Venice. We were startled upon waking up with a view of endless water on both sides of the train carriage, as if we were, literally, in the middle of the sea. So began our trip to this fabulous city that slowly unveiled itself to us. One, more or less, has a vision of what Venice must be: its labyrinthine canals, its multiplicity of bridges, the bobbing of its gondolas on the wharf, the golden dome of San Marco… While cities like Rome, Paris, and London all look prettier in pictures that the real thing almost seems banal, one can never quite get a sense of Venice until one walks its streets.

The same was true with Savannah. While River Street was charming, you can find the same tourist trap boutiques and cafès elsewhere, in places like Galveston, Fredericksburg, and San Antonio. I had only vague notions of what the Old South must be–mansions and plantations, oaks festooned with Spanish moss, Civil War cemeteries–and did not anticipate at all the delight of walking through Savannah’s streets and squares. Whereas European cities radiate from rotundas, Savannah (and, I guess, most American cities) was devised as a grid from scratch, around small squares, an embarras de richesses of twenty-four in all. The best way to grasp the urban planning is to bear south from W. Bay through Bull Street which takes you up to the white fountain of nereid and tritons at the center of Forsyth Park. One can then head back to the river via Abercorn and Habersham, passing through the Colonial Cemetery.

I thought about what it was in Savannah that enchanted me the way Venice did, and it was this: the smallness of the streets, built to human scale (unlike thoroughfares of Houston), and the way they meander and always conspire to lead you off track, like clever Escher-spaces, labyrinths that loop and fork, and halls of mirror that repeat their features infinitely. No wonder Marco Polo in Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities was able to invent and re-invent Venice for Kublai Khan a thousand times.

The Lowdown:

Where to go: Skip the Sorrel-Weed Mansion; it’s not worth the $10 entrance fee. Visit instead the Davenport Mansion where the furniture is not just from the period, but belonged to the family itself. Don’t miss the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist for its German stained glass, ornate stations of the cross, and richly colored interiors. (If anything, the Catholics know how to pick wallpaper!) For a day-trip, if you have to choose, visit Fort Pulaski for its interesting geometric lines. Cannon projectiles from the Civil War are still lodged in its walls. Wormsloe Plantation is only worth seeing for its 1.2-mile row of old oak trees. There’s also nothing to see on the riverboat tour.

Where to eat: By all means avoid Lady & Sons. Their crab stew and award-winning chicken pot pie was the best $15 laxative in town. If you have to, the service at Sushi Zen was very efficient. While waiting for your trolley tour, you can cool off at Cafè Gelatohhh. Best cheap meal: noodle soup at Saigon.