Lovely place to visit, great beaches nearby (Charleston)

Member Name: janeh

Product:	Charleston
Date:	27/07/01 (205 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Easy to get around, Lots to see and do, Very friendly locals

Disadvantages: Very hot in summer, Need to travel to get to a beach

Charleston is a lovely place. We stayed in Historic Charleston which is the touristy part of the town. This area is very compact and therefore easy to navigate. One word of warning – walk, don’t drive. The place is easy to walk around and you see a lot of great sights. If you drive you will be confronted by the large numbers of cars, buses etc and the one way streets, of which there are lots. You will see so much more on foot.

There are lots of things to see and do here and that is without venturing into your car and going out of Charleston.

Shopping.
There are lots of shops, both “normal” and touristy. King Street is one of the main shopping streets and is undergoing a major multi-million dollar refurbishment. Another major street is Meeting Street. Both of these have the normal shops for the locals, as well as gift shops, restaurants, book shops etc. If you still feel the need for more shops you will find them along Market Street. Also, running down the middle of this street is a large market with lots of arts and craft, gifts, jewellery, souvenirs etc.

Food
Restaurants are all over the town. Every taste and pocket is catered for. We found a couple of restaurants we particularly liked. Appleby’s is a theme restaurant with memorabilia of films, music etc on the walls and ceilings. It has a large bar in the centre, so you can just have a drink if you want. They show sports on the many TV’s (no sound) around the place. The sound instead is provided my music played at a level at which you can still hold a conversation. The food is very varied, fish, meat, vegetarian, salads etc. We always had good service and good food.
Another good place to eat is T-Bonz. Again this has a music theme. All over the walls you will see dollar bills signed by customers. There are thousands of them. The food here was superb, my husband stating that it was the best steak he had ever tasted. Well worth a visit i
f you are in the area.

History
It goes without saying that history in American context is slightly different to the UK. We found many historic sites and buildings that date “way back” to the 1700’s. There are lots of beautiful buildings, churches and houses in the immediate area. If you venture off the beaten track – or get lost like we did, you will come across many streets with beautiful houses and gardens.
Along the coastline there are monuments to those lost in war etc (Civil War) as well as canons and other artefacts. There is also an aircraft carrier moored in the docks that you can visit and take a tour of.

In and around Charleston you will find lots of Plantations. Many are open to the public for tours etc. Most say they will tell you the story of the civil war and the slave trade in South Carolina. In fact they gloss over the gory details of how the slaves were treated and you get a very flowery version of events. There are also lots of ghost tours, some by day, some by night. Apparently Charleston is one of the most haunted places on earth. The only problem is there are loads of tour guides. How on earth you know you have found a good one I can’t imagine. For this reason we did not bother, although it is probably a lot of fun.

Talking of tours, there are many walking and bus tours around the town. If you can’t be bothered to stroll around yourself, these are a good option. We were advise however, that some of the bus tours are not allowed to travel down some of the residential street or the small back streets, meaning that you do not see many of the best places.

If you don’t mind getting in your car and travelling a little further there are lots of treats in store. We visited Myrtle Beach, for which I will do a separate opinion and also travelled south along the coast and found a gem of a beach.

Hunting Island is a state park and is located between Charleston
and Savannah. There is a large wooded area in which you can rent cabins etc. Wildlife is in abundance, but best of all is the beach. The beach is in a constant state of erosion and the lighthouse there has had to be moved to stop it being engulfed by the sea. The beach is covered in white sand and because of the erosion of the trees on the beach there are many tree roots that have been scattered and lots of driftwood etc. This gives the beach a prehistoric look. It is the most beautiful and unusual beach I have ever been to. It is very secluded and you feel you would not be surprised if a dinosaur suddenly popped its head out of the trees and took a stroll down the beach. I cannot put into words the how unusual this place is, you have to see it to appreciate it. I would urge anyone visiting the area to go to this place, you will not be disappointed.


We thoroughly enjoyed our stay in Charleston, even though the temperatures were in the high nineties and humidity very high making walking around during the afternoon uncomfortable. A very pretty place with lots to see and do.

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