Charleston South Carolina:

April 26, 2011

Touring the sites on a Tandem

We drove to downtown Charleston and found a place to park (for a fee) at one of the visitors centers. The Visitor Center itself was interesting and we picked up a bicycle tour map developed by the local bicycle club. It was a great way to travel through the historic homes of the city center and the harbor area.

One of the historic buildings in the downtown harbor area. The streets were narrow without a lot of vehicular traffic, but with many pedestrians. The tandem was a good way to get through the area easily without having to worry about parking. When the crowds got bigger, we just got off and pushed the bicycle.

Lunch was at an open air restaurant. Although we locked the tandem on the sidewalk, we made certain to be seated where we could keep it under visual supervision so that none of the equipment disappeared.

The route took us across the Arthur Ravenel Jr. bridge (with a secure pedestrian/cyclist lane) to Patriot's Point Naval and Maritime Museum where we walked along the USS Yorktown Aircraft Carrier and a submarine.

It was nice to have a dedicated bicycle/pedestrian lane... separated from vehicles by jersey barrier... but the noise of the traffic was deadening.

The bridge was a quite a sight from a distance.

Fort Moultrie was an interesting visit and the best way to view Fort Sumter without actually taking a boat ride to the site.

I think Rhona's favorite Charleston Site was the Magnolia Plantation and it's gardens. The property was obtained in 1676 by the Drayton family and the owner at the time of the Civil War developed an English "Romantic" style garden.

Almost anywhere you pointed your camera resulted in a spectacular picture.

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