Coastal Charm in Galveston

 

When you think of Galveston, does the popular Glen Campbell song come to mind? The catchy tune’s opening lyrics, “Galveston, oh, Galveston, I hear your sea winds blowing,” have become iconic and even more so after Campbell’s death last year. Galveston is not just worth singing about, it’s worth visiting. The “sea winds” in Campbell’s song may have taken on a new meaning after Hurricane Harvey pummeled Houston with 51 inches of rain in August 2017, ruining about 150,000 homes. But Galveston, 50 miles southeast, was unscathed. Downtown businesses that were flooded reopened within a week or so.

Island Getaway

Indeed, this seaside getaway has more in common with island destinations than with the rest of Texas. Only a short distance from the country’s fourth largest city, its waterfront recalls Coronado Island across the bridge from San Diego and Amelia Island near Jacksonville, Florida. Tourists, of course, may come from far away, but residents and visitors alike enjoy its seaside treasures. There’s even an expression among the Galveston locals which is “BOI”, meaning “Born on Island.”

I’d almost venture to say that it’s part of Texas, but not. The 32-mile long sliver of land has the Gulf of Mexico on one side and Galveston Bay on the other. The summer months are peak travel times when the temperature can reach 90 degrees, yet more than six million people have headed here in recent years. Offering attractive beaches and casual dining, it deserves its nickname “Playground of the South.” Tourism and shipping are the mainstays of its economy and it’s Texas’s home port for Carnival, Royal Caribbean and Disney Cruises. A vibrant culinary scene offers restaurants with splendid ocean views and inventive menus.

Culinary Diversity

After poolside cocktails, adventurous diners can step into the southern Italian restaurant Grotto San Luis, and enjoy signature dishes, such as Chicken Paglia Fieno and a Neapolitan thin crust pizza. The San Luis Resort also has a firepit and an H20 pool bar that will surprise swimmers with its easy access for refilling their drinks.  In Galveston’s East End Historical District, the Sunflower Bakery & Café is another wonderful stop. In the early 19^th century, a French pirate helped build its initial European settlements there.

Unlike standard Texas barbecue, Galveston also offers a bountiful supply of flounder, shrimp, crabs and lobster. Locally sourced seafood is plentiful at BLVD. Seafood; and Olympia Grill. The Sunday brunch buffet at the historic Hotel Galvez is phenomenal with Seafood Gumbo being the specialty. There’s also a station offering smoked salmon, crab claws and oysters.

Sipping cocktails on the roof at the Wyndham Tremont House is a great way to watch the sunset after a busy day touring. Rudy & Paco restaurant, adjacent to the Opera House, offers steak and seafood with South and Central American flair. Try their Filete de Pargo Elegante – baked Gulf Red Snapper topped with crabmeat and avocado. And as the city is an important cruise ship port one can watch them come and go from The Gumbo Diner, noshing on chicken ’n’ waffles and other Southern selections.

Local Culture

If you’re up for local culture, The Bryan Museum, a former orphanage that was built in 1895, brims with artifacts of Southwestern history and culture. The majestic yellow structure, which survived the infamous 1900 storm, offers a vast archive and art collection. The museum has been rightly called a place “where the Wild West meets the Gulf Coast.”  Saddles, firearms, spurs, maps, and exotic holdings such as pirate correspondence are among the staggeringly large number of items displayed (70,000 in all) along with Native American objects from 2500 years ago to 21^st century paintings. New Yorkers will be interested in the murals from Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney’s Long Island estate. And the stunning grounds are worthy of a nice long stroll.

Out in the Open

If you’re a nature buff, you can spot lively pelicans and dolphins on the one-hour Galveston Harbor cruise then view the Seawall Pavilion, a large white building at the end of the island destroyed by Hurricane Ike in 2008. Moody Gardens is a botanical haven that features an aquarium and a tropical rain forest along with golf, ziplining, paddle wheeling and a 4D theater. Rainforest birds, bats, monkeys, butterflies and otters live here, some of which are endangered species.  Kayakers can enjoy paddling in the East End Lagoon. And families can have a blast at the Schlitterbahn Waterpark experiencing the world’s tallest uphill water coaster called Massiv which spans three football fields!

Exploring the Neighborhoods

Don’t miss taking a taxi past the narrow “shotgun houses” in the Victorian district. Built mainly in the 1800s, these narrow residences occupying as little as 300 square feet, housed workers, slaves and servants. At a mere twelve feet wide, the rooms are positioned one in front of the other, each opening onto the next, and flanked by doors at both ends. A local offered an explanation for their classification saying with a laugh, “If you stand on the porch and the front and back doors are open, you can fire a shotgun through the house and you’re not going to hit a darn thing!”

A Night Out

When it’s time to head out for the night, Galveston’s residents are staunchly upbeat like the rest of Texas and Campbell is still king. Jimmy Webb, who wrote many of Campbell’s hits, including By the Time I Get to Phoenix, Wichita Lineman, and of course, Galveston, performed a tribute concert to Campbell in Galveston after his death last year.

But to enjoy Galveston in person rather than in song, one only needs to head there.

The area code for Galveston is 409.