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Published: August 14th 2009
Savannah to Raleigh (via Charleston) - 36°c
I woke up this morning feeling like death warmed up. After a rather poorly night and subsequently a severe lack of sleep, I could have done with spending at least another few hours in bed, if not the entire day! However that’s not the Contiki spirit, so in keeping with that spirit (not to mention our schedule!) I managed to get out of bed, showered, dressed and down onto the bus in good time.
Once I and everyone else was aboard, I was filled in with all of the details of how the night progressed after my sudden departure, and who did what songs up on the karaoke. It was also good to see that I wasn’t the only one still feeling a bit poorly this morning, with many faces in the rows of seats around me looking somewhat green and unenthusiastic at making the 7:45am departure.
For the next couple of hours, I managed to get comfortable enough to get some sleep. We made a brief stop 2 hours into our journey, then continued for another couple of hours until we arrived in Charleston. We had a brief drive around the city to orientate us with some of the more famous and popular areas of the town, and then stopped and parked up by the Charleston Visitor’s Center. Kristina once again handed out maps and a list of attractions and notable sights and as we got off the bus we all headed in different directions depending on where and what we wanted to see.
Joey and I decided to head down in the direction of Rainbow Row first of all. On our way down, we wandered through the markets and took in some of the sights and shops along the streets. We had lunch in a small bakery just near the market, and since I was still suffering from a delicate stomach from the night before, I picked a very plain croissant and bottle of water to start me off for the day!
As we meandered through the streets, Charleston got more and more beautiful. Each street and building was immaculate and painted in beautiful shades of colour, decorated with stunning flower arrangements outside and each house looked classic in its old-style appearance. After walking about an hour or so, we ended up at Rainbow Row, a strip of houses along the coastline that were each painted in different pastel shades, giving rise to the name. The houses were stunning and with sea views from each of them, it was a truly gorgeous part of town.
Joey and I took some photos and continued walking down towards the coastal line and along by the sea. Once again more flower arrangements, neatly trimmed bushes and hedges greeted us, and we walked up to a couple of nice fountains that attracted not only us but many people to take photos. From there we walked up to and along the pier where it was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
All the way along the pier was a roof with swinging benches hanging down, so Joey and I sat on one and let the sea breeze pass around and over us for a while. It was very refreshing and with the scenery and tranquillity, it made for quite a special place.
With time progressing on and the need to be back at the coach soon, we began our walk north in the direction of the visitor’s center, once again meandering through some of the other streets, stopping to take photos of things and calling into a few shops, including another Abercrombie and Fitch, where I bought a couple more t-shirts at a ridiculously cheap price in their sale!
We got back to the coach, bumping into Erica and Angela on the way who had been on a horse and carriage ride around the city, which they both said they’d enjoyed. If I’d have felt a bit better and we’d have had more time, I definitely would have enjoyed such an experience too. Charleston was quite possibly the most beautiful place I’ve seen all trip, and it would be great to come back with some more time. Although it didn’t seem like it would be a particularly outrageous and busy place to visit, even just for the few hours we were there, it was wonderful to experience some peace and tranquillity, especially since it’s been quite hard and rare to find it on this trip so far.
Back on the coach, we drove for two hours before having a brief stop, and then another two hours when we arrived in Raleigh our stop for the night. We only had a 20-minute turn around from arriving and getting off the coach, collecting our bags, finding our rooms and getting back on the coach again for our included dinner at 7pm. From the hotel we drove a short distance to the Golden Corral buffet, and what a buffet it was! There was such a large selection of food that it was impossible to try it all, and with my stomach still feeling somewhat delicate, admittedly I wasn’t able to do full justice to such an impressive selection of the dishes that were on offer, but did my best.
Kristina gave us enough time to eat as much as we wanted, before we headed back to the coach and back to the hotel, where near enough everyone decided to retire to their rooms for a chilled-out evening and an early night.
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mandy squires
non-member comment
ooo Golden corral
Carl Graham will be so envious that you have been to the Golden Corral, it was his favorite place to eat on I Drive, so glad to see you are having a great time look forward to seeing and hearing all about it when you return NEXT WEEK!! my that has gone soooo quick