Savannah Main

We visited Savannah only at the end of a week in Georgia in 2007, visited a few small towns and some parks along the way. We stayed in an exquisite house in General Coffee State Park, saw a great southern swamp at Okefenokee, and a variety of towns from charming to fairly uninteresting.

Savannah was a big surprise to me, in terms of how much I loved the city. It felt like a New Orleans that worked, with beautiful square and a strongly unique waterfront that incorporated historical buildings and new walkways by the water. And yet it managed not to be cloying, appearing as a city in which people go about their ordinary business around you.

Photo List (Total 402 Photos)

Click bolded headers below to view, or click "just the best" for quick tour

Savannah (91 photos) - Central Savannah is very charming without being cloying. The city was laid out with a huge number of squares, which break up traffic, give many opportunities for short bursts of greenery, contain fountains and monuments, and which are somehow intensely urban. Lots of handsome old buildings, many of which have been revitalized by the Savannah College of Art and Design, which seemed to have buildings all over the place. These photos are not organized in any way near the order they were taken, as we traversed the city again and again, so you will notice several comings and goings of light and dusk.
Savannah waterfront (28 photos) - I was fascinated by Savannah's waterfront, one of the most entertaining I have seen anywhere. A row of warehouses near the river are entered on the second floor on the city side of the buildings, and on the lower floor of the river side. On the city side, they are approached by walkways above a sunken roadway. It was all very picturesque and entertaining without being cloying. It helped that we blundered into a Seafood Festival, and I bought a big colourfish fish artwork down there from the artist (for which I have been roundly mocked ever since).
Outlying Savannah (23 photos) - Though we mostly stayed within the old city, we did visit two sites on the outer edges of the city: the Bonaventure Cemetery, and Tybee Island on the Atlantic Coast.

And around Georgia ...

Athens (46 photos) - We stayed the first night in Georgia in Athens, arriving late, and exploring the city the next morning. Athens, home to the University of Georgia with its mascot the Bulldogs, is pretty and had some cute stores at which we all bought stuff.
Madison (21 photos) - We stopped in Madison which is regularly ranked as one of the USA's best small towns. It's very pretty, has some lovely house, a massively overscale courthouse, and oodles of charm.
Macon (62 photos) - We spent the night in Macon, which is about the size of Regina. The central city is tidy and pretty in places, bearing evidence of many attempts to make it more hospitable, but overall has the depressing air of a place that has seen better days. Terminal Station is largely unused, and nearby a huge modern building, no doubt housing some attraction to get people downtown, is boarded up. We also stopped by the nearby Ocmulgee National Monument, a park housing a large native Temple Mound. There are also a few photos of abandoned houses and a cotton field, from our drive towards our next destination.
General Coffee State Park (47 photos) - We stayed several nights in an old house in this state park, which was a real find on the part of Kris & Neil who booked our trip. It was lovely, and we were so sad to leave it. This includes many photos of the house, a few of the attractions within the park, and some of the nearby town of Douglas.
Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge (56 photos) - We went on a day trip to the Okefenokee swamp, close to the border with Florida. We did a walk and took a boat tour through the fabulously black water, admiring the cypress trees and knees. The water was high, so we didn't see many alligators, but the one we did see was just lovely.
Brunswick and Jekyll Island (28 photos) - We visited the coastal town of Brunswick, which was nothing too spectacular, and then by accident crossed a causeway onto nearby Jekyll Island, where we spent a pleasant afternoon wandering on the seashore. We also visited a turtle centre and had supper there. From here we went on to Savannah.