.
It almost seems criminal to skip Savannah’s extraordinary array of bed and breakfasts, so we hope to return to right this wrong in the near future.
We did, however, make time for Tybee. Go back in time with us as we head to the quaint island of Tybee…
Cathy H. Burroughs is an international travel writer and adventure blogger who is fulfilling her passion by travelling the world and sharing her finds with the journeyPod readership.
