Here’s the great thing about walking tours: they build up an appetite, let you really see the city, and set you up for a good night’s sleep – all at the same time.
Charleston has a couple of gems – one culinary, the other historic:
Charleston Strolls is a two-hour series of ambles that takes you where carriages and motor coaches dare not venture. Each step is a step closer to understanding the tone and texture of one of America’s most unique cities. Stroll through the Waterfront Battery, past antebellum mansions, through hidden gardens and intimate courtyards. Take time and pay proper homage at some of the city’s historic graveyards and churches. Learn who came before, and why they came to the Charleston. Echoes of the Civil War still echo through the streets here, the Revolutionary War as well. See how they helped fashion Charleston into the legend it is.
Culinary Tours of Charleston offers a couple of targeted tours: one for those who want to see behind the scenes into some of the city’s great restaurants, the other for folks who just want to savor low country flavor.
Charleston Chef’s Kitchen Tour is a Friday-only affair that takes you into the inner precincts of some of Charleston’s best chefs. The two-and-a-half-hour walking tour gives you an up-close-and-personal glimpse of how they do it. To give you the strength to make the trek, the tour starts with coffee and artisan pastries.
Savor the Flavor of Charleston Tour is a two-and-a-half-hour exploration of how low country cuisine has evolved over the past 300-plus years. Take your tongue along and taste stone ground grits, locally-made gourmet chocolates, pralines, low country barbeque and collard greens. Wash it all down with a glass of sweet tea.
Story by Jerry Chandler
(Images: Charleston Strolls, Culinary Tours of Charleston)
