I arrive in Savannah early Friday morning, having flown overnight from Seattle. I manage to get a bit of sleep on the plane, though red eye flights are never restful. But I do my best to shake it off and get ready for a day of sightseeing. We have a lot to pack in to our few short days!

After dropping my stuff off at our cute little Airbnb, I grab Maggie (who flew in the day before) and we walk down the street to Back in the Day Bakery for breakfast and coffee.

This charming little cafe serves delicious food and wonderful sweet treats, to say nothing of the delicious coffee. It’s so popular that there’s a line out the door for most of its opening hours. They’ve also published three cookbooks!

It’s tempting to buy one of everything, but I settle for a breakfast sandwich and plain coffee and milk. After fully caffeinating, we decide to make the 1.5 mile walk into downtown Savannah, stopping along the way to take photographs, check out the cute little shops and absorb the ambiance.

We barely make it to Forsyth Park and suddenly my camera dies! In my haste to pack for this trip, I forgot to charge the batteries. Rookie move! For the rest of the day, I rely on my phone for pictures. The quality of these is not as great as I would like, but thank goodness for modern technology. I always have a camera on hand. Well, as long as my phone isn’t dead, too.

Normally when Maggie and I travel together, I do all the planning and she comes along for the ride. This arrangement works well for us. But for this trip, Maggie wants to do the planning while I sit back and enjoy everything, and I’m here for it. It’s a lovely change of pace!

Forsyth Park is Savannah’s largest, but every few block you run into another charming, tree covered square. There are 24 in all, and each has its own unique features, be it statues, water fountains or curated gardens. They make the perfect place to sit and relax. I imagine they’re extremely popular on hot, summer days.

Since it’s our first day and I especially am tired, we don’t have specific plans. We just want to explore the city, absorb the history, and eat as much southern food as we can stuff into our bodies. So even though we just ate breakfast, we soon find ourselves at Paula Deen’s restaurant The Lady and Sons. I can’t wait to tuck in to some shrimp and grits!

After lunch, we make our way along the riverfront, stopping to admire a replica steamboat and some interesting sculptures and artwork. If we had more time, I would love to do a river cruise, but it’s not in the cards this trip.

I love the caution sign for these stairs.

There’s so much art everywhere you look in this city.

As you can see from the long line in the picture below, Leopold’s Ice Cream is a popular spot. I’m not a huge ice cream fan ( I know, I know! It’s not that I don’t like it, I just don’t get excited about it. I’m weird. It’s fine.), so I don’t bother to wait in the line to try it out. But all these people can’t be wrong, right?

The Savannah College of Art and Design, or SCAD, is ubiquitous around Savannah. Buildings are scattered throughout the city; there’s even stores where you can purchase student and alumni work.

While I may not be ice cream’s biggest fan, I do love coffee. I’m from Seattle afterall. So we stop at District Cafe for an afternoon respite. The coffee is delicious and the food is good, too.

Across the street from the cafe is the Marshall House Hotel. It’s full of quintessential southern charm.

After recaffeinating, I leave Maggie to rest in the sun while I walk around. Enjoy these pictures of the charming neighborhoods around downtown.

Tours of Savannah are on offer every day. There’s a hop on/hop off trolley, walking tours and even tours by horse drawn carriage. Whatever your preference, Savannah has it.

The house in the photo below was the home of Juliette Gordon Low, known for being the founder of the Girl Scouts. I don’t tour inside since it’s near closing time, and being a Camp Fire girl I’ve got to stay true to the home team, but I smile at all the girls in the Girl Scouts uniforms running excitedly in and out.

We end our day at Alligator Soul, an upscale southern food restaurant. The fact that it’s upscale was unintentional, but we’re here, tired, hungry and not super interested in finding something else. So we order a few appetizers, one of which has alligator in it, and a glass of wine. Then it’s back to the Airbnb and off to bed for us. We have more sightseeing to do tomorrow.