Charleston

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Two of the preferred cities in the States for Americans are Savannah and Charleston. I have visited Savannah with my children, but never made it to Charleston...till today! The plan was to be there before the hurricane season. Well, with all the ones the region has already been hit with since end of August, we've done pretty well!



For us, it was another sunny and warm visit, this time, to the furthest point we would travel from San Francisco. Yes, sorry to have to admit it...it was over 6 weeks ago, and I'm seriously late on any blogging....recent or not so recent!



We stay just outside the city, next to the airport. Hotels here are not cheap here, so we settled for a basic Aloft by the airport. For glamour and nice, it won't be here when it comes to hotel stay. We arrived late and we left early morning, but in between, we had the leisure of a full day visiting historic Charleston and it's surroundings.



Bear in mind, this was the main port of entry for most slaves coming from Africa. So these houses may be gorgeous, the trade on which they have been built is not as nice. You'll tell me it was not only about slavery, Charleston being also a main port, but let's not deny the issue here.



We parked our little car by the tourism center. Historic Charleston is way better experienced on foot. We had to make choices when it came to which houses we would visit and settled for the Nathaniel Russell House, one of the main trader of the time, and also owner of 18 slaves.



We also spent time in one of the two local Episcopal Church with the local vicar. Seems the lady had great time speak about the reality of the difference in Christianity, a lot being nothing else than politics....even if centuries ago. Isn't Churches here and everywhere a lot about power, money and yes, politics! That was a truly fun experience till other tourists walked-in and she had to be more, let say, diplomatic.



Next, we visited the Nathaniel Russell House. A gorgeous period house of a famous local trader. He didn't trade slaves, but was the owner of 18 of them. I know, this is a recurrent topic for me in the South of the United States. The house is gorgeous, showing the wealth of a family, but thinking also, a lot of this type of furniture is still find all around Europe, not in museums, but in homes. What is old in the States, is not so old anywhere else in the world. You have to make choices here, each house is pretty expensive to visit, and this would add up pretty fast.



Tourists here are very different from those you will encounter in most of Florida or Las Vegas. There is this something of educated people with a sense of curiosity and readiness to learn...and it feel good!



We spent a lot of time walking the street of this superb historic district. I wouldn't mind moving here. Here is what looks like Main Street is gorgeous, with exactly the kind of shops we like. OK, I have to admit, I'm not sure this area is so fun when hurricanes hit....and everything here has been destroyed at some stage by some natural catastrophe.



It was already time to pick up our lonely Mustang left in the public car park. We drove more of those gorgeous streets, with houses mostly in the millions of USD....prime real estate that is Charleston.



We drove across the main bridge all the way to Fort Moultrie that we reach just before the closing time at 5pm...that's early! Just a quick look at it before avoiding to have the car locked in the car park, and we were back for an early dinner and a nice bottle of wine back at the hotel.



Tomorrow it's driving time and beach time.....big time!

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Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

Historic Charleston
Charleston is the old south and has money. Since hurricane season is June 1st to November 1st and September is the busiest storm month you did not manage to avoid the possibility but looks like you had good weather. I'm not sure what towns you have visited in Florida but there are many educated people...in Nevada also.. Vegas is full of tourist and not a good town to judge. Anson's restaurant is one of our favorites. Next time stay at Zero Water Street....a Bed and Breakfast that is so lovely. MJ

[Maisondubonheur]

Hi MJ!
Thanks for the comment! I didn't speak about the residents of LV or Florida, but rather the type of tourists you meet in the streets of the main tourist places like the parks of Disney or beaches of Miami. Now I have to admit, my point is way too simplistic to reduce the kind of visitors to the way I did it to the entire State.