Georgia: Savannah

The other day trip that Reggie and Tawsha took me on was a trip to the coast to see Savannah.  What a nice city!  Like Seattle, I regret a little bit not staying there longer, but I was very pleased with the time I did spend there and would recommend it as a place to visit for a long weekend or something.

A home on the old town square

Downtown.

One of the reasons I liked it so much was that it wasn't completely overrun by tourists, the way a lot of older and beautiful cities are.  Savannah has a very prominent historic area, but walking around it felt like walking around a more ordinary residential/downtown-ish area.  There were other people, but it was pleasant and easy.  And very pretty.

The Cathedral overlooking the old square

Oh no!  :(

The part of town that seemed to me to be the business district was more crowded, but that felt good too.  It was people on their way home from work or maybe out for the evening.  Bustling, but not a madhouse.  And although I don't think it technically was part of the historic district, the business district was very unique, with its share of old buildings and unusual features, like this business that was built over an existing road:

See the street underneath?

We ate dinner at Moon River Brewing Company, a restaurant featured on The Travel Channel's Ghost Adventures.  Apparently, the restaurant is haunted, although we weren't lucky enough to see any paranormal activity.  :(  The food was pretty good, though, and Reggie and Tawsha tried their first ever flight of beers.  Tawsha and I liked the brew more than Reggie, but that's OK.  More beer for us!

Reggie & Tawsha

But the highlight of our day in Savannah was at the Bonaventure Cemetery.  It was founded in the mid-19th Century, so it's not the oldest cemetery I've seen, but it's definitely one of the most beautiful.  And the spanish moss dangling from all the trees adds to the feeling of being someplace spooky.

Bonaventure has a fair number of graves of Confederate soldiers:

And a sizable Jewish section:

In case you can't read this:  The ashes of 344 people killed by the Nazis.

Live long and prosper!

While many of Bonaventure's beauties are obvious, there are many little touches throughout the cemetery for those who spend time looking:

In my opinion, we need more headstones with character!