BY MELANIE D.G. KAPLANSpecial to The Washington Post

A city that has time for you is a win. InCharleston, W.Va., you can park your car allday for $3, catch free live music almost everynight and be seated right away — sans reserva-tions — at the city’s best restaurant. Serversand shopkeepers have the time to exceedexpectations, often in delightful ways: Theowner of Swiftwater Cafe designed me acustom sandwich, and the owner of Elk CityRecords, after we bantered about dogs, asked,“Ever heard Portuguese music?” Seconds later,a record spun and a gorgeous sound emanatedfrom the speakers.

I’ve visited three times in the last four years,taking small detours from road trips to eat atone of my favorite restaurants in the region,Bluegrass Kitchen. This time, I cast a widernet. Located on the banks of the KanawhaRiver, this bikable capital city has visible scarsfrom its economic struggles: boarded-uphouses and vacant storefronts in the middle oftown. As I wheeled around, I had the recurringthought that the city was far short of capacity,both in people and businesses. But that meansit’s a welcoming (read: affordable) place forartists, small businesses and visitors escapingbig-city prices and crowds.

CHARLESTON CONTINUED ON F4

YOU’RE GOING WHERE?

CharlestonThe capital city of West Virginia, set in the

shadow of the Appalachians, is full of creative artists and chefs — but forget the reservations

PHOTOS BY MICHAEL S. WILLIAMSON/THE WASHINGTON POST

KLMNO

Travel SUNDAY, JULY 9, 2017 . SECTION F EZ EE

BY ANDREA SACHS

“Are you nervous?” a securityguard asked me.

I was in London and the gentle-man in the fluorescent safety vesthad just inspected my bag andwanded my body from shouldersto ankles, front and back.

“Should I be nervous?” I re-sponded.

Anyone beyond the pictureframe might assume that we werediscussing the current climate inLondon. I had arrived in the Brit-ish capital less than a week after aman attacked a mosque and threeweeks after a trio of terroristsrammed their van into pedestri-ans on London Bridge and fatally

stabbed eight people in BoroughMarket. Nerves were raw.

But anyone suiting up next tome — vest, boots, harness —would know the real reason be-hind his question. I was about toclimb to the pinnacle of the O2, anentertainment venue. In any cir-cumstance, 174 feet is a long, pain-ful drop. For the next 90 minutes,all I could think about was stayingvertical.

Tourists are resilient souls, butwe are also cautious. After theMarch knife attack outside Parlia-ment and the Manchester bomb-ing in May, Bernard Donoghue,director of London’s Associationof Leading Visitor Attractions,said that the organization noticed

a slight dip in visits to centralLondon attractions. But overall,the numbers are strong: an 8 per-cent increase compared with thesame period last year.

In addition, he said, followingan incident, typical tourist behav-ior usually resumes after severaldays.

“Recovery after the LondonBridge attack was within five, six,seven days,” he said. “It hasn’t hada lasting impact.”

VisitLondon and VisitBritainalso chimed in with encouragingfigures. The tourism officesshared the findings of Forward-Keys, which analyzed bookingdata from this year and 2016. The

LONDON CONTINUED ON F5

In London, terrorism’s profile is higher. And tourism is up.

TOP, FROM LEFT: In Charleston, W.Va., the wares at Sullivan’s Records; a couple dance at the Wine & All That Jazz Festival; the state’s Capitol building is taller than the U.S. Capitol. ABOVE: Dusk colors abound near the South Side Bridge across the Kanawha River, which separates the city.

ANDREA SACHS/THE WASHINGTON POST

Students’ paper hearts are strung along a wall near London’s Southwark Cathedral as a makeshift memorial for attack victims.

NAVIGATOR

Did your great fare disappear? Blame ‘dynamic pricing.’ F2

WHAT A TRIP

Norwegian would: A dog-sled trek above the Arctic Circle. F2

ITALY

The Museo dell’Opera del Duomo undergoes its own Renaissance. F4

HOTELS

Standard rooms in 32 countries are variations on a theme. F6

F4 EZ EE THE WASHINGTON POST . SUNDAY, JULY 9, 2017

new to my palette, including one withtempura avocado and another with freshroasted beets. They arrived on aluminumplates, individually wrapped in foil. Therestaurant serves four types of sangriaand beers with names like Bad ShepherdMilk Stout and Why Ewe Whining.

ShopLocal Faves

9 Kin Ship Goods had me at theCharlie Brown turntable and the retrocamping trailer socks. That’s a lie — theshop’s resident beagles lured me in.Located in a space with exposed brickwalls, it’s the kind of store in which youstart justifying gifts; after all, you knowthe perfect recipient for the toy woodenbanjolele, the “Ask me about my dog” teeand that set of lumberjack-tool tempo-rary tattoos. The owners hold occasionalworkshops and talks with artists andmusicians. T-shirts are printed on-site.

One of two record shops in town, 10Sullivan’s Records has a robust selectionof vinyl, from Fleet Foxes to FlamingLips, Bach to Billie Holiday. Shop ownerSam also sells turntables and band post-ers that took me back to the ’80s (theClash, the Smiths). I donned headphonesto sample an Earl Scruggs album. Home-ward Bound Books recently opened inthe back, with enough inventory to have asection on sex, directly above the sectioncalled “Wrestling with God.” On my wayout, an older gentleman asked Sam if hehad any Dire Straits. “I miss it,” he said.“Money for nothin’ and chicks for free.”

Guidebook MustsEvery time I visit Charleston, I spend

more of my time at 11 Taylor Books.Important for its fine selection of Appala-chian titles (“Mountain Measures: A Col-lection of West Virginia Recipes” foradults and “A is for Appalachia” for kids),beloved for its welcoming coffee shopthat sells no-bakes (a sweet regionalfavorite) and surprising for its adjacentgallery of local art and basement screen-ing room, Taylor is an institution. Thisvisit, I discovered the large used-booksection in the back. Next time, I’ll stay forlive music.

Among Charleston’s several vintageand antique retailers, 12 the PurpleMoon takes the cake — and probablyserves it on a fab midcentury modernplatter. The shop’s rooms are tastefullyfilled with stylish furniture, lighting andglassware, from a mod spaceship desklamp to a West German pottery vase. Theowner, Connie, stood by a thoughtfullycurated collection of vintage glass andbriefed me on regional handblown itemsfrom pioneering companies such as Blen-ko and Fenton. Purple Moon is part ofdowntown’s ArtWalk, held the thirdThursday of every month.

StayLocal Faves

Just a block from the Capitol Complex,the 13 Brass Pineapple Inn was built in1907, well before construction of the newstate Capitol building. Operating as abed-and-breakfast since 1989 — withobligatory floral prints, four-poster bedsand antique claw-foot tubs — the inn sitsamong late-Victorian residences on atree-lined street in the city’s historic EastEnd. Every spring for a quarter-century,the neighborhood has hosted what issupposedly the state’s largest one-daycommunity yard sale.

Guidebook MustsAt the 14 Four Points by Sheraton

Charleston, you’ll have the best views,the best goings-on on your front porchand perhaps the best happy hour in town.Rising above the river, the Sheraton isfront row for Live on the Levee and bigfestivals such as Biker Bash, a motorcyclerally in June; and Rod Run Doo Wop, aclassic-car show in October. EveryWednesday is Brews and BBQ (free sam-ples of local craft beer and barbecue) forlobby bar patrons. Tip: Ask for a riverview on the east end of the ninth or 10thfloor to see the dome.

ExploreLocal Faves

Like a dream come true, every shop Ientered in the 15 Elk City HistoricDistrict on the West Side had a shop dog.Take Calvin the hound mix at Elk CityRecords, whose title is director of secu-rity and morale. But I also saw a neigh-borhood beginning its renaissance. Thanks to affordable commercial spaceand a rebranding campaign, the creativeclass has set up shop here. Base CampPrinting, next door to Kin Ship Goods, isa storefront letterpress print shop. Near-by: Mi Cocina de Amor and Bully Trap, awalk-in only, cash-only barber shop. AtCalvin’s shop, owner and retired lawyerPhil Melick is hardly a starving artist, buthe shares the passion and energy of othersmall business owners here. Plus, he hasa mighty fine collection of records forCalvin to protect.

Guidebook MustsOne afternoon, I pedaled over the river

and up to the 16 South Hills neighbor-hood. And up. And up. I wasn’t preparedfor the steepness of the hill. But I waspleased at the top to find the Bridge RoadShops, a little hilltop destination of cloth-ing boutiques, salons and restaurants, arespite from the gritty downtown. Eclec-tics sells locally made accessories andgifts; Sarah’s Bakery has sweet and sa-vory pies; and Lola’s has a charmingpatio for dining alfresco. The Folded Leafyoga studio offers donation-based com-munity classes on Sundays. Opening thissummer: gelateria Caffe Romeo.

travel@washpost.com

Kaplan is a freelance writer based in the District. Her website is melaniedgkaplan.com. Find her on Twitter: @melaniedgkaplan.

GoLocal Faves

Little in Charleston impressed memore than 1 Live on the Levee, and itwasn’t the music. The city comes out ofthe woodwork for this free and weeklyoutdoor concert series in Haddad River-front Park — bikers in cowboy boots,teenage girls in too-high heels, hippies,canoodlers, dancers, smokers, dogs,strollers, young and old. In the lineup:10,000 Maniacs in July and Tusk: theUltimate Fleetwood Mac Tribute in Au-gust.

One morning, I biked across the Ka-nawha River and found myself in awooded haven, the 2 Sunrise CarriageTrail. I walked a .65-mile zigzagging pathup 180 feet to a spot that offers a generousview of the city when trees are bare. Thepath was built in 1905, when horse-drawn vehicles hauled material to buildthe hilltop estate of Gov. William Mac-Corkle. Today, it houses a law firm.

Guidebook MustsOn the East End of town, I joined a

fourth-grade class at the 3 Capitol Com-plex for free tours of the Capitol buildingand Governor’s Mansion. (Also in thecomplex: the West Virginia State Mu-seum, where you can see the late Sen.Robert C. Byrd’s 1978 LP, “MountainFiddler.”) Our guide, Grace, pointed outthe mansion’s West Virginia-shapedraised garden bed and the Dutch clockthat plays seven baroque arias. A kidasked Grace if she had met the governor.“I have. He’s a very nice man. Very tall,”she deadpanned, adding that he sleeps inan extra long bed. We had no choice butto believe her — the upstairs was off-lim-its.

Open year-round, 4 Capitol Market iswhere locals meet for coffee and touristslook quizzically at items like chowchow(a regional relish). Inside, you can buymeat, seafood, chocolate, wine, grainsand spices. Outside, the fresh produce isirresistible. I bought a small jar of locallyharvested J.Q. Dickson salt and avoidedthe spicy offerings — Uncle Bunk’s 14-daysweet hot pickles, Yoder’s jalapeño pick-led eggs and Ordinary Evelyn’s hot pep-per butter.

EatLocal Faves

If dining at 5 Mi Cocina de Amor feelslike sitting in your Mexican grandmoth-er’s kitchen, owner and chef Frank Gon-zales has done his job. Using generationsof recipes from his family, he opened thisElk City spot, which has become a favor-ite of locals. For a laugh: the Bad HombreTacos. For a deal: Margarita Monday orTaco Tuesday. For a West Virginia spin onbeverages: peach moonshine margaritasand Appalachian iced tea. Keep an eyeout for Gonzales’s next neighborhoodjoint, Gonzoburger, opening this sum-mer.

After biking up steep Bridge Road, Ineeded to refuel and stumbled upon arestaurant in a converted, century-oldhouse: 6 Lola’s. Funky art adorned thewalls, and the Supremes wafted throughthe speakers. I settled on a large, purple-cushioned bench in a sunny room. Lola’sis known for handcrafted artisan pizzaand locally made Ellen’s ice cream. A beetsalad with goat cheese and candied wal-nuts hit the spot, and general managerMike offered me shopping tips on theWest Side.

Guidebook Musts7 Bluegrass Kitchen stands out in a

city where Tudor’s Biscuit World (fastfood in biscuit form) is often named as afavorite restaurant. But it also has beencelebrated far beyond the city, and forgood reason. For 12 years, the ownershave been putting an upscale, eclecticspin on comfort food, celebrating thestate’s Appalachian heritage with a menuthat changes daily. At Bluegrass, you canwear flip-flops, chat with locals and eatsustainably and organically. And there’smore: kitschy vinyl tablecloths, pressedtin ceilings, live music nightly, house-pickled ramps and dilly beans, creativecocktails and plenty of vegetarian op-tions. This time, I ordered the mockchicken and herb dumplings. The blue-berry buttermilk pie with vanilla beanwhipped cream? I order that every time.

Located downtown, 8 Black SheepBurrito & Brews was perfectly situatedafter a long morning of shopping. I sat atthe bar, with a front-seat view throughthe glass-walled Bad Shepherd Brewerynext door and ordered a flock of tacos

CHARLESTON FROM F1

A genuine city experience — sans crowds

PHOTOS BY MICHAEL S. WILLIAMSON/THE WASHINGTON POST

1 Live on the Levee600 Kanawha Blvd. E liveontheleveecharleston.com

2 Sunrise Carriage Trail746 Myrtle Rd.304-344-5075charlestonwv.com/listing/sunrise-carriage-trail.aspx

3 Capitol Complex 1900 Kanawha Blvd. E.304-558-4839www.wvculture.org/agency/capitol.html

4 Capitol Market 800 Smith St.304-344-1905capitolmarket.net

5 Mi Cocina de Amor 711 Bigley Ave.304-205-5461wvmexicanfood.com

6 Lola’s 1038 Bridge Rd.304-343-5652lolaswv.com

7 Bluegrass Kitchen 1600 Washington St. E.304-346-2871bluegrasswv.com

8 Black Sheep Burrito & Brews 702 Quarrier St.304-343-2739blacksheepwv.com

9 Kin Ship Goods 613 Tennessee Ave.kinshipgoods.com/pages/about-us

10 Sullivan’s Records 1588 Washington St. E.304-344-4355facebook.com/SullivansRecords/

11 Taylor Books 226 Capitol St.304-342-1461taylorbooks.com

12 The Purple Moon 906 Quarrier St.304-345-0123thepurplemoon.com

13 Brass Pineapple Inn 1611 Virginia St E.304-344-0748brasspineapple.com/Brass_Pineapple/Welcome.html

14 Four Points by Sheraton Charleston 600 Kanawha Blvd. E.304-344-4092starwoodhotels.com/fourpoints/property/overview/index.html?propertyID=3901

15 Elk City Historic DistrictWashington Street between Pennsylvania and Ohio avenues, specifically Washington and Tennesseecharlestonwestside.org

16 South Hills Bridge Road in South Hills, specifically Bridge and Walnutbridgeroad.org

MACCORKLE AVE SE

BIGLEY A VE

CEN

TERS

RD

B A NKS ST

BULLITT ST

ASSOCIATIO

N D R

DENTON ST

HOTEL CIR

GRE

E N ST

E WOO

DLAND

D R

HIGH ST

HINTON TER

DEE

DR

SPR

. ST

KE N TON

DR

HEA

TH ST

YMCA

DR

SLACK ST

ODEL

DEITRICK

FARNSWORTH DR

BARLOW DR

TWILIGHT D R

BRIDG

SCOT

T RD

BURKEWD. PL

S W

AN RD ES

TILL

DR

WILD A

CRE DR

WD

S

NORW

OOD RD

GL E N RD

HOLLY RD

RIDGEMONT R

DCIRC

. RD

ABNEY CIR

NPLEA

SAN

T R

D

RO

UN

DH

IL L RD

OOK RD

SPRING RD

LINDEN RD

CALLIE RD

PORT

ER RD

STAUNTON

RD

STO

NE RD

DR

BENDVIEW

OA K M

NT.

RD

R

D

D

HICKORY RD

LOUD

ON HEIGHTS RD

BR

IDGE R

D

BLVD W

BIGLEY AVE

CRESCENT RDBAIR

D

YTON

DRG

ROVE

A

N

A CO N DA

ALL ST

WAT

T

MARYLAND AVE

ST

DELA

WARE AVE

6TH ST

OHIO AVE

AVE SW

MAIN ST

I

CT. ST

PENNSYLVANIA AVE

KANAWHA BLVD E

KANAWHA BLVD E

QUARRIER ST

PIEDMONT RD

DIXIE STBROOKS ST

S SD. B

RGSENTZ ST

31S

BAINES ST

MILTON ST

KANAWHA AVE S

BRADFORD ST

PLAZA E

LAIDLEY ST

M

ACCORKLE AVE SE

JACKSON ST

CLE

NDENIN ST

LEWIS STSM

ITH ST

VIRGINIA ST E

WASHINGTON ST E

LEE ST E

HAYES AVEE

FORT

HILL

DR

64

6464

66

81

81

817070

76

95

77

77

79

68

50 MILES50 MILES Pittsburgh

Columbus

Charleston

Richmond

W. VA.

VA.

D.C.

PA.

OHIO

KY.

MD.

64

64

64

77

77119

119

60

114

FortHi l l

SouthRu!ner

West Side

East Side

Hi l lsSouth

MACCORKLE AVE SE

GREENBR

IER

ST

LEE ST W

TENNESSEE AVE

GREEN

BRIE

R ST

WASHINGTON ST E

WASHINGTON ST E

LEE ST E

COURT ST

Elk River

C h a r l e s t o n

1/2 MILE

K a n a w h a R i v e r

THE WASHINGTON POSTSource: Maps4News/HERE

3

710

13

16

2

6

9

114

1211

4

8

515

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: One of the colorful murals in the Elk City Historic District; a mix of older and newer architecture is a trademark of the city; an appetizer plate with pickled ramps, onions, blue cheese and stone-

ground mustard at Bluegrass Kitchen; the wares of a storefront in the hilltop Bridge Road Shops.

CHARLESTON