Do you love Cajun style food, to-go alcoholic beverages, history, beautiful Spanish Moss trees and creepy ghost stories? If you answered yes to any, or all, of these questions - I have one question for you, WHY HAVEN'T YOU BEEN TO SAVANNAH YET?! (Unless you have, then I'm sure you can share in my excitement and love for this place).
In December of 2015, I packed a bag, and my boyfriend, and we took the six hour drive from our home in Delray Beach, Florida to Savannah, Georgia. And our short, three day get-a-away was everything I had hoped it would be.
Let me first start by saying, if something is haunted, I want to be apart of it. That being said, we pulled into the historic 17hundred90 Inn (side note, I tried to book the haunted room 204, but someone beat me to it). The story goes that this room is haunted by a girl named Anne, who makes her presence known by messing with the guests belongings, or possibly even ripping the sheets off of you while you're sleeping. You can find the full story on the hotel website, linked above.
Besides being haunted, this Inn was nothing short of charming. Each room equipped with a fireplace, and ornamental bed, and decor that feels, well, like it belongs in the 1800s, and some of the friendliest staff I've ever met, I could not wait to get settled and hit the town, AFTER we had our free drink of choice at the hotel bar (also supposedly haunted).
One of our first stops of the trip was the famous River Street, where we stopped for our first bite to eat at Huey's. With a Cajun-style menu and the best beignets outside of Cafe Du Monde (New Orleans blog coming soon), this is definitely a MUST for brunch.
Since you are allowed to order drinks to-go in this wonderful city, you can imagine we did a bit of bar hopping. Here were a few of our favorite stops in Savannah for drinks and food:
Top Deck Bar - A great rooftop bar on top of the Cotton Sail hotel, with a great view of the Talmadge Bridge
Rocks On the River - Located on the top floor of the Bohemian Hotel, this bar served special cocktails with a gorgeous view of the river. Although a little higher in price, this is definitely worth exploring for a drink or 2.
The Rail Pub - this was my boyfriend favorite, he's a fan of small, homey pubs
Tree House - actually looks like a tree house, and turns into more of a "college bar" scene around 9-10 pm at night
Note: The streets on River Street are cobblestone and there are lots of steep stair cases - do NOT wear high heels, I repeat, do NOT wear heels on River Street.
Finally, dinner at the Pirate's House. This place was awesome. Fully decked out in true pirate theme (also with plenty of ghost stories), I enjoyed the Mango Chile Glazed Salmon, and my boyfriend a filet, both with a signature cocktail served in a signature pirate mug. We were only here for a short time, but made sure to squeeze this in.
Oh, and don't forget to stop by River Street Sweets during your time here and try a homemade, fresh, gooey, delicious praline candy.
Now, there is plenty more to do besides just eat and drink at some of the coolest bars around. Here are some of my must do and must see recommendations for all the sight seers out there (like myself):
Hop-On Hop-Off Trolley Tour - this is actually the very first thing we did upon our arrival to Savannah. Although we felt like complete tourists, it was really awesome to get a condensed version of everything you must see while in town. It allowed me to plan our time a lot better by narrowing down what we, or mostly I, wanted to dedicate the majority of our time seeing. I recommend doing this prior to your sight seeing, it helps!
Bonaventure Cemetery - I know I already mentioned that I'm super into creepy things, but this cemetery was more than just creepy, it was actually stunningly beautiful. You can stop by guest services and pick up a map, as well as some descriptions of some of the famous people buried there. It's about a 7-10 minute ride outside of the main downtown area, but it was honestly one of the coolest things we did that weekend. Tours are also available for this location.
Do a ghost tour!!! There are so many options for ghost tours there, I don't think you can go wrong, however, we opted for the "Savannah Ghosts - Paranormal Investigation Tour" where you're given equipment to change is pressure and frequencies...or something, that can be caused by spirits. It was really fun, and pretty scary, exploring one of the "most haunted" places in Savannah, The "Sorrel-Weed House" (do yourself a favor and google this ghost story), but I suggest trying this on a not-so-busy night, because having a large group is a little distracting when you're seriously trying to hunt a ghost, like I was.
Go see the bench from Forrest Gump - c'mon, I know you've seen the "Life is like a box of chocolates" scene. This is filmed smack dab in downtown Savannah in Chippewa Square Park, go snap a picture!
Tour an old Savannah House - we toured the "Owens-Thomas House" circa 1811-1820, which features a really cool garden and original slave quarters.
I really wish we had more time in this magical, haunted, party
town, but I'm pretty proud of the amount of things we accomplished in this short 3 day trip. Until next time, Savannah, I really, really love you.