Georgia - Savannah

“Time isn’t the main thing. It’s the only thing.” - Miles Davis

With only 24 hours in Savannah before heading to the next city on my U.S. tour, there was a lot that I planned to experience.

At noon on Sunday, we checked into the Thompson Savannah: a Hyatt-brand modern luxury hotel situated just off the city’s riverfront. After dropping our bags off in our room and getting a sense of the hotel’s amenities - a heated pool, fitness center and lobby bar, among others - we walked less than 15 minutes downtown to The Funky Brunch Café where we placed our name on a waiting list with an estimate of one hour, since the restaurant didn’t accept reservations.

To bide some time, we decided to walk down to Savannah’s River Street which houses over 75 shops and restaurants in what were once cotton warehouses. Although an interesting piece of history to explore, we found ourselves weaving in and out of groups of tourists along the stretch.

Luck was on our side that day and as we were heading back up the hill to the main area of downtown to escape the sea of fellow day-trippers, we received a call that our table was ready at the restaurant. We enjoyed a mimosa carafe - it was brunch, after all - and a seafood salad filled with shrimp and lobster while we people-watched, sitting outside at a table in what appeared to be the restaurant’s parking lot.

After brunch, we spent some time wandering through the city’s squares and parks. We walked along Habersham Street down to Forsyth Park - Savannah’s 30-acre park which holds gardens, tennis and basketball courts, dining options, Saturday farmer’s markets, and local artisans - and continued our walk up Bull Street, where we sat outside at The Collin’s Quarter for a drink: the restaurant was closed for food services between the hours of 3PM and 5PM on Sundays.

From here, we walked back to our hotel and spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing in the outdoor heated pool. Exhausted from our day of traveling and walking all over the city’s downtown, for dinner that evening we opted for room service’s specialty: a hamburger and french fries.

The following morning, we drove to and wandered around the Savannah City Market, an indoor-outdoor marketplace since the 1700s that offers four blocks worth of boutiques, restaurants and galleries, and is home to many year-round events.

We went to B. Matthew’s Eatery on East Bay Street for an early lunch and spent our last hour in the city walking through the historic residential neighborhoods, past the shops on Broughton Street and back to our car parked in the lot of the City Market, before getting on the road just after noon to drive to our next destination.

We all get 24 hours in a day; it’s up to us to decide what we do with those 24 hours - and I’m very happy to have spent one of my days exploring Savannah, Georgia.