Another full day in the South, this time touring the #1 city to visit in the world according to the readers of Travel + Leisure magazine…
Lisa is a history teacher, so naturally we started with the place where the first shots of the Civil War were fired. Fort Sumter National Monument.
Since Fort Sumter is on an island, the only way to get there was via boat. So we took the first departure of the day at 9:30am.
Approaching Fort Sumter.
Visitors are allowed an hour to explore the fort before returning to the mainland.
After our visit to Fort Sumter, we had a small lunch and then took a Charleston history walking tour with Damn Yankee Tours. Our guide, Paulette, took us to major sights and others not-so-major…
St. Phillips Church
Our guide, Paulette, is a retired history teacher and since we were the only ones on the tour, she was our own personal guide for almost three hours
After our tour, we continued with the Old Exchange Building and Provost Dungeon — here we had a docent lead us through the dungeon area and told stories of some famous prisoners here, like Stede Bonnet, aka “The Gentleman Pirate”
The Old Exchange Building is where the Declaration of Independence was read for the citizens of South Carolina
Lisa is now able to check this one off and complete her “Halls of Freedom” list
Dinner at Fleet Landing, with regional specialties Hush Puppies stuffed with shrimp and lobster, and our main dish of shrimp and Andouille sausage over grits.
Charleston harbor
We concluded our evening with a stroll down the waterfront…
…and through more neighborhood streets
And finally, dessert!
Mmmm, pralines!
Expense ledger:
| $0.00 | Hyatt hotel – paid for with award points |
| $39.00 | Sumpter Ferry Tour |
| $10.93 | Souvenirs |
| $7.74 | Subway lunch |
| $29.00 | Damn Yankee tour and tip |
| $10.00 | Old Exchange Building admission |
| $45.00 | Fleet Landing dinner & tip |
| $3.17 | Souvenir |
| $1.61 | Dessert Canoli |
| $16.00 | Parking fee |
| $162.45 | TOTAL |