More Savannah

I have spent the past two days lapping up the beautiful scenery and old houses of Savannah. There is a new and inspiring scene around every corner. I have started reading, on recommendation, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, a story of Savannah technically classed as True Crime but which could happily coexist in the travel section of the library. All the places a wonderfully described and can still be found around town along with some of the colourful characters. I have been using the book as my tour guide.

The grandest of the Savannah homes have a very large double story main house, behind which is a courtyard/garden and then the carriage house which would once have been, obviously, for the carriage and horses as well as slave quarters. Many houses can be toured and almost always, the carriage house is now the ticket office and gift shop. Alternately they have been renovated and are themselves fairly impressive dwellings. The homes are furnished with antiques, austere portraits and luscious chandeliers. After a couple of tours I was getting a sense of deja vous so then confined my home inspections to the (free) exteriors which are all finished with intricate wrought iron balconies covered with scented honeysuckle and jasmine or colourful window shutters and window boxes spewing forth brilliant red geraniums. With such marvellous subjects, my little olympus has been getting quite a workout!

Then there's the squares with their sprawling live oaks draped in Spanish moss and azaleas bordering fountains, statues or monuments as well as the riverfront where old warehouses have been turned into restaurants and markets from which you can watch and feel tiny as the container ships cruise by.