Jacksonville to Savannah was another fairly short trip and as we had time we decided to drive past Jacksonville Beach to see what it looked like. It was a small detour and didn’t add much to our travel time, and it seemed a nice enough beach, though we didn’t stick around too long (tbh the beaches are starting to pretty much all look the same to me!). In Savannah we checked into the Thunderbird Inn and the room was fortunately ready. Not so fortuitously, it was also right next to the motel’s laundry room and instead of insisting on another room, I foolishly decided to grin and bear it as we weren’t planning on being in the room that much. The room was also underneath the stairs, making it very dark and dingy looking inside and of course the Wi-Fi also proved to be very, very slow. I really wanted to like this motel as we were booked in for two nights and it has a kind of retro theme, including giving you RC cola (I think) and MoonPies in your room, as well as lemonade and popcorn in the afternoons, but so far I wasn’t impressed.
We headed out to explore Savannah almost straight away and walked into the historic area. It was very hot and humid, but not as bad as some places we’ve been so it wasn’t a bad walk. The town is very green and lush with an incredible amount of Spanish Moss hanging off trees everywhere. We’ve seen a fair bit of Spanish Moss so far, but this was something else! On our way into town we saw a few bars but some were shut as it was Sunday and it seems only bars that also sell food are allowed to be open on a Sunday (Bible Belt an all). We walked through the busy ‘town square’ pedestrianised area where a band was playing and eventually made our way down to the waterfront, walking down pretty much as far as you can go. The waterfront area is nice, with some old buildings remaining and lots of tourists everywhere. Savannah is another town where it is perfectly fine to take your alcohol from one bar to the next as long as it is in a clear plastic container and in the busier parts of town you see people walking around with their drinks everywhere.
We then turned back inland and walked through a cemetery (Colonial Park Cemetery), numerous green squares and seeing lots of nice houses and sights. Savannah is very nicely laid out, with green squares every couple of streets and blocks, meaning there is loads to see and take pictures of! The town is really busy with tourists in certain areas but as soon as you get off the main drag it is fairly quiet and nice to just walk the streets and check out the sights. As always, one of our aims with walking around was to find somewhere to eat and drink, and we had a very good burger at The Public Kitchen & Bar before heading back to the square area for a couple of drinks. We ended up in Congress Street Social Club for a few hours, where we could sit outside and watch the world go by and the bar fill up – quite a nice place and a very relaxed way to spend a Sunday evening! We did go into a Mexican restaurant (Carlito’s) closer to our motel on the way back, where Brian had another beer and I had the strongest margarita I’ve ever tasted. It was so strong in fact that I couldn’t finish it and took it back to the motel with me as it was in a foam container with a lid!
Biltong and Burger 