And here we are in Savannah for the next four nights. Since we arrived a little later in the day, we had already planned on having dinner in our restaurant. We had a little bit of a hiccup checking in, but ended up in a rather large suite. Kimptons are beginning to be a little disappointing so we may be replacing them with another boutique hotel experience. The restaurant at our hotel was Italian and we had ziti with short raised ribs. Also took a quick walk down to the river with Missy to get our bearings.
We were actually closest to Washington Square, but I liked this one down from us. There are 22 squares in the city, and I think we visited the majority of them. Most of them had either a fountain or a statue or a history lesson. The other nice thing about most of the squares is that they are shady because of all the trees in the area. Interestingly, enough many of them are live oaks.
I did not go into the candy store, saving my calories for macaroons😜😂
Photo I thought Jordan would take
In front of the old cotton mill exchange.
Started Wednesday morning with a walk for \240little girl to wear her out. It was a really nice morning for a walk and we even had to wear our jackets. After dropping her off, we did a little bit of walking ourselves including walking through the JW Marriott hotel which was a museum of sorts with dinosaurs above you and geodes collected around the world.
Interesting Mural outside Alidas hotel
We walked many versions of these type of steps to go from the Riverwalk up to Bay Street
Next up was our Savannah food tasting tour. This was a three hour walking tour where we ate and learned a little bit about the history of Savannah.
Our tour started at their store where we had a little sample of pickled okra, cheese, straws, peach, jam, and pecan logs. We then made our way to the British pie company. I thought we were going to try pies but no we tried sausage rolls. These are big sausages inside a puff pastry not a big sausage fan so had a couple of bites, but that was about it.
These are them - look at that smile..
Stop three was at the Rhett for she crab soup where we learned again that it is actually he crab soup because crab farmers are not allowed to harvest female crabs. Was pretty good.
Our fourth stop was to try my favorite, which is shrimp and grits at 22 Square at the Andes hotel. We also had a libation here. Diane had a beer and I had some fancy cocktail.
Oops - forgot the food pic!
Walking through a square for a little bit of history.
Our fifth stop was to try something very unique at a place called Common. It was a pork belly slider, but the bread part was a doughnut. In other words, a heart attack type of scnhank - thankfully it was a small one 😋.
And we ended our tour at a honey store. There are quite a few of them in the area and we got to try three different honeys. \240Frankly the taste is different for all of them, but really I would never be able to tell the difference. I did learn that some are single flower pollinated and some are multi flowered pollinated- new to me!
An idea for a cheeseboard apple or pear slice with honey and a little bit of cheese
Time to wander back to the hotel to rescue Missy for a walk around the neighborhood. \240Gott to see some squares, some really cool architecture and a fun little water bowl.
Loved the various shutter colors
Smells - Missy’s idea of vacation
And just a little nightlife for us. We went back to the hotel and dropped off Missy and then I had to have a drink called the peanut butter falcon - walked by that sign for the third time so stopped in for one. It was very yummy. It was a whiskey drink with a few other things thrown in.
To the Riverwalk for another stop and had an old-fashioned at The Bootlegger. Diane was on beer. We learned on this quick little tour that Georgia is very particular about their identification rules. You not only had to have a valid drivers license no matter what your age was - valid meaning not expired. Unfortunately one of us had an expired license and got turned down a couple of times for a drink. Most people were reasonable, considering our age and served \240us a drink anyway.
Making my drink - took about 5 minutes.
Presentation is everything.
Oh my what a beautiful sunset that night
This being Wednesday night, the night Hurricane Milton was coming, we got to talk to several people from Florida. Must be awful to not know what you were going home to. We sat next to a guy \240watching his home camera as the water was rising into his house. Got to say that most people we talked to were grateful to be safe, some a little sad that they had lost a lot and some had no idea what they were going home to.
Well Thursday was built in to be a wandering day with Missy so we did. We walked over to Jones Street which is supposed to be the prettiest street in Savannah. It was a little hard to walk along \240due to its unevenness but the trees going over the road made it very nice and the houses were very well kept. After that, we went to wander through the city market and \240ended up walking along the Riverwalk again and then decided to return Missy for a nap so we could have some linner.
Many flags along the street
Since you can walk the streets with alcohol, we got a beer at an English pub Smithwicks for me and ultra for Diane. This was to help us walk around City Market. Was a little disappointed as there was not a whole lot of shopping.
Made a stop at world of beer and I had the most yummy chocolate stout, and Diane had a Heffe. Met a couple that are currently homeless, even though they own two homes. One was totally washed away from hurricane Helene and the other one they are not able to get to yet. They will be staying with their children until they can make it back to their house.
Linner for us was here as they had what we both wanted.
Shrimp and grits that were so rich. I could only eat about a quarter of that plate.
Went to the The Little Crown by Pie Society \240for dessert, which was a delicious buttery pecan pie, and I had a Nutella cocktail. All while talking to a wonderful young woman named Sarah - our barkeep. She told us due to the name most east coast people walked in looking for pizza “pie”.
That crust was so buttery
Nutella cocktail. Not sure why Nutella is so popular here.
And before you know it, our final day has arrived. We had plans to do four things today. First was to walk to Forsyth Park followed by lunch at the Olde Pink House Café. And lastly to go on a river boat tour and sit on a rooftop deck.
After a very light breakfast, we put on our jackets and walked the almost 3 mile round-trip to the park.
Fountain ⛲️ in the middle of the park
Walked through many squares again on this walk. Got Missy her lunch and left for our anticipated lunch.
The restaurant itself was very cool. An old mansion so it was three floors and many rooms. So your experience is quaint and quiet!
Pink Lady on the left for Diane and The Proper for me.
Crab beignets for starter.
Fried chicken with mashed potatoes and collard greens for Diane
Crabcakes with butter beans, and a squash salad for Tee. We may have to try to make that squash salad. It was fresh zucchini, and yellow squash with slivered almonds and pesto sauce.
Closer look at the squash for future reference
The cutest pumpkin pie ever - \240really it was pumpkin filling inside of a mini pumpkin.
After dinner went back to let Missy out and put our feet up for a few minutes before heading out to our boat tour - 4 deck paddle boat (without the paddle). We were looking for something to do to get off our feet for a while and that it did. But I have had much better boat cruises just due to the lack of scenery.
Looks warm but only in the sun - in the shade it was chilly.
And for our final stop in this delightful southern town we visited the Nest rooftop restaurant and had a little nibble and final cocktail. Blueberry fizz for me.
Like that shorter martini glass.
And so our tour of Savannah comes to an end. We did enjoy the beautiful squares and the laid-back vibe of the city. A little disappointed in the craft beer scene because we were expecting a little bit more. Had a few good cocktails, some good food and some mediocre food and in bed early pretty much every night after all the walking that we did.
I will end with this photo of a box car tanker going under the bridge. We actually ran down the street so that we could see it go under the bridge to the port. It was a pretty amazing sight. Those things are the size of 3-4 football fields in length.
