Touring Charleston

Touring Charleston   …   Sunday 10th November 2012

Charleston is a very beautiful city. We liked it when we visited in 2003, but I'm not sure we saw that much of the town then because Gloria was on crutches after hip surgery. Today we took our folding bikes to shore in the dinghy and spent the day touring around. The tide flows really strongly up and down the Ashley river and although we seem to be securely anchored we were still a bit nervous about leaving the boat. However, we got to Battery Park at the end of the Charleston Peninsula around mid morning and there was no sight of "Cotinga" floating out to sea so we started to relax a bit. We were really taken with the gorgeous buildings.  Many of the homes are three-story narrow buildings with porches all along one side.  Occasionally you could get a glimpse of a lovely private garden or shady courtyard. I can't think of any other city in the USA where there are so many beautiful houses throughout the center of town. The bicycles allowed us to make our way to several different areas. Charleston College,apparently the countries oldest municipal college, also has a beautiful campus. Add to that lots of art galleries, theaters, fine restaurants and beautiful weather (at least today) and you can start to see why this might be a great place to live. At one point we were walking around some church gardens when the Sunday service finished. We were impressed by the elegance of the congregation dressed in bow ties and smart dresses. Then we got chatting to one guy who introduced us to the minister because he also came from Massachusetts. He looked us over, invited us to the 6pm service, and made a pointed comment that it was very informal and he would be dressed in shorts. I think he was unimpressed by our attire! In the late afternoon we stumbled upon “second Sunday on King”.  The street was closed to traffic and a kind of carnival atmosphere prevailed complete with musicians and dancers.  At first I thought that Charleston must be the most dog loving city in the nation.  Later I realized that today was the SPCA was hosting an animal adoption event.  It was very crowded and a fun atmosphere. Having spent most of the day in town we were tired and returned for a quiet evening on the boat.

Mike + Gloria

32 46 29.5 N, 79 57 10.5 W

A small narrow garden in Charleston

On campus Charleston College

Spiral stairs and buttresses of a church 

Door and wall

Photo-shoot - we came across this in a courtyard in Charleston College

Dancing in the street - second Sunday on King Street

Guitarist - second Sunday on King Street

... and in portrait