tedgale

My first Fodor's mudfight! Goody!

I have, of course, visited River Street and Factor's Walk. I went to take photographs of the river.

They are just as BANAL as ever -- though the views across the river and upriver are fine. (I kinda wish I'd taken the ferry, just for the experience of being on the river.)

Lots of low-life too, both domestic and imported.

OO

I agree with tedgale leelane, and I lived on Bay St, so know the area well. I might set foot on River St a couple of times a year. No reason whatsoever to go there, especially because we could see the river and the river traffic from our windows, which looked north across the river and east down River St. That was as close as I needed to get...7 floors up.

tedgale, upstairs at the Sapphire Grill was for the in folks. You have arrived!

leelane911

OO, I was responding to tedgale's statement:

"Needless to say, as discriminating quasi-residents we spent NO time in the tourist limbo of River Street/ Factors' Walk."

You note that he says "NO time" in the above quote. My point was about his condemning an area that he couldn't know anything about if he had spent "NO time" there. (I took him at his word.)

Yes, River Street is "tacky" in many ways, though that doesn't mean there aren't a couple of good gift shops and decent restaurants in that general area.

There is one thing I dislike more than tacky. That is snobbery.

OO

Really Leelane, he obviously didn't mean 0 time, never went there. I would never have interpreted his comment that way. He was living in the city. Of course you go once or twice, see what it's like, and then there is no need to return, unless there is a festival or symphony there (4th of July) that draws you back for an event, or you want to watch the river traffic. I'm sure he did that much, but that doesn't mean he can't use the phrase "I spent no time on River Street"! It is not a place residents spend time. Oh some who work downtown might go to Kevin Barry's after work, but River St is not where the good restaurants are, and with the caliber of restaurants elsewhere in the city...we didn't go there to eat either except an occasional dinner at the Olympia Café or River House Seafood. That was it.

River Street isn't what Savannah is about at all. Oh yes..I liked River Street Sweets, but how often do you do things like that? My husband was on the board of the Waterfront Assn, which tried to set a new tone for River Street and limit the tacky shops somehow. They weren't' making much headway. So much could be done there to make Savannah even more enjoyable.

I would watch the tour boat come in from Hilton Head, dock at the city docks below our windows, and the visitors spread out along River Street. My hope was that with their limited time, they got off River Street quickly and into the squares where they could get a taste of what makes Savannah the charming city it is. Unfortunately, unless they read good travel advice, probably not that many did make it into the squares. By the time they realized that what they saw initially was really all they'd get for shopping there, I'm afraid it was time to re-board and return to Hilton Head, so they left with no real feel for what the city is.

Factors Walk and River Street were vital to the history of the city and should be seen once...and it is picturesque, sitting across the river in the Westin or Convention Center and looking back from a distance. From a distance it looks lovely. Up close it's something else.

MorganRey

"Needless to say, as discriminating quasi-residents we spent NO time in the tourist limbo of River Street/ Factors' Walk"

What part of this statement do you have trouble understanding, OO ?

leelane911

OO, you said "River Street isn't what Savannah is about at all."

Did I say that River Street was what Savannah was about? To me, River Street is a very small part of what Savannah is about, and it is what it is. I visit family in Savannah frequently so I do know the area well.

tedgale said what he said. If you want to "interpret" it in such a way as to let him off the hook, knock yourself out.

tedgale

Let them rage, OO.

It would only be worth fighting over River Street if someone on the other side of this argument actually felt River Street IS a great place to go.

No-one has yet made any such claim for it.

PS: I suspect there is a serious irony-deficiency in people who can't catch the mild self-mockery in "discriminating quasi-residents".

OO

Lawsy St Peter!

flygirl

Tedgale, are you planning on spending each winter in Savannah? I see you have a GTG planned...

tedgale

Maybe it will be permanent. I feel some reluctance to return because I had such a transformative and restorative experience this past January -- it was just after I retired.

Anyway we are taking the risk & heading back there for Jan 2009. Fingers crossed that it will be like last time.

Renting again from Suites on Lafayette.