My
interest in savannah goes back to the first time I saw the
movie midnight in the garden of good and evil. And then I read
the book (see the official
book site). So we planned a short four day excursion over the easter
2001 weekend to savannah and charleston, the heart of the low country.
We
arrived on good friday around noon and checked in at the mulberry
inn, which is owned by holiday inn but is very unlike a chain hotel.
They even serve afternoon tea and cookies in the lobby while a guy plays
piano. That's southern hospitality! We had lunch at the
pirates' house, an historic place that was mentioned in robert louis
stevenson's treasure island. It's not bad but has a touristy feel to
it. Upstairs they have nightly music at hannah's east, which is where
emma kelly, the woman of a thousand songs (in the book) performed. We
took a walk along the savannah river waterfront, where there are many
shops and restaurants, and the obligatory steamboat. For dinner we went
to the
olde pink house, a house built in 1771 that has been converted into
a restaurant, which is recommended in every travel book I've read. The
food was excellent, and yes, the plastered walls are painted pink. How
about a full flounder for dinner, served in the skin that easily peels
away? Delicious! After dinner we discovered that glen campbell was playing
across the street at the lucas theater (see my around
town pics). We bought tickets about 10 minutes before
the show and ended up in the 10th row center aisle. It was a good show.
Glen played all the hits and also a beach boy's medley (he toured briefly
as a beach boy, in case you didn't know!).
Saturday
was going to be a "midnight in the garden" kind of day. We
started out with breakfast at clary's
cafe, which was featured prominently in the book and movie. We sat
right at the counter and ordered up some eggs and coffee, probably in
the same spot john berendt first met luther driggers. We got to talkin'
to the waitress, who was originally from new jersey. She slipped us
a very large eclair to take back to our room! We then took the gray
line "book" tour around savannah, which featured all of
the sights and places from the book, including a tour of bonaventure
cemetary, where johnny
mercer and conrad aiken, among others, are buried (see my greenery
pics).
We made a quick
run out to tybee island, which is the beach about 30 minutes east of
savannah (see my tybee
island pics). We had just enough time to walk on the
beach (the water was a little cold) and see the lighthouse.
Then it was back to town for easter vigil mass at the
cathedral of st. john the baptist, which included holding candles,
plus a few baptisms and confirmations! Our late night dinner (the best
meal of the trip for me!) was at chadwick's in the marshall
house hotel, with a jazz combo playing in the nearby bar. I had
a great meal of tuna wrapped in bacon, with asparagus and garlic mashed
potatoes. Service was kind of slow, so the waiter didn't charge us for
dessert!
Sunday we
had brunch at huey's,
which turned out to be a "new orleans style" cafe complete
with a sunday jazz brunch, although not on the day we were there. We
had eggs and split an order of beignets, then headed for a quick tour
of fort pulaski. Then we hit
the road to charleston
. . .
