Savannah & Charleston
Featuring Spoleto Festival USA
May 27 - June 1, 2007
Sponsored by TDF




Join the 11th annual Spring tour of Savannag and Charleston which includes: roundtrip airfair on US Airways, 5 nights accomodation, daily breakfast, 1 lunch, 2 dinners, performances at the Spoleto Festival and numerous tours of these beautiful cities.  
 
Reservations go quickly, so book today!



Join tdf Travel on our 11th annual spring tour to the historic cities of Savannah and Charleston, featuring tickets to two performances at the 31st annual Spoleto Festival USA. We begin in Savannah, named by Conde Nast Traveler as "one of the Top 10 cities to visit in the United States" and called by the Paris newspaper Le Monde "one of the most beautiful cities in North America." We spend two nights in the heart of the historic district where the cobblestone squares and towering magnolia trees give the city a special magic. En route to Charleston we stop in the pretty coastal town of Beaufort, S.C. where we take a walking tour through the historic center, followed by lunch. We spend three nights in Charleston, known as one of the most beautiful spots in the United States, with its stately private homes, public buildings and lavish gardens. The Spoleto Festival USA, along with the locally produced fringe festival, Piccolo Spoleto, transforms the city into a vibrant cultural center. Our tour offers a balance of structured and free time to optimize your visit to these extraordinary southern cities. Early reservations are essential as the airfare is limited to 24 persons, and previous tours have quickly sold out. Single rooms always go quickly.






1.  Sunday, May 27     New York/Savannah
We depart LaGuardia airport on US Airways at 9:50am and arrive in Charlotte at 11:50am where we connect to our Savannah flight, arriving there at 1:30pm. We meet our guide and transfer by private motor coach to Savannah, the legendary Hostess City of the South! As one of only two Southern cities not burned to the ground by General Sherman’s troops during the Civil War, Savannah is steeped in history and rich in old-fashioned Southern charm. Located on the Savannah River, just 14 miles from the Atlantic Ocean, Savannah, America’s first planned city, features beautiful squares, historic churches, museums, and galleries. Quaint shops, fine restaurants and a bustling riverfront combine to make the city a unique destination. We start our guided introductory walking tour strolling through time, starting in 1733 when James Edward Oglethorpe landed at Savannah, continuing through the Civil War era to the present day. Our tour ends at the Mulberry Inn where we enjoy two nights in the heart of the historic Washington Square within steps of Savannah's rich history. The lovely appointments at the Mulberry Inn take you back to the elegance and graciousness of another era. This intimate guest hotel preserves the charm of the past in harmony with the amenities of the present. Amenities include a café, pleasant garden courtyard, and a pool. A short stroll along Bay Street leads to the bustling waterfront where renovated cotton warehouses now feature a variety of shops and restaurants. Tonight we enjoy a welcome dinner at The Pirate’s House, one of the city’s oldest historic restaurants. (Dinner)  



2.  Monday, May 28     Savannah
Following breakfast, we take a guided walking tour of historic Savannah, “America’s best walking city” where we discover the splendor of historic mansions, churches and squares. We visit the Owens-Thomas House built in 1816. Famed as a place where Lafayette spent the night in 1825, this house evokes the heyday of Savannah's golden age. Designed by English architect William Jay, the house has been called a "jewel box" and is considered the finest example of English Regency architecture in America by architectural historians. Inspired by classical antiquity, this style of architecture takes its name from England's King George IV, who ruled as Prince Regent from 1811 to 1820. These period rooms provide a splendid setting for the Museum's decorative arts collection, including American and European objects from 1790-1840. The remainder of the day is free to explore Savannah on your own. Your leisure choices are always very rich and varied. You may wish to have lunch at Mrs. Wilkes Boarding House, an unpretentious Savannah institution renowned for its family-style Southern comfort food. Why not stroll through parks and squares that date back to the 1700's or walk around the intriguing Civil War fortresses at Fort Pulaski or Fort Jackson. You can cruise down the Savannah River or tour the Historic District in a horse-drawn carriage. Whatever your pleasure you are sure to find it in Savannah. Enjoy dinner on your own. (Breakfast)



3.  Tuesday, May 29     Savannah/Beufort/Charleston
After breakfast we depart Savannah for the small water-front town of Beaufort, a city with a rich history. Called the “Queen of the Carolina Sea Islands” with its Southern hospitality and casual seaside charm Beaufort was discovered by the Spanish in 1514 and chartered by the British in 1711. Enjoying great prosperity in the eighteenth century as indigo and rice plantations thrived, the city is known for its many antebellum homes with their wide verandas and has been the location for several major Hollywood films including Prince of Tides and Forrest Gump. We have a walking tour of Beaufort where we stroll past antique stores, art galleries, innovative restaurants and book stores. Lunch is included. We then continue to Charleston where we check in to the Holiday Inn Historic District, ideally located near many of the Spoleto events. Centrally located at the corner of Meeting and Calhoun streets, this full-service hotel features elegant guest rooms which capture the charm of the old south without compromising the comfort of modern amenities. Charleston is the home of Spoleto Festival USA, founded in 1977 as the American counterpart to the Festival dei Due Mondi (Festival of Two Worlds) in Spoleto, Italy by Gian Carlo Menotti, which presents a diverse mix of first-rate performers in opera, dance, theatre and music. Each year at this time the Festival takes over the entire city. After dinner (included) we have tickets to our first Spoleto performance. Tonight the Gate Theatre of Dublin performs an early 20th century classic, W. Somerset Maugham’s The Constant Wife, a subtle comedy about marriage, infidelity, female sexuality and economic independence set in 1920s upper class London. The Gate is synonymous with Irish theater around the world and is famous for the high quality of its productions. It was at the Gate that such luminaries as Orson Welles and James Mason began their prodigious acting careers. Today the company continues to attract the finest creative talent and offers a stimulating and inclusive program, appealing to theatergoers of all generations. (B)(L)(D)  



4.  Wednesday, May 30     Charleston
After breakfast, we take a panoramic motor coach tour of Charleston. As America’s most intact colonial city, this sultry and gracious cultural capital invites us with its alluring, languid mystery and European charm. Rice was South Carolina’s economic base in the early 19th century and profits from growing and trading it made possible the buildings which comprise Charleston’s noted architectural heritage. Among the most elegant of these is the Charleston Museum’s Joseph Manigault House, a National Historic Landmark, located in downtown Charleston close to the Museum and the City Visitor Center. Designed by gentleman architect Gabriel Manigault for his brother, Joseph, this three-story brick town-house is an exceptional example of Adam-style, or Federal architecture. One of Charleston’s most graceful historic structures, the house reflects the lifestyle of both a wealthy, rice-planting family and the slaves who also lived there. Many of the rooms have been restored to their original (and often unexpected) color schemes, while a sweeping staircase provides access to the second floor. Furnishings from the Museum’s collections, include an outstanding collection of American, English and French pieces of the early 19th century. We continue to the Charleston Museum, the first and oldest museum in the United States, which you may tour at leisure. Founded in 1773, it is now housed in an award-winning $6 million complex. A full-scale replica of the Confederate States' submarine, Hunley, greets you at the entrance. Inside, we see Charleston's history from the beginning reflected in extraordinary collections of clothing, furniture, silver, games, vehicles, photographs, and other objects. The afternoon is free. Perhaps you may choose to experience Charleston and her history on a harbor cruise where, as Charleston natives so blithely state, “the Ashley and Cooper rivers join to form the Atlantic Ocean.” The harbor tour provides unique views illuminating the history of the Old South as you cruise past the palatial homes of Charleston's famous Battery, the Cooper River Bridges, Waterfront Park, Patriots Point, Fort Sumter, Fort Moultrie and Charleston’s bustling seaport. Tonight we see our second Spoleto performance, Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, an opera by Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht. Written in 1927 after the huge success of their Threepenny Opera, Mahagonny is one of the outstanding achievements of 20th century musical theatre. This satirical opera, which boasts a haunting, brilliantly melodic and poisonously iridescent score by Weill, is Brecht’s scathing attack on capitalism. The story of the opera is unique. Three fugitives from the law create the city of Mahagonny, somewhere along the Gulf Coast, where no one works. Pleasure - drinking, gambling, sex - is the order of the day and money alone rules. The ramifications for a society organized on such a value system is the overarching theme of the opera, which explores scenarios of greed, gluttony, lust, and a justice system in which a murderer can buy his way to freedom, but inability to pay a bill results in conviction and a death sentence. The themes are highly political but if the politics seem a bit dated, the underlying insights into human behavior ring true still and the satire retains its bite. The work’s highly political themes gave rise to protests from National Socialist Party supporters when the opera premiered in Leipzig in 1930. Mahagonny was subsequently banned by the Nazis, not to be produced again in Germany until the 1950s. Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier—well known to festival audiences for their productions of Strauss’ Salome and Gluck’s Iphigenie en Tauride—will direct. Emmanuel Villaume, Spoleto Festival USA’s Music Director for Opera and Orchestra, will conduct. (B)  



5.  Thursday, May 31     Charleston
We begin this morning with a half-day guided tour of the Magnolia Plantation, home of Magnolia’s most recent owners, the Drayton Family. The house is the third to grace the site in more than three centuries of Drayton family occupation. The current main House – the core of which was built prior to the Revolutionary War near Summerville, South Carolina and floated down the Ashley River to Magnolia after the Civil War — gives a glimpse of plantation life in the 19th century and beyond. Ten rooms are open to the public, furnished with early-American antiques, porcelain, quilts, and other Drayton family heirlooms. Guides describe life in the 19th century, using furniture and household objects to bring plantation culture alive. Upstairs, a room dedicated to the late John Drayton Hastie, the most recent owner of Magnolia, displays part of his private art collection. We explore the Audubon Swamp garden, a wild and otherwise inaccessible landscape on boardwalks, bridges, and dikes and follow in historic footsteps: 150 years ago, the famous wildlife painter, John James Audubon, came to observe waterfowl. More recently, Wes Craven found it the perfect location for his movie The Swamp Thing. This exotic water-world has fascinated visitors for over a hundred years. We are free for lunch and return to the city for an afternoon at leisure. You may want to book another performance. Once you register, you will receive information on how to book tickets for Spoleto Festival USA and Piccolo Spoleto, the alternate festival sponsored by the city of Charleston which has many free and inexpensive performances throughout the city. (B)  



6.  Friday, June 1     Departure
After a leisurely breakfast, we depart for our non-stop US Airways flight at 12:10pm, and arrive at LaGuardia at 2:10pm. (B)  





This engaging experience includes:

  • Roundtrip airfare on US airways
  • 5 night accomodations: 2 nights at Mulberry Inn, Savannah and 3 nights at Holiday Inn Historic District, Charleston
  • Breakfast daily, 2 dinners, 1 lunch
  • Guided walking tour of Savannah
  • Tour of Owens-Thomas House, Manigault House
  • Walking tour - Beaufort
  • Guided tour of Charleston
  • Magnolia Plantation tour
  • 2 Spoleto Festival performances: The Constant Wife- Gate Theatre (Dublin) and The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny
  • Admission to the Charleston Museum
  • Porterage of one piece of luggage and all transfers
PROGRAM PRICES  
Per person (double occupancy) from New York: $1,969.00  
Single Supplement: $425.00  
Air Taxes: $65.00