In Love with Charleston

Our next stop after Beaufort and Southport was Charleston in South Carolina. I had high expectations before we got there. Based on a diverse set of novels and films from childhood and onwards, I’ve always thought of Charleston as a romantic place: sophisticated and mysterious at the same time. And I was definitely not disappointed – quite the opposite! The city was far more beautiful than I could ever have imagined and so different from anything I’ve seen in the U.S.

We took a guided tour around the city and as our guide pointed out, there are not historic quarters in Charleston as in many other towns that we’ve been to; Charleston is a historic city. The architecture is really unique, inspired from the south of Europe but developed into its own style. I love the East Coast and New England-style architecture with its small brick and wooden houses in pretty colors, but Charleston’s large mansions with large verandas and grandiose decorations are really something else. At the same time, it’s a living city with an emerging high tech industry and with only little over 5 percent unemployment. So definitely not a dormant museum town.

Apart from the guided tour, we had dinner at a small French place the first night, walked around a bit the next day and watched the Pride Parade, which coincided with our stay. I think I’ve found my no 2 favorite city in the U.S. (no 1, of course, being NY) and I’m already planning to spend a weekend there sometime in the next months.

Unfortunately, I was too fascinated by the city to remember to take out mu camera, so these are basically the only photos I have:

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