Exploring Charleston

Thirty-three years on and after a very warm day exploring Charleston, we may be looking a little worse for wear in this quick selfie taken at the iconic 'pineapple' fountain in Waterfront Park.

Thank you for all your kind anniversary wishes - we sobered up rapidly over dinner this evening when we realised that we are two thirds of the way to 50!!

Anyway, back to Charleston which is an amazing and exhausting city.  Here are just a few of our first impressions from today's exploration...

We started the day with a walk to Patriot's Point, where there is a museum of military ships, including the aircraft carrier Yorktown.  We are staying at Mount Pleasant, across the Cooper river from Charleston and so our first trip was on a water taxi.

The pelicans (and one cormorant) lined up sunning themselves kept us amused as we waited.  Also the dolphins in the bay - but they were too quick for us.

Our first glimpses of downtown historic Charleston were across the water.

Docking on the other side we first visited the South Carolina Aquarium and did a behind the scenes tour as well as feeding some Sting-Rays - photos another day.

From the aquarium we walked down East Bay Street to the town centre and started to see some beautiful historic houses..

Many of the homes have large side 'porches' (covered balconies)..

So many elegant details to capture..

Our next stopping point was the Palmetto Carriage Company where we took a ride on a horse drawn carriage like this one - although I seem to have missed the full picture here!

In fact ours was pulled by two handsome mules..

Quite an experience but a bit of a squash and rather warm!  Great way of seeing even more beautiful houses and the spires of the churches for which Charleston is famous..

Many of the houses were undergoing renovations - a process governed by many rules and regulations on style, materials and of course colour.

After our carriage ride we walked on to the Battery via Waterfront Park and the lovely fountain..

Then a look at Rainbow Row..

The Colhoun Mansion and St Philips Episcopal Church we hope to visit in more detail over the weekend..

Our evening was spent having dinner at Pougan's Porch, a traditional Southern restaurant inside a mansion..

And finally, a quick after dinner walk around the night market - local crafts..

By 8pm we had to head back to the hotel and sleep..