I’ve heard about how traveling to attend conferences can be a bit different than traveling just to explore a city, while that can be true I found a loophole. I had the great opportunity of visiting Savannah, Georgia for a conference that ran from Sunday to Tuesday which meant if I flew in Friday morning I would have the weekend to explore. Yeah I know, I’m a bit of a genius – so let this mentally superior monkey give you the low down on what I discovered about Savannah.

* Disclaimer: The Historic District is a largely commercialized part of Savannah which doesn’t really depict how the everyday people of Savannah live, but that is where my conference was and there was plenty of food and alcohol to keep me centrally located there for most of my stay.

City Market

Located just a few blocks down from the riverwalk on W. Bryon between Whitaker and Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd this was the center of downtown family activities. If you saw horse rides taking people around filled with families and older people who’s camera lenses were as thick as the ones on their glasses, the City Market was where they originated from. Fear not, there is more to do here than just smell horse poo, which they won’t let you take for flinging purposes I already tried. There also happens to be wine tasting, for $5 you can taste 5 wines and a hard cider which all come from a local winery just outside of Savannah and offers fresh sweet tasting wines. It seems they like everything sweet down south, wines, tea and their slushies – but that’s for the River Street section to explore. There was also great places to eat down here, a great pizza place that sold it by the slice called VinnieVanGoGo’s and if you tip them they all shout out their thanks. I happened to be picked out as a Midwesterner here because I asked for a pop. Another great place to eat although more expensive is Belford’s which is located on the opposite side of the street. The only thing I could rationalize purchasing was the appetizer crab soup which was rich, creamy and delicious I was licking pieces of it off my fur for hours and loving it.

River Street

The walk on River Street was right outside my window and gave plenty night time activities where you could quench the thirst you built up from walking around the rest of the city all day. Although, since you are down south you should explore some of the great food as well, you can get a bucket of beers and a bucket of oysters for around $20. If the southern heat is getting to you, you can “support global cooling” at a slushy bar called Wet Willies, but this isn’t your ice cream man type slushie. Here they serve slushies like their Call-A-Cab which after the brain freeze subdued left my head a lil fuzzy, and not because I’m furry either. You can also pick up tickets to their River Boat Cruise or just sit and enjoy the view with your drink since open containers are perfectly OK. There is a amazing restaurant atop the Bohemian hotel, I was told they have great food, that I cannot confirm but great drinks and the great view I can. I recommend visiting here to enjoy the fresh air after slamming down your mind numbing slushy.

Paula Deen

I am no foodie, hell if it has banana in it I’m pretty much sold on it but I wanted to try some good southern food. I tried to eat at Mrs. Wilkes which is said to be the best but is only open from 11am-2pm Mon-Fri and I was turned away because the line was already full at 12:40pm. The next option was the Food Network’s Paula Deen, which everyone at the conference was super excited to check out so a small group of us went. The catch about this restaurant is that you can only reserve on the day of and you can’t call in, you need to show up earlier in the day to make your reservation. My oh my does this place believe that everything needs to be fried, the oil made my eyes water and my fur smell for days. The food was great, especially the mustard greens with the signature Paula Deen hot sauce of course but at $18 for the buffet and I wasn’t even buffet hungry (you know there’s a difference) it was a little steep. The saving grace was that a dessert came with it, the waitress came out with a large tray and offered a peach pie, chocolaty something and banana cream pie with home made whip cream. Yeah, I did the Jerry Maguire, “You had me at banana” line because I was that excited. Granted it was small and I was full but it was banana, maybe this isn’t getting through to you BANANA, I almost busted into that Gwen Stefani song. (I apologize because you will now have Hollaback Girl stuck in your head for the rest of the day)

Overall, I really enjoyed my experience in Savannah and really wish I could have spent more time exploring the local culture and experiences. Want to see all the great sites I experienced, check out all my great photos below or check out my other Savanna Posts:

• Moon River Brewing Company
• Savannah River Boat Cruise
• Tybee Island’s First 37th Annual Seafood Fest

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Tags | Belford, Bohemian Hotel, City Market, GA, Georgia, horse carriage rides, Monkey, Mrs. Wilkes, Paula Deen, River St, River Street, riverwalk, Savannah, South, Travel, USA, Vinnie Van Go Go's, Vinnievangogo, Wet WIllies