Day 49: Savannah Bus Tour and Alligator Soul Restaurant

Since I enjoyed the plantation tour I took in New Orleans plus the fact that half of the traffic in Savannah is tour buses, I decided to shell out for a tour. There were at least 3 companies to choose from. I went with the one the hotel doorman recommended and went all out for the 3 hour "Savannah Experience Tour" which is on an air conditioned bus instead of an open air trolley.
Because the never made any stops most of the in motion photos I got were not great. Thankfully I was able to retrace a bit of the tour on foot in the evening and get better photos of the notable sights. This is Chippewa Square, made famous for being the backdrop for the bus bench scenes in Forrest Gump.



Here is Sherman's headquarters and his final stop on his march to the sea.


This is the Mercer House, now a house museum, where the murders in "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" took place. I liked the tour, the guide was very knowledgeable and theatrical (used different voices when reading historical journals, etc.). I also really enjoyed seeing other neighborhoods that I would have never known about otherwise.
After the bus tour I did my last bit of walking around the downtown historic district. Like I've said before, the whole darn town is just so photogenic.


For my last dinner in Savannah I chose a place called Alligator Soul. The menu looked nice but I was having a hard time deciding what to get so I asked if there was a chef's menu. The waitress said she had to check with the kitchen and returned with the head chef who introduced himself and said he likes to make stuff up on the spot, 3 courses for 30$ or 6 for $60 and they both come with wine pairings. I opted for the 3 course. I'm so glad I had asked about it. I ended up the scallop seen above (so good), a local cheese and smoked meat plate, and steak and swordfish for the entree. On top of all of that were 4 full glasses of wine (I could only manage about 2.5 to 3) and I was talked into dessert. Unfortunately I never explicitly asked for the wine pairings, nor was I warned that is was an additional $20 (so $50 for the dinner) but lucky for them by the time I got the check I had imbibed enough to not care a whole lot about it. I really enjoyed the whole experience, the waitstaff were very friendly and the chef told me all about his training (he worked at the Four Season in Atlanta for years). I'd definitely go back there again but probably ask to skip the wine pairings next time!

Next: A different Savannah neighborhood and driving to Raleigh.