trip report - a romantic weekend in savannah

Savannah, Georgia is one of those southern cities I'd always heard was a wonderfully charming place to visit, and after spending the weekend there I can see why. Now that the hubs and I live in Charleston, SC and are only about 2 hours driving distance from Savannah, finally planning a trip to visit this city we've heard so much about was inevitable. And I foresee a return trip in our near future........and next time I plan to bring a U-haul. ;) #vintagefindsgalore

It's rare when something is all that it's been cracked up to be, but after spending a weekend in this city I totally get the hype. It really does ooze southern charm from the architecture and cobble stone streets to the collard greens and cheese grits. It's a great city for a little romantic getaway.....especially if you're a history lover.

Where we stayed?
We couldn't decide on a hotel for the weekend. There are so many great places from which to choose. So rather than forcing ourselves to choose one for the weekend, we opted to stay at a different hotel each night.

Friday night we stayed at The DoubleTree in the Historic District which is a great location, walking distance to City Market shopping and dining. The lobby is gorgeous!

I fell in love with the library room. Blue on blue on blue is a really good look in my book.

The second night we stayed at the Bohemian on the Riverfront. This was my favorite! Everything about this hotel was fantastic from the gorgeous paintings and decor throughout, to the rooms and the rooftop bar. I loved every single thing....every single detail....including the location as you're walking distance to everything.

I really loved all of the exposed brick in the building.

Where we ate?

We ate at The Olde Pink House the first night for dinner. We'd heard so much about it and given that it dates back to 1771, we didn't want to miss this place on our very first trip to Savannah. Like many old southern mansions it's "haunted", but we didn't have any encounters. ;)

We were pleasantly surprised to find out that they had a gluten free menu!

The food was good, probably the best collard greens I've ever had. And we brought our own bottle of wine to enjoy with dinner. *There's no corkage fee for your first bottle.* We only brought one, but I just wanted to let you all know in case you visit with a large group. ;)

The next day, thanks to a lot of your suggestions on Instagram and Facebook, we basically ate our way through the city. My waist line is very appreciative. ;) The hubs and I both loved Zunzi's,
which is a counter service style, casual place to eat. They offer gluten free options too!

The portions are ginormous, so I'd recommend spliting something. It's a great place to eat on a warm sunny day. And don't worry about the line.....it moves really fast.

Hands down though the most memorable food experiences for us were at the rooftop bar at the Bohemian where we ate gluten free duck wings, and they were so good we ordered another round. Um, yeah, they were that good. Plus the atmosphere up there is so great overlooking the river. Even if you're not staying there the rooftop bar would be a fun place to stop in for drinks and apps.

We also loved our dinner at A.Lure. They have lots of gluten free options. My hub went bananas for the gluten free corn bread. And I have three words for you - goat. cheese. grits. Best grits I've ever eaten in my entire life. Seriously! I'd go back there in a heartbeat.

What we did?

Besides eating.........we did a lot of walking around. The weather was absolutely perfect for a weekend in January. We kind of lucked out in that regard. We walked along the riverfront, stopping in The Shrimp Factory to grab a couple of to-go cups of the infamous Chatham Artillery Punch which dates back to colonial times.

History holds that this very punch was served in 1791 at a ball in Savannah to honor George Washington. And apparently President James Monroe called this punch "suave and deceitful". I'd have to concur.........it goes down easy but is very strong. ;)

*The Historic District in Savannah has no open container laws, so you can grab a plastic cup to go walking around..........which is odd but fun. ;)

Again thanks to your helpful suggestions, we popped into a bunch of great shops. I really liked Clutter, a consignment store full of treasures for the home, which was a short drive from the Historic District.

And The Paris Market was absolutely gorgeous inside and out!

This store was filled to the brim with inspiring displays and pretty things for the home.......but I dug the little bakery area the most. Rustic wood floors, bentwood chairs, cognac leather and sweet marble topped tables......what's not to love?!

As inspiring as a weekend trip to a charming southern city can be, what I loved most was time away from the chaos of regular life with my favorite person in the world. Parenting middle school aged kids is.......well, it requires a healthy balance of patience and stamina......and as a married couple it's easy to get distracted with all the daily life stuff and not stop to connect. The best part of this weekend was being able to complete a sentence without being interrupted. And if I'm being totally honest, as much as I love my kids and would throw myself in front of a train to save them, I kind of loved just being me for the weekend. It was nice to hang up my mom hat for a couple of days and just be a girl in love with a boy. That's how this whole thing started in the first place.

If you've been thinking of visiting Savannah, go for it! It would be a great little city for a girl's trip too, and I can't wait to go back again. Next time I'll be ready and prepared to bring home some larger finds. You could easily spend more than a day just checking out all of the great antique shops and consignment stores! And this city is not lacking for great food! Plus, what I personally found to be so great was that so many of the men and women that work in this city's restaurants, hotels and shops are quite knowledgeable on the history of Savannah, so pretty much every place we visited we learned a little something new.

If you're looking for more Savannah recommendations, check out all of the comments on this Instagram post! And if you like getting real time peeks at what's going on behind the scenes, check me out on Snapchat (ourfifthhouse).