Charleston is also known as The Holy City due to the numerous church steeples, which dot the city's

Charleston is a seaport city in the state of South Carolina in the United States of America . Its historic downtown is on a peninsula formed by two rivers, Ashley and Cooper, flowing into the Atlantic, and protected from the open ocean by surrounding islands. Charleston was captured in the Civil War without much property damage, so the historic part of town has buildings that are hundreds of years old. The current downtown skyline, with practically no tall buildings due to the city's height restriction ordinance, is dominated by church steeples and the stunning Arthur Ravenel cable-stay bridge completed in 2005 over the Cooper River. enterprize car rental The city is a major port on the eastern seaboard of the US and a popular destination for domestic and international tourists.
Charles Towne, as it was first called, was established in 1670 by Anthony Ashley Cooper on the west bank of the Ashley River, Charles Towne Landing, enterprize car rental a few miles northwest of the present downtown. By 1680, the settlement had grown and moved to its present peninsular location.
Around 1690, the English colonists erected a fortification wall around the small settlement to aid in its defense. The wall sheltered the area, in the present French Quarter, from Cumberland St. south to Water St., from Meeting St. east to East Bay St. The wall was destroyed around 1720. Cobblestone lanes and one building remain from this colonial English Walled Town: the Powder Magazine, where the town's supply of gunpowder was stored. Remnants of the colonial wall were found beneath the Old Exchange Building.
Luckily, Charleston was re-captured in the Civil War without much property damaged, and it was the first city in the U.S. to pass a historical preservation ordinance. Thus, much of the beautiful architecture, from early Colonial, Georgian, Federal, Greek Revival, and Italianate to Victorian, remains for future generations to see and enjoy.
enterprize car rental Charleston is also known as The Holy City due to the numerous church steeples, which dot the city's low-rise skyline, and the fact that it was one of the few places in the original thirteen colonies to provide religious tolerance to the French Huguenots as well as to Jews.
Charleston is in general a laid-back, but sophisticated, city and has an old-South feel, just like its neighbor, Savannah . Most people in Charleston are helpful when approached in a polite manner. If a traveler speaks little English, Charlestonians are still generally willing to help as best they can. It is advisable, however, to at least learn a few key English phrases, and perhaps carry a traveler's phrasebook.
The dialect here varies from standard American English, having a "Southern Coastal Accent" that contains British influences. For those who learned Standard English, some speech may be difficult to comprehend here. Generally speaking, one can easily get by with Standard American or British English, though. The inhabitants of Charleston are, to a large degree, transient (due to several military installations, port labor, rail labor, and other factors), and therefore many other languages are inherent in a minority role.
A minority dialect spoken here is Gullah, a dialect of English almost incomprehensible to most English Speakers. If you are familiar with "Porgy and Bess", you are familiar with Gullah. Gullah has West-African influences mixed with pidjin enterprize car rental French and English. The dialect originated around John's Island. If you travel south of the city (to the islands, or towards Ravenel), the dialect becomes somewhat more prevalent enterprize car rental (although still in a minority context).
Alternate languages include Spanish and Portuguese, brought to the city and its outskirts by its large Latin American enterprize car rental population. One may encounter "Spanglish" here, which is an odd combination of Spanish and English.
Charleston is served by Charleston International Airport ( IATA : CHS ) [1] , located about 12 miles northwest of historic downtown. The small 2-concourse terminal is functional, with dark decor absent of any antebellum charm (unlike the lovely Savannah Airport terminal). Taxis to downtown cost about $25; shuttles arranged by Airport Ground Transportation cost about $14/person to downtown. CARTA operates a local bus service, Bus 11, to downtown hourly enterprize car rental on weekdays. Rental cars are available at the airport terminal; Interstate 526 connects the airport with Interstate 26, which in turn terminates just north of historic downtown at U.S. 17.
Charleston is located nearly at the midpoint of South Carolina's Atlantic coastline. It can be easily reached by car, from the north or south, via U.S. Highway 17, which cuts across the Charleston peninsula, or from the west, via Interstate 26, which terminates just northwest of the historic downtown at U.S. 17. The outer beltway enterprize car rental Interstate 526 forms a loop from U.S. 17 to the Charleston International Airport.
enterprize car rental The Greyhound enterprize car rental station is in North Charleston. To get to Charleston/Downtown, cross the street from the Greyhound station and take the #11 Airport Bus (away from the airport). The last stop for this bus is one of Charleston's four visitor's centers, enterprize car rental this one located downtown.
Charleston is a city that is best explored by car or on foot. Several rental car services are available at the Charleston International enterprize car rental Airport. Some area hotels also provide transportation to and from the airport.
The public transportation system in Charleston consists enterprize car rental primarily of a fleet of buses run by the Charleston Area Regional Transportation Authority (CARTA [2] ) and privately run taxi services. The bus system is not widely used by the upper-class residents of the city, and would be rated as fair by the standards of most larger urban areas. Bus Route 11 serves the Charleston International Airport and the downtown enterprize car rental area. CARTA also operates four Downtown Area SHuttles (DASH 210, 211, 212, 213), which are useful for the visitor who does not wish to walk the historic enterprize car rental downtown. Regular fares are $1.75, but downtown DASH services are free of charge.
Taxis are generally safe and inexpensive in Charleston but are sometimes difficult to find unless they are prearranged by calling one of the taxi services in advance or you are in the downtown area, where it is easy to flag one down.
The best way to tour the city is by carriage drawn by horses or mules (many vendors enterprize car rental available at the Market in downtown Charleston), although one might prepare oneself for some derisive comment and exasperation from locals inconvenienced by such quaint methods of transit.
Luckily for visitors to Charleston's peninsula, the historic district is accessible on foot. If staying in one of the many hotels on the peninsula of Charleston, a visitor could easily explore most of the city's major historical enterprize car rental sites without benefit of a car, either by foot or also with the help of the four DASH trolley lines. Unfortunately, the plantations--a significant part of Charleston's history--are not located within walking distance of the peninsula. enterprize car rental If you are driving into the historic downtown, the first thing to do is to find someplace to park. Garage parking is available at the Visitor Center for $1/hr.
The streets in the historic downtown in peninsular Charleston are more or less parallel and perpendicular to the Cooper River waterfront, forming enterprize car rental a warp grid pattern, with a major shift in the angle of the grid at the east-west "fault enterprize car rental line" of Beaufain/Hasell Street, just north of the old Market Area near the waterfront. The major east-west street, Calhoun Street, was once known as the Boundary Street, separating the then-suburbs enterprize car rental north of it from the urban area south of it. The major north-south street, King Street, is the main shopping street in downtown, from the Upper King area north of Calhoun around the Visitor Center south to the upscale anchor, Charleston Place, at Beaufain/Hasell.
Several blocks south is a major east-west street, Broad Street, which divides two areas in historic downtown, aptly named North of Broad and South of Broad . Those South of Broad were nicknamed SOBs, and those Slightly North of Broad were SNOBs. The French Quarter , founded by the French Huguenots, is just south of the Market Area along the waterfront. The area near the southern tip of the peninsula, where the Ashley and Cooper Rivers meet, is known as The Battery .
There are many walking tours, which give you the opportunity to see more than just driving past in a bus or carriage. There is a walking tour for virtually every interest. You will find Pub Tours, Civil War tours, culinary tours, ghost tours, Gulla tours, architecture tours, art tour, and even pirate tours. Some of the walking tour companies offer tours with guides in period costume. Charleston Pirate Tours even has a costumed guide whose parrot, a blue and gold macaw, accompanies the tour.
A good place to start a tour of Charleston is the Visitor Reception and Transportation Center (tel: 1-800-774-0006), located at 375 Meeting St. (and Ann St.), not far from the terminus of I-26 northwest of downtown. At the Visitor Center, a travellor can find maps and guides, tour a small museum dedicated to the history of Charleston, book sightseeing tours, and view an introductory film to Charleston ($2).
Charleston History Photo Tours , Washington Square Park ( Behind City Hall at 80 Broad Street ), 843.901.9283 , [4] . All Year . Experience Charleston s incomparable beauty, unique history and flourishing preservation with your guide whose knowledge of Charleston heritage, culture, and architecture is unmatched. Your 2 hour walking tour can be customized to what interests you most, which may include magnificent mansions, mysterious graveyards, graceful gardens, Revolutionary and Civil War sites, secret passageways, cobblestone enterprize car rental streets, slave history, various locations to capture unique photographs, and photographic tips on how to compose the perfect shot. $22.50 . edit
The Battery and White Point Gardens . A park located at the southern tip of the Charleston peninsula with beautiful view