Savannah, Georgia.

The day after Hilton Head was a visit to beautiful, beguiling Savannah.

A comfort break on the drive to Savannah.  We loved those French Vanilla Cappuccinos!

No better place to kick off our visit than the visitor centre where once again the city tour buses left from.

Our bus driver/tour guide was Wendy.  She was the best.  I know this because she told us she was the best.  And do you know what? by the time the tour was over we agreed with her 100%.  Wendy seemed to overflow with knowledge about Savannah and tons of other stuff too, a born and bred Savannah girl, she made that tour so interesting.  The main fact I remember is that she was the lucky person who showed the actor, Ben Affleck, around the city!

Apparently quite a few films have been set in Savannah.  Forrest Gump to name but one.  He even jumped on the bus at one stage and offered his chocolates around.  I think I was one of the few who actually took one.  I knew what I was going to get though.  They were all Hershey’s Kisses!  A few characters boarded the bus and told his/her tale of old Savannah history.

My favourite was this southern belle.  She was the ticket inspector.  Loved her hat!  Bless her heart!  A little snippet of info we learned on the bus was that y’all can insult anybody y’all would like to as long as you finish off with “bless her (or his) heart”.

The ubiquitous horse drawn carriages were every bit as much in evidence here as in Charleston.  There seemed to be a little park at the end of every street.  Trees galore, lots of them draped in Spanish  moss. 

And each park had its own monument.  This one was dedicated to Les Chasseurs des Volontaires de Saint Domingue, the largest unit of soldiers of African descent to fight in the American Civil War.

Historic houses galore too.

Looking through one of the parks to the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist.

The city tour included a stretch of the Savannah River waterfront.  It was extremely busy, actually from what I remember now everywhere in Savannah was busy.  I wouldn’t liked to have been driving the bus that’s for sure!

Keeping it real.  Nowhere is perfect and like everywhere else Savannah has its share of properties that would benefit from a little TLC. These old buildings still have bags of charm to me despite their rundown condition.

After the tour it was time for something to eat and right there in the visitor centre was a cafe by the name of Whistle Stop Cafe!  Having just read and totally enjoyed Fanny Flagg’s, Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe, I was tickled pink with that!

Our visit to Savannah was a short one but it definitely was one of the highlights of the trip and I’d love to go back again some day.  Truth be told I’d love to do the whole trip again and spend more time in each place.

Unfortunately in Savannah we encountered the same problem we’d had in Charleston with finding a hotel.  All the decent, and the not so decent, hotels were booked up but after some searching we managed get a room for just one night.  This led to us missing out on going back into Savannah for another look round.  Instead we hit the road and headed in the direction of Atlanta and home.  The road home was not without its moments though as will be revealed in my next USA 2014 post.