Savannah, Georgia

It finally stopped raining and the sun came out yesterday so we toured historic Savannah - a beautiful old southern city. We took the "hop on - hop off" trolley tour so we could hear the history of the area. It was founded by an Englishman named Oglethorpe who brought debtors here for freedom. He designed the town around at least a dozen  "squares" or parks - all with lovely landscaping, statues and of course, those beautiful old live oak trees with moss. It reminds us of Charleston with the lovely old homes.



We ate lunch at "The Pirate House" an old tavern from the early 1700's. Delicious "She Crab" soup! The legend tells the story of a tunnel under the inn where the pirates smuggled rum and kidnapped men who were forced to sail and work on their ships. Hence the term "Shanghied" - even though they were not taken to China!

Then we toured St. John the Baptist Catholic Church - gorgeous fresco's on the ceilings, stained glass windows and three dimensional sculptured stations of the cross.




We finished the afternoon at Leopold's Ice Cream parlor - a Savannah icon for 94 years! A long line down the street but locals assured us the ice cream was worth the wait. And they were right!

It takes forever to get anywhere around here - you always are going up and over or around water and swamps!

 
 



 



Traffic stopped at the drawbridge - don't see this in Texas!