My favorite thing about visiting a new place is freely walking about — meandering on my own time, at my own pace, stopping as I please for a snap shot or people watching. Before I arrived in Savannah, friends described it as a “walking city.” After traveling across Europe and seeing what actually institutes a walking city, I felt American cities weren’t “walking cities” — until I visited Savannah’s historic district.

After eating at Mrs. Wilkes Dining Room in the heart of Savannah, a few of us decided to meander through the historic district. Antique shops pepper the downtown area, hidden on the ground levels of old historic mansions.

Friends and colleagues recommended I visit shopSCAD, Savannah College of Art and Design’s student art shop, while I visited Savannah. The college campus is scattered throughout historic Savannah. While I walked throughout the downtown, I saw students carrying giant painting portfolios, rushing to and from class. I loved shopSCAD. I bought a painting and chatted with a recent grad from the fashion program, who rang me up for my purchase. So many cute finds in the shop. I secretly eyed the Golden Girls and Betty White notecards, lusted after the high-priced large portraits and fell in love with the set up of the shop.

Horse and carriage, trolley rides, walking tours, as well as “the slow ride” — a 15-person bike vehicle — are great ways to see the historic area instead of walking.

On my walk from historic Savannah to the river, I stumbled across the Mercer House, the house that the book and movie “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil” is based upon. Sadly, I haven’t read the book or watched the movie, but after walking on the premises of the spooky property, I desperately want to know more about it. Since I got home to Charlottesville, Va., I have already checked Best Buy, Target, Instant Netflix and Redbox for the movie — and have yet to find it.

The pink azaleas lit up the Forsyth Square underneath the live oaks and moss before I came to the giant fountain in the middle of the park.

The cemetery has about 500 tombstones but has nearly 10,000 bodies burried in the plot, according to my ghost tour guide. After the Revolutionary War, grave robbing was prevalent in the cemetery, and when George Washington visited Savannah, residents requested that he help build a fence and gate around the tomb plot.

Stay tuned for more Savannah posts. Can’t wait to tell you all about the inns, food and bees of Savannah!