Destination Vacation: Charleston (South Carolina, Part 1)

See this photo below? This is me, hugging a palm tree in Charleston, South Carolina.

Why? Because I love palm trees, and I love being by the water. And Charleston, bless its lil’ Southern heart, gave me both of those things in abundance during my vacation.

Hello, Tartlets! The last time we checked in on my wanderings, I’d taken a long weekend up to Enders Island, CT. And while that was absolutely lovely, after 2.5 years of trundling around the tri-state area, Mr Tart and I decided to bypass another “daycation” and go straight for a real vacation this year.

The kind of vacation that involves getting on a plane, spending way too much money on chintzy souvenirs, and making questionable decisions like going “alligator hunting” anywhere a sign warned us that “Alligators [a.k.a, Certain Death] may live here!”

Welcome to my Charleston, South Carolina vacation.

We’ll get to that delicious tropical drink and our alligator friend later.

You may have noticed this blog post is entitled “Part 1”. We spent three-and-a-half days in Charleston before renting a car and heading to the nearby Sullivan’s Island and Isle of Palms. Since there are just too many photos to smush into one post, Part 2 of my vacation will be posting soon.

(Okay, soon-ish. I’m still kinda-sorta in vacation mode. Deadlines aren’t my friend right now.)

When it comes to enchanting cities, Charleston is about as good as it gets. From the pink and white oleander waving along cobblestone alleyways, to the cool breezes whipping off the harbor and around the sprawling historic houses, to the heady scent of jasmine and magnolia blossoms in the air, everything about Charleston begs you to fall in love with it.

We stayed in the heart of historic downtown Charleston, which meant we were within walking distance to everything a tourist’s heart could desire – the waterfront, the Pineapple Fountain, The Battery, Rainbow Row, Charleston City Market, and The South Carolina Aquarium, just to name a few spots.

Charleston’s an extremely walkable city, which means that we were mere steps away from plenty of restaurants, carriage tours, history walks, and beautiful, old houses with questionable pasts at all times.

We also spent a LOT of time around or on the water while in Charleston.

I highly recommend the Water Taxi that goes around to a few tourist points; it’s a great way to travel the area when your feet feel like they’re ready to fall off.

Once you’ve had enough of the sea breeze (umm, can that ever really happen?), you just turn back around and head into town, where row after row of beautiful homes awaits you.

Each house is more beautiful than the next.

Most of original facades are preserved, but even the houses that were rebuilt in the 1960s are dripping with charm.

Here’s our favorite house, below. Mr Tart and I discovered that we really gravitate toward houses with red brick, white trim, and black shutters.

This is the house we would buy if we had a gazillion dollars. (Real estate prices in Charleston are insane, FYI.)

Maybe make that two gazillion dollars, since I also spotted a bookshop for sale that I wanted to buy:

Isn’t it dreamy??? This crumbling old building is a block or two from the water, in the heart of downtown… and I believe it was listed for a cool $3 million when my husband looked it up online.

Moving on.

Charleston also has its quirky, fun side, with fun little details everywhere you look. I was always peeking down alleyways or through doorways to see what surprises were just around the corner.

When it comes to things outside Charleston proper, we were just a quick boat ride away from the USS Yorktown across the harbor, and a lovely 30-minute ferry trip to Fort Sumter.

The Yorktown is the biggest ship I’ve been on. Even if you’re someone who’s not really into naval history or airplanes (ahem, like me), this is still a really cool place to visit.

(Pro tip: Boarding this ship is also a great way to get out of the unrelenting summer Charleston sunshine. You’re welcome.)

There’s even some space stuff housed on the USS Yorktown, which my husband was very excited about.

Me? Not so much. But I did crawl inside the big white thing just to say that I’ve been inside something that’s been in space. Because how many times can you say that in life?

And, if nothing else, the views from the ship are spectacular.

One of my favorite places we ended up going is Fort Sumter. Tour groups can only spend an hour there, which is sadly not enough time to truly take in the island, its important history, and its stunning 360-degree views.

So, after a short speech about the history of the fortress and the lowering of the flag, we made the most of our time and explored the ruins.

Any down time we had on vacation was pretty much spent wandering the Charleston streets, popping into historic houses for tours and attempting to find a few minutes’ respite from the sun wherever we could.

Charleston’s heavy on charm, not so heavy on places to rest your weary, thirsty soul for a hot minute. BYO water bottle.

Now, I’m sure some of are you wondering where all the food pics are in this post.

Confession time: I didn’t take any photos of the meals we ate in Charleston.

What kind of food blogger am I???

Um, a tired one.

In honor of Our First Real Vacation in Five Years, Mr Tart and I did our best to avoid all things work-related on this trip. Which means that when food was placed in front of me, I didn’t style it, I didn’t angle it toward natural light, and I didn’t let it get cold while snapping a good 15-20 photos of it for the ‘gram.

I JUST ATE IT ALL.

I devoured my fill of biscuits & gravy, of shrimp & grits, of fried scallops and hush puppies and pretty much anything with crab in it.  Everything was washed down with copious amounts of sweet tea.

Surprisingly, Charleston was a little hit-or-miss when it came to food. We had some amazing meals, but we also had some “meh” ones, and even some horrible ones! (I know. I know.)

For those of you who tuned in for some restaurant recommendations,** here’s my list of Do’s and Dont’s for the Charleston culinary scene.

Yummy places to eat:

Gillie’s Seafood: This roadside spot is TOTALLY worth the 15-minute (and $18-ish) Uber ride from downtown Charleston to nearby James Island. I devoured Gillie’s award-winning shrimp and grits. Snag a table outside if you can.

Sweetwater Café: a true hidden gem. Tourists haven’t really discovered this place yet, for which I’m truly grateful. So much so that I’m debating whether I should even post about Sweetwater. A lot of Charleston eateries have become too full of themselves (see my **note below), but this cute cafe offers delicious food, heaping portions, and excellent service. We ate here twice, once for lunch and once for breakfast. We’re talking platters piled high with fried shrimp and fried catfish, and the best Cinnamon French Toast and Crab Omelet ever. EVER. Sweetwater Cafe was easily the downtown Charleston food star of our trip.

Just Another Broken Egg: a breakfast/brunch chain restaurant in downtown Charleston. We had our first Southern breakfast of biscuits and gravy, grits, eggs, and bacon here, and it was yummy.

Callie’s Hot Little Biscuit (City Market location): hands down, the winner for best biscuit of the vacation. Callie’s Hot Little Biscuit (I feel dirty writing that…) was all buttery, flaky, fluffy golden deliciousness. I still regret not going back to grab a half-dozen biscuits for our drive to Isle of Palms. I devoured their BLT Biscuit Sandwich and even enjoyed the lemon-basil mayo on it (and I hate mayo). Also, this place has awesome mint sweet tea.

Interesting side note: Callie’s biscuits taste exactly like Roy Rogers’ biscuits. Like, exactly. Which, to me, is a huge compliment since I used to LOVE Roy Rogers’ biscuits.

Off Track Ice Cream: this relatively new ice cream shop is modern, trendy, and would be a huge hit with the 20-something hipsters in Brooklyn. We were prepared to hate it, but we ended up loving it. Fresh ingredients, unique flavors, and a really cool building. Hit this place up for an evening treat.

Fleet Landing:  Good food, but what you’re really enjoying here is the water view. Eat outside on the patio. Try the Stuffed Hush Puppies. Pro Tip: lunch reservations are easier to get on the fly than dinner reservations.

Places we do NOT recommend: 

Charleston Crab House: we’re a house divided on this one, but this is my blog, so I’m putting Charleston Crab House on the naughty list. Mr Tart really enjoyed his Blackened Redfish with Cajun Cream Sauce and Black-Eyed Peas, but I actually sent back my Seafood a la Wappoo. (Thank you, Very Nice Waiter, for taking the uneaten meal off our bill that night.) Please note that I almost never do this with food. But, the dish was so awful that I could not stomach it: a broken, oily cheese sauce, horribly overcooked pasta, and shrimp and scallops that were nowhere near fresh. Maybe that’s what I get for ordering an alfredo dish in the South?? This Italian Jersey girl should know better. Anyway, this restaurant struck me as a tourist trap, through and through; there are better places you can grab seafood.

Florence’s Lowcountry Kitchen: it pains me to remember this experience. We both ordered fried chicken; I had a side of mac and cheese, and he had a side of dirty rice. This meal was AWFUL. As in, nothing redeemable about it. The chicken was completely tasteless, and the meat was so dry that I couldn’t eat it without choking. I’m not exaggerating. The mac and cheese was tasteless, the dirty rice was tasteless. Are you noticing a theme here? YEAH. I don’t know how this place has so many good reviews. Don’t go here.

**Important Note: the Charleston restaurant scene has become extremely popular over the past few years. We weren’t aware of this when we arrived in town, but we quickly learned the hard way. Almost all of the popular restaurants were fully booked, for both lunch and for dinner, and wouldn’t accept walk-ins. Keep this in mind for your trip; reserve your tables early so you don’t miss out.

Okay, that’s it. At least, of Part 1 of our Charleston vacation. I’ll get to work on Part 2 about Sullivan’s Island and Isle of Palms and post about it… somewhat soon.

Have you been to Charleston, Tartlets? I’d love to hear your thoughts!