It wasn’t a very good start in Charleston, the city was hit by the tail-end of a hurricane, so day one it rained, hard, day two it was windy and cold and day three it was just grey, day four there was sunshine, but I was only there for the morning, so I didn’t see the place in its best light. And on my cab ride from the train station to hostel, I was ripped off, not only overcharged, but we dropped off another passenger, stopped for the driver to get some coffee and finally made it to the hostel. I was not a happy bunny. But I was able to get into the hostel and have a shower, I was given the back door code, so I just had to wait for the person who worked there to let me check in, she did and even allocated my bed so I could go and have a nap, yay!
When I was finally awake, it was still raining, but I walked into town, to the wharf and around the area, to see what I might do on the following days. I was thoroughly soaked by the time I returned to the hostel, because it was warm I didn’t wear my rain coat but used my umbrella, which is no good for slanty rain.
For day two, the windy day, I took a bus tour of Charleston, to see the main sites and lots of antebellum homes, which are huge and I still can’t believe a lot are still being used by single families, it’s a rich place. After the tour I was meant to get a boat out to Fort Sumter, where the first shots of the civil war took place, but it was cancelled due to the weather. Instead I walked back into the centre of Charleston and had a late lunch at Hyman’s seafood restaurant, the one that’s recommended by everyone. The food was great, crab dip, calamari, lump crab cake, hush puppies, onion rings (yes, I did eat them) and shrimp and grits covered in a cheese sauce. I am never having grits again, how people can like them is beyond me, but apparently they do, the cheese sauce didn’t taste of cheese either, but I did eat all the shrimp or as I would call them tiger prawns. The crab cake was excellent and so was the crab dip, but grits, urgghhh.
Day three began with a visit to the Aiken-Rhett mansion, a fairly well preserved antebellum home and plantation in the city. It had few modern features, due to a large part of it being closed off when the family got smaller and didn’t need all the space. It looks very smart from the outside, but inside it’s undergoing a large restoration project, so parts were quite tatty.
After that I went to the Old Slave Mart, which was built to old slave auctions, when it was getting frowned upon selling slaves in the street. It’s now an exhibition covering the history of slavery in Charleston, from the slave owners, traders to the slaves themselves. It didn’t seem to hide any aspects of the business, even covering the prices a slave would reach, punishments, division of families etc. It was a rather sobering museum, which I expect was the desired effect.
One of the most famous rows of houses in Charleston is Rainbow Row, where every house is painted a different colour, so creating a sort of rainbow effect, which I am sure is very pretty if the skies weren’t so grey so everything looked kind of drab. Just beyond Rainbow Row is the Battery and White Point Gardens which face Fort Sumter and the river, there are even pelicans on the water. The park itself has numerous cannons, cannonball pyramids and statues, including one to the confederate soldiers of the southern states. This area of town is the posh end which has many huge antebellum houses, even the smallest house which was built as a playhouse for a rich man’s 17 children.
It was lunch at Jestine’s restaurant for local fried food - I chose the fried chicken and fries, which came with a side of coleslaw and pickled cucumber slices. The chicken was lovely and so were the fries, the coleslaw tasted of tea, which was bizarre. To drink I had iced tea, which they call the local wine, I did ask the waitress if it actually tasted of tea, as many people had said it didn’t, she didn’t really answer but said if I didn’t like it I wouldn’t be charged. Surprise, surprise it did taste of tea, urggh, I know English and don’t like tea. Jestine’s other speciality is the coca-cola cake, I was full after all my fried food, but they have a bakery around the corner, so I bought a chunk to take away. It was lovely, sounds bizarre, but was very good. I know Nigella Lawson has a recipe for it, so I’ll try making it when I get home, it was that good!
Next Stop: New Orleans
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