Charleston, South Carolina: The Historic District

Any visit to Charleston needs to include the beautiful Historic District. At the southern end of downtown Charleston, it overlooks the harbor to the east. As you drive through, you're transported back a couple of hundred years in time, helped by the gas lamps that still stand on the sides of the streets.

East Bay Street and Meeting Street are the places to head to find historic homes and it's immediately clear that this has always been a rich and affluent area. There are plenty of highlights here, but perhaps the one that most people head straight for is the Nathaniel Russell House, now a National Historic Landmark. Russell was one of the city's wealthiest merchants and construction of the house, considered at the time to be one of the finest residences in Charleston, took five years. Perhaps what sets it apart from other buildings in the Historic District is the sheer beauty of the property, both inside and outside, with a formal English garden to explore. If you're visiting on a Sunday, be aware that the Nathaniel Russell House is only open in the afternoon, from 2:00 pm - 5:00 pm.

Perhaps the highlight - and certainly the most photographed part - of East Bay Street is the stunning Rainbow Row. Look at any rack of postcards in Charleston and without doubt, an image of these brightly coloured colonial townhouses will jump out at you. The idea of bright pink, blue and yellow historic buildings may sound unappealing, but it's a sight worth seeing, although getting photographs yourself isn't easy due to all the trees in front of the properties.

That's a theme that continues down towards the Battery, a stunning tree-lined area, where almost every building is worth taking a look at, whether it's listed in the guidebook or not. There must be few places in the world where there are so many beautiful buildings all next to each other and all preserved for generations to come.

The Battery itself got its name from its former military use and even today, you can see cannons lined up, facing the harbor As you stand there, you can understand why this area was so important for armies. The view over Charleston Harbor and the Cooper River are beautiful. Standing there on a beautiful day, it's almost impossible to imagine that this place was ravaged by Hurricane Hugo in 1989, which flattened 60 buildings in downtown Charleston and took the roof off the Nathaniel Russell House.