Orlando to Savannah
Since 1939, the Silver Meteor has travelled daily between Miami and New York City. The name of this train was selected as part of a public contest, with 30 out of 76,000 entrants suggesting the name. I boarded in Orlando in the early afternoon and alighted in Savannah in the evening. The trip took about an hour longer than the estimated travel duration.
The scenery on this train left much to be desired, comprising predominately of trees on both sides of the track. Indeed, I was not inspired to take a single picture out the train window. I had read that this would be the least interesting of all the Amtrak routes, so I was prepared for the monotony. I was sat next to a quiet man who disembarked in Jesup, Georgia. Points of interest along the route included Pierson – ’the fern capital of the world’ – and the Jacksonville skyline.
Savannah
I had one full day to explore Savannah. Savannah is the oldest city in Georgia and is notable for its historic buildings, cobblestone streets, and the 22 squares in its historic district. It was hot and humid during my visit and I was struck by how quiet the historic district was. Savannah receives approximately 14 million visitors per year, but I must have only seen about 10 of them. I stayed in the ThunderBird Inn – a retro hotel with free popcorn and soda, and a breakfast menu comprised solely of donuts.
If you look closely you can see the Forrest Gump impersonator is carrying a box of chocolates. I observed the impersonator sitting on a bench in Chippewa Square (where part of the movie was filmed), before walking past this theatre and boarding a tourist bus to entertain the passengers.
The Silver Meteor (which I caught from Orlando to Savannah) continues to Washington D.C. and beyond, however, the Savannah to Washington D.C. part of the route is travelled during the night and early morning. As I desired to look out the window, I decided to catch the Palmetto leaving Savannah. This took a similar route up the east coast, but did so during daylight hours. You can read more about this journey in my next blog post.