As Ella Said:

They call her Hard Hearted Hannah,
The vamp of Savannah,
The meanest gal in town

Well, we didn’t have the opportunity to meet Hannah, but we did visit “her” city for two nights and a full day.  We tied up to the quay in downtown for the day.

In old Savannah, I said Savannah,
The weather there is nice and warm!

And actually the weather was quite pleasant and we spent the whole day in Hannah’s town. 

To start our day, we left for a Trolley tour of the city.  Although we launched at 0900, we were still early enough to see the local farmers in their carts bringing their products to the restaurants

wagon jam

Break Break…..

A quick (?) aside:  in looking at the image above, it sort struck me odd that you would name a winery “Custard”  (okay, there is a Cupcake).  With a little research, I turned up the fact that the winery is owned by a Sebastiani, a fairly large name in the world of wine for the masses.. Donny is quoted as saying about the Chardonnay:

“These grapes make a wine that reminds me of one of my favorite childhood indulgences‐Sunday morning glazed doughnuts with creamy custard filling...'comfort food' before I even knew what that was”.  

The mind boggles.. And not to be outdone, the winemaker (Gloria Mercado – Martin) has to get back to more professional wine speak when she describes the wine as:

“Opening with aromas fresh from the bakery, with hints of toasted almond and dried apricots. Flavors of pear and citrus intermingle with silky, smooth vanilla cream pie”

You ever notice that the huge majority of these gobbledy gook wine descriptions contain the words “hints of…”?  Translation: “you won’t taste this; I just say it to make me look like an expert”

Okay, back to business…

We got aboard a trolley (classic, open windows) and got a little overview lecture by our driver

Our first stop was at the “Massie School” Georgia’s oldest s

Which has been open continuously from 1885 to the present, although now it is more of a cultural center.  We heard a little program about the history of education and school operation

It also had a lovely little courtyard (discovered on the way to the potty, a common Feeder journey)

After leaving the school we Trolleyed around town, seeing many beautiful “old” historical buildings

and structures

And it was pointed out to us where some scenes from Forrest Gump were filmed, such as this little square where he sat on a bench, which has now been removed

Many of the older buildings were restored via designs from The Savannah College of Art and Design

Which was founded in 1978 to provide a center for the arts not generally available in Georgia, and is now rather famous.

Of course colleges have college students, and I’m not sure if this is real.  Are there that many of Andy’s works still floating around?  “your” Warhol?

FOOD! (it is, after all, supposed to be a food blog, not a travelblog, although we have strayed a bit)

We returned to our ship just before lunch, and MFO and I decided to get lunch off board.  There were many places along the quay right by our ship

Interesting sign

I'm sure "Cheapest and Coldest Beer" packs 'em in

Look familiar Debbie? (Private Joke)

Pretty "touristy", but at one place we got a glimpse through the window of

Which looked pleasant and was housed inside the River House

While we dearly loved dining with our fellow travelers, tables of six or eight for every meal makes one(me) occasionally yearn for a quiet, dark, single table and a cloth.

We went inside and were seated at a table by the window

We first decompressed with a glass of (sorely needed) wine

A rather nice Pinot Noir from “Left Coast” vineyards for the Feeder, and a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc (Nobilo) for MFO..   we lingered enjoying the peace and quiet and the view through the window (with our ship in the background)

And very much appreciated an understanding server (John) who said, "Enjoy, just let me know when you want to order"  No pressure, and he did leave us alone.  The menu contained “regional” choices like a fried green tomato salad, oyster Po Boys, crab cakes, etc., and we got a plate of quite nice Hummus to relax with.. (getting the theme here?).  

we finally signaled John and MFO ordered a “Purple Crab salad - our jumbo lump crab cake atop fresh spinach with roasted beets, local goat cheese, red onions, yellow peppers, and glazed pecans with balsamic vinaigrette. And I stayed local with a special du jour of Shrimp and Grits.

Although in all candor, the level of spice was right at my upper limit, which as you should remember is not adventurous…

After lunch we returned to the ship, greatly appreciative of our little interlude of privacy.  Sometimes the experience is created by the food, sometimes the ambiance sets the tone, with the food just an added pleasure.  This wasn't the greatest food in the world, but it was quite competent and didn't take away from our mood. 

That evening aboard ship we saw many ocean going container ships heading out.  Savannah is a huge port for such vessels.

6929

And although we never did see “The Meanest Gal In Town” we did enjoy our stay.  A future excursion including Charleston AND Savannah is being considered.  The latter also has restaurants of some repute..

And of course we would be

DFD