Charleston - Beautiful

When we first started planning out trip to the States we bought a travel guide for the East coast and Charleston was one place that really jumped out as somewhere we would like to visit.  As time went on and we met people who had visited the area Charleston was always high on the list of recommendations.  When we were heading north back in May we were unable to stop as we were under time pressure to get north and now suddenly we are under pressure to move south but Charleston was still top of the list for places we would like to stop and we weren't to be disappointed.

Charleston has lots of history and was a major settlement in the 1800s with lots of trade including cotton and rice plantations which we based along the Ashley and the Copper rivers.  There was significant trade across the Atlantic reaching Charleston and from the Caribbean.  So there were rich and affluent people living in the area which lead to some beautiful town houses and due to a preservation order lots of these remain which are what make the city so lovely.

As the river runs quite swiftly and there was a howling northerly we planned to go into a marina for our stay which was even more needed after getting bit of a beating on the journey.  The marina was across the river from the main town but there was a free trolley bus from the hotel next to the marina, fantastic it was free and ran every hour.  After arriving mid morning both completely shattered we do what we normally do and rush around, we cleaned Magnum top to bottom, removed as much of the salt from the decks as possible and even had time to get a few loads of washing on before we headed off to the supermarket.  No idea where we suddenly find the energy from!

Yorktown naval ship our neighbour in Charleston

The northerly did come in that night and we had good shelter and sleep well, but in the morning it was freezing! It was funny going into town in our ski jackets, hat and gloves but what this also meant was it was very quiet and we had the place to ourselves. We had a great walk around just really admiring the surroundings and occasionally stopping for a hot drink and a warm up.  One place which was really nice was the Dock Street Theatre which is supposed to be the oldest theatre in the US.

Dock Street Theatre

Dockside Theatre - can you spot Amanda

Mark propping up the bar in the theatre

We explored by foot but a big tourist attraction is the horse and carriage rides, there were very very few on the cold day.

Many of the streets are cobbled, often with stone from England  (the trade ships carried the stone as ballast going east to west and then dumped it on the quayside when full of cargo going west to east) and and they are frequently lined with palm trees which probably don't seem odd on a sunny day but it was like a winters day in England!  Being a southern state before emancipation there were a large slave trade in Charleston, we did take time to pass the by the old slave market.

The old slave market

The street that looks out over the harbour has some beautiful properties of which most of them are still residential homes but they are huge. Many have a similar design with big verandas surrounding the house and court yard gardens, to produce as much shade as possible in the summer.

Shoreside property

Spot Mark

Lovely little garden in huge house

The ordinary residential streets are still really beautiful, you imagine it being a lovely place to live apart from all the tourists wandering around looking into your garden!

We spent the day just generally being nosey!

Amanda wrapped up warm on the seafront

Mark outside the  prison

Loving the US Fire Engine

The next day we headed into the town later in the day and were surprised how busy it was with the sun shining.  We spent the day looking around a few shops and there is an old market in the centre.  We then headed off to a slinky bar for happy hour, we don’t often find the energy to go out for the evening but it is nice, so Amanda had a few glasses of bubbly and Mark some local beer before heading off to Theatre 99, a comedy club which unfortunately was not very funny but was still enjoyable.

Amanda can't take a straight photo!

Amanda enjoying her night out

Next day was set aside for jobs on the boat, making a few phone calls whilst we had the internet and topping up the groceries, so we did get one final trip into the town but really only to day goodbye.  It was a lovely place, with nice people which we would visit again.