A walking tour of Charleston

Lynn & Mike ..around the world
Mike Drinkrow & Lynn v/d Hoven
Sat 10 Jul 2010 13:27
Charleston, South Carolina - The Holy City
 
Charleston is a charming and beautiful small city - - with magnificently maintained 18th century homes, very friendly people and a great attention to food!  It is nicknamed the Holy City due to the large number of church spires peppering the skyline. The city is small enough to walk around and braving the extreme heat (35deg) Mike and I took a few walks. These are some photographs of the sights along the way.
 
      
 
Many of these homes are positioned 'side-on' to the street with huge balconies facing sideward. The entrance to the home could be via a door on to the lower balcony, as per the house on the right. Taking a tour through the city is usually done by horse-drawn cart - everything runs at a much slower, more genteel pace.
 
    
 
To keep down the temperatures around the homes there are beautiful and lush gardens, often with fountains!    Even the sidewalks have gardens, where dogs can obviously be a problem!
 
    
 
The public buildings are beautifully restored, many still being used for their original function - this is the post office - which reminded me of the beautiful Standard bank ABC building in Adderely St, where my dad worked. Notice the antique post-boxes behind Mike - which are still used by the locals!  What a civilized place to pick up your mail.
 
      
 
One of the many churches - and the old Customs House.  Sadly this is not where we had to clear in ... that was down in the dusty commercial port!