Welcome to the Altraverse Travel Newsletter. This month, we have a number of features:

That's it for now - enjoy!

-- Mark & Scott & the Altraverse Staff

Bliss is so easy in Savannah! Anchored with reality as well as by touchable, enchanting beauty, Savannah travelers often depart with a familiar mantra -- "There's no place like Savannah. There's no place like Savannah."

Intimate pursuits are worth every moment, especially when the enjoyable adventure is artfully fun: to elude the long lines of the city's top destinations long lines and bustling clamor of historic Savannahs tourist bottlenecks. Around the colorful fringes and tucked into imaginative niches are the mesmerizing romantic places just off the beaten path away from the too-busy maze.

CITY CHIC LUNCH

The when of eating depends on where one is inspired to stop or what visual fantasy immediately nabs your interest. Sidewalk cafes are perfect temptations in Savannah's "living museum", as Frommers guide calls the historic downtown.

Sweet Leaf Smokery & Eatery (606 Abercorn St., 912-447-5444) dishes up a best-rated pulled BBQ only one block away from Azalea Inn.

SoHo South Cafe (12 W Liberty Street, 912-233-1633), an artsy restored warehouse, offers a fun blend of art gallery, coffee house, and tea room.

Old-fashion Leopold Ice Cream (212 E Broughton Street, 912-234-4442), with or without the hot fudge and freshly-made whipped cream captivates with its nostalgic soda-fountain recreation of Stratton Leopold, native Savannahian and Paramont Pictures executive producer.

For upscale southern buffet alternatives with ease of parking or walking, try the Pirates House (20 East Broad Street, 912-233-5757) a perfectly restored seaman's tavern, begun in 1734 when the riverfront was a flourishing haven for world-port sailors -- houses a fine restaurant in a mysterious maze of rooms.

A classically peaceful indoor escape is Savannah Tea Room (7 East Broughton Street, 912-239-9690) or a fashionable lunch on-the-park at the Savannah College of Art and Designs Gryphon Tea Room (337 Bull Street, 912-525-5880) overlooking Madison Square.

PAUSE FOR SWEET TEA, SWEET THOUGHTS AND A CUP O JO

Parkers Market (222 Drayton Street, 912-233-1000) fits the bill for "don't break my stride" on-the-go informality of the downtown citysvillage market aura -- "You're here. You're cool!" Buy an impromptu bunch of carnations and, for a thoughtful pause, ramble through the Colonial Cemetery leaving behind a romantic flower atop historic gravestones.

Reward your kindnesses with European truffles from fine chocolatiers at Wright Square Cafe (21 W. York Street, 912-238- 1150).

Drop in on twenty-something years rediscovered at Gallery Espresso (234 Bull Street, (912) 233-5348) on Chippewa Square, heavily dashed with city-casual informality of a college campus's chic coffee shop.

Then, face southward to Forsyth Park for an over the rainbow feeling of magical nostalgia.

ROMANTIC DINNER & MORE CHOCOLATE!

Delightfully tempting is Vic's On The River (26 East Bay Street, east from City Hall, 912-721- 1000), Savannahs hottest new fashionable spot cafe on River Street, complemented byfine dining on Upper Factor's Walk.

On the harbor, the romantic atmosphere, dressed-up southern plantation cuisine, and impressive wine list, plus chocolate -- Coffee Chocolate Martini (German Riesling), and a Sweet Potato and White Chocolate Bread Pudding served warm with white chocolate ice cream.

Gottlieb's Restaurant and Dessert Bar (1 W. Broughton St., 912-234-7447) celebrates Savannah fine dining with the family's legendary decadent desserts or signature Chocolate Chewies, laced now with a twist of uptown New York attitude.

BEACH COUNTRY PLAYGROUND

Consistency is the ticket at designer meal dinners at George's of Tybee (1105 E. U.S. 80, Tybee Island, 912-786-9730).

For stylized Caribbean fare, "Tangos for sure!" (1106 Highway 80, Tybee Island, 912-786-8264) says one Tybee resident describing the charming stylized Caribbean fare.

"At sunset you'll discover students, an intelligent, thoughtful people plus mid-range prices at North Beach Grill," (41-A Meddin Drive (across from the lighthouse), Tybee, 912-786-9003) says photographer Nancy Heffernan, a long-time Tybee Island resident.

Once satiated by sea and supper, dawdle on the beaches or mosey your way back to historic Savannah's side of "paradise" -- the British marketing term used to recruit settlers for England's New World Georgia colony. After a few days in paradise, lovers reflect theyre now even more in love and wanting to fall in love again and again, and return; or, return again and again to recapture easy-going bliss like this!

Additional places to explore off the beaten path are found at www.savannahoffthebeatenpath.com. "There's no place like Savannah. There's no place like Savannah."

Discover the fantastically friendly, Azalea Inn amid the Forsyth Park neighborhood where old-meets-new in the historic garden district. The romantic inn delivers temptations of syrupy-southern breakfasts -- that's layers and layers of wonderful southern food plus, Wine -- with Attitude (sm) in the afternoon. Proclaiming the historic bed and breakfast as Where Fun Blooms(sm), in spite of indoor comforts and fascinating architecture, even Azalea Inn acknowledges Savannah's staggeringly beautiful landscapes. Guests laze on the terrace or verandah porches, snuggle under tree-canopied balconies, swagger through the lush heritage gardens, and schmooze poolside.

Azalea Inn and gardens is located in the Landmark Savannah Historic District within two walking blocks of Forsyth Park, the citys infamously verdant and captivating central park. Guests are invited to rendezvous where life is a celebration ... of the present and the past. Amid the breezy quietude of the Landmark Savannah Historic Districts Huntingdon Street, relaxed southern comforts allure guests seeking casual Savannah charm and social sensibilities. The Italianate urban manor (circa 1889) was built on garden plots formerly designated for colonial gardening (ca. 1733 Georgia colonization). Each of the inns 10 guest rooms features themed decor depicting Savannah's gardens, distinguished history, and fashionable turn-of-the-century lifestyle of the mansion's original owner, Captain Walter K. Coney. The cotton executive's mansion features original mantles and handsome, artisan craftsmanship from Savannahs Victorian era. Micheal and Teresa Jacobson, parents of two graduates of the Savannah College of Art and Design, purchased the Inn in August 2005.

Azalea Inn
217 East Huntingdon Street
Savannah, Georgia USA 31401-5714
Toll Free 800-582-3823 (within the USA)
Telephone 912-236-2707