this week’s destinations post is all about where i was this last weekend: charleston, south carolina. i had never been there – really, i’ve hardly spent any time in the south – and i totally loved it. my take on the trip is posted after the graphics 🙂
{original image from serdc}
where to stay: charleston has – above a lot of other cities i’ve been to – a lot of boutique hotels. i tried to focus on those, instead of showing off the standard doubletree, hyatt place, courtyard historic district, and courtyard waterfront. those hotels are located downtown as well, so if you prefer that or have rewards with those hotels, just click the links above to get there.
what to do: there are a ton of plantations in the area: drayton hall, magnolia plantation and gardens and middleton place, for a few. each is distinct in its own way, so you can either do all or just pick one.
where to eat and drink:
“we got into town on sunday afternoon and checked into our hotel – the francis marion, right downtown. ra and i had done some research before leaving her house to see where we should stay, and since we were both celebrating birthdays, we decided to splurge a little. the francis marion also had a pretty good deal on, and we liked the location of it, so it worked out very well.
we wandered that first evening down king street and across market street to the central market. later that night, we made our way down easy bay into the bar district and ended up at the rooftop at the vendue, with a really great breeze coming across the harbour and the lights of ships in the bay sparkling. made me really miss the sea, by the way. the vendue was nice, and with two rooftop patios, plus a downstairs restaurant and bar, has the space to spread out a crowd. located on the waterfront, it’s also high enough to look out over the rest of charleston.
the next day, we walked back through the central market and saw the basket weavers and all the stalls set up… it’s very commercial, with a lot of actual stores setting up stalls in the market, and it’s mostly pretty kitschy/expensive things (vera bradley bags, for example. come on.) even the jewelry is cheap-ish. i wasn’t impressed, but the one thing i did really enjoy seeing was the basket weaving. it appears to be a collective and the weavers sit there through the day and weave the sweetgrass into baskets in front of you. my overall impression of the market was: go and see it, but don’t expect to buy much. ra bought herself some earrings and i saw a few rings i liked but in the end they just didn’t strike me as totally one-of-a-kind, authentic. maybe i’m being harsh?
we came out of the market at east bay and sat on the steps of the old custom house (now part of the department of homeland security and inaccessible to the public) while waiting for another friend of ours. when he arrived, we kept walking down east bay, through the bar district and onto what is known as rainbow row. you’ve probably seen the pictures: the series of townhomes, all painted in pastel shades, sitting pretty just across the street from the waterfront bastion. i loved the architectural style of many of the homes in charleston and there are several companies that offer walking tours of the architecture (one and two.)
the street circles the battery park, also known as white point gardens, where the ashley river meets the bay. at the tip of the city, we turned and walked back up king, passing a series of stone houses with side porches and huge courtyards that i could only just glimpse as we passed by the imposing iron gates. others had the gates open (or no gates) and i could see into the yard as the house fell away and the courtyard opened up. trees draped with spanish moss shaded the brick drive and ivy wound its way along the front of the steps and up the side of the columns.
our last friend, r, met us and we all drove out to melvin’s bbq, on james island, for a late lunch. r says there’s only one better bbq place in charleston. i reminded him i’m from kansas city, but i admitted melvin’s was good (south carolina bbq is traditionally yellow sauce – aka mustard based – and totally different from kc style bbq.) that afternoon, the boys (r and n) dropped ra and i off at middleton place, and we enjoyed some time walking around the gardens (some of the best in the south) and the stableyards. the plantation’s terraces gently slope down to the river, which was not what i expected, being all algae-ish and murky, but still pretty, and we spent a good amount of time exploring the gardens and grounds. we did NOT go into the house – it is supposed to be authentic and nice, but it’s also an extra $15 on top of the general admission fee, which is $28/person, so that’s definitely steep for a small plantation house. over half of the original house burned and only the southern flank was restored when the owner rebuilt; the bricks from the two thirds are still lying in rubble piles against the chimney, but a part of me wondered if that was for show.
that evening, we headed out to watch the river dogs play some baseball. the river dogs are the yankees farm team, so i wouldn’t be surprised to see some of those boys out in blue and white in a few years. they play at the joe, a small stadium that backs up to the river (good, because SO MANY BALLS flew over our heads and either hit the roof and bounced back into the crowd or went right into the marsh behind us) on the north side of the city. it’s small town baseball, if you’re used to the big league, but it was fun and it was cheap entertainment, and we got back into downtown in time to go out for more drinks.
i left the next morning, taking an uber to the airport. i was impressed with that: first off, i love uber. second off, i love uber when it’s cheaper than a cab. and third off, i love it when there’s no traffic at 8am. since we were leaving the city… well, everyone else was going in. i also requested the car while waiting in line at starbucks to pick up the drink i ordered on my phone, thereby skipping the line of thirty people. talk about an efficient morning. the car got there as they finished making my latte. i picked it up, and i turned back around and left – the people in front of me hadn’t even moved yet (i got in line and realised that was stupid.)
{that last part was unrelated to charleston, by the way – you can uber anywhere and you can order starbucks on your phone anywhere. i just hope they decide to deliver soon.}“