From Athens to Dublin
Allowing for a chance to catch our breaths, we opted for only a short drive (1 1/2 hours) to Athens. We found our hotel, the new Hyatt Place, a modern sleek hotel at the edge of downtown, a perfect location except that there was very little going on downtown. Even some of the restaurants were closed for the week.
Athens is a college town, the home of the University of Georgia. With lots of young people, it is not surprising that it is also renowned for its contributions to rock and roll. R.E.M., B-52’s, Widespread Panic and Pylon are among the bands spawned here. I didn’t know them either, but, I goggled the top 10 songs of each group. I liked the music of R.E.M., thought the B-52’s were strange, Widespread Panic okay and Pylon pretty good.
Walking downtown looking for a lunch spot, Steve spotted “The Globe.” Who could resist a restaurant with that name, certainly not me! Fortunately it was good and a very popular spot.
Athens is the starting point of the Antebellum Trail with the mansions that were spared during the Civil War (or War between the States). Leaving Athens we drove through Madison, stopping to admire Heritage Hall, a Greek Revival home built in 1811 and a private residence until 1977. We continued on to Milledgeville, Georgia’s capital during the antebellum era, stopping at the Old Governor’s Mansion.
We then drove to Dublin, which I admit I put on the itinerary only because of its “capital name” and because it was a convenient stop on the way to Savannah. Whatever my reasons, it was a pleasant surprise with a vibrant downtown area with a very good restaurant, Company Supply, at which we had lunch. (I do admit to having done a bit of research to know that the restaurant would probably be good, but, it was beyond my expectations.) While downtown we did a bit of window shopping, and, I am now the proud owner of a sign that reads “Wanderlust.” An interesting tidbit about Dublin is that Martin Luther King, Jr., gave a speech in 1944 as a 14-year old student at the First African Baptist Church in Dublin.