A Trip to Charleston

Where we stayed:

Recently, I was blessed to finally visit Charleston, SC for several days. It was my first time to go to Charleston and wow, that city does not disappoint! I loved everything about Charleston. The charm, the history, the architecture and the food! Oh. My. Word. The food! It is amazing. I can see why Charleston is a top travel destination. We stayed at the Hotel Bennett. It is a lovely property and is in a fantastic location, right on King Street. We were able to walk to everything we experienced around town. The hotel is beautifully decorated and the rooms were very comfortable. Here is a look at the room and bathroom where we stayed and a picture of their beautiful lobby. I fell in love with the decor and was so inspired by the stunning mural on the wall in the lobby.

Where we ate:

The first meal we had was at 5 Church. This fun restaurant is located on North Market Street. The menu has seafood, steak, some pasta and fried chicken. I had seen several recommendations for this restaurant and I think people really enjoy it. Our meal here was ok and we were seated in a room off to the side so we did not get to enjoy the atmosphere of sitting inside the main dining room. It could have just been an off evening, but it was my least favorite meal we ate while in Charleston. One evening we ate at Le Farfalle and it was wonderful. I would definitely recommend making a reservation. They even had a really pretty courtyard you can enjoy if the weather is cool enough. We had the more amazing focaccia bread and whipped ricotta and olive oil. I had the Fusilli Lunghi and my husband had the Rigatoni Verde and both were amazing! We also had a yummy meal at Magnolias on East Bay Street. Unfortunately, since our visit they have had a fire and the restaurant is temporarily closed. When it opens again, I highly recommend a visit here! It was delicious. They had great pimento cheese as an appetizer and an amazing Blue Crab Bisque. It has all the southern staples and the service was excellent. After our guided walking tour of the historic area, we ate at the Blind Tiger Pub on Broad Street for brunch. It was super good. We split some Avocado Toast and some candied bacon as well as tried some beignets for a little treat. The Brown Dog Deli was also some place that I had heard good things about but it was closed the day we were in the area for lunch.

What We Did:

There is so much to do in Charleston! There are plenty of lovely places to go shopping and we walked around town quite a bit. One day we took a trip out to Fort Sumter. You take a ferry boat to the remnants of the fort and it is a nice activity for an afternoon. It does not take that long to do and the park rangers that gave a presentation about the fort were excellent. They gave us lots of information about this place where the Civil War began and were so helpful to answer any questions we had. As far as other things to do in Charleston, you can go to Middleton Place, which is a lovely place to spend an afternoon. You can tour the beautiful gardens on your own or they have guided garden tours as well. One afternoon, we went to The Citadel to check out the school. Apparently there is a museum there as well but when we were visiting, it was closed because of Covid. It was still interesting to walk around the campus of this military college a bit. Our hotel was near the College of Charleston and we walked around there too. It was graduation weekend when we visited, so there were lots of people around the college.

What We Did - Walking Tour:

If you are able, a walking tour is the way to experience this beautiful city and its historic charm and character. The specific tour we took was a two-hour historic Charleston guided sightseeing walking tour. Our guide was excellent and very informative. The tour company keeps the groups small enough that it isn’t difficult to keep up or hear the guide speaking. He took us around the city and showed us many historical sites as well as some of the beautiful architectural aspects of the city.