Dreamscapes Travel & Lifestyle Magazine
Issue link: http://read.dreamscapes.ca/i/739845
A SOUTHERN SHOWPLACE Nestled off the Gulf of Mexico, Mobile is home to nearly 200,000 residents and makes a fabulous launching pad for day trips and city sightseeing. History runs deep here. The birthplace of America's oldest Mardi Gras, Mobile got its colonial start when two brothers from today's Mon- tréal, Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville and Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville, created Mobile in 1702 briefly hailing the trading post as the capital of the Louisiana Territory. Mobile also has weathered tur- bulent times throughout its shaky past. Six flags once claimed the seaport power- house as their own while hurricanes have ravaged the area, the most recent one being Katrina in 2005. Now post-Katrina, the city and sur- rounds are in the midst of a renaissance. "We are a blank canvas ready for an experi- ence and an update," explains the mayor on Mobile's rebirth. With young artists and restaurateurs opening unique venues in heritage landmarks and outdoor adven- turers offering sightseers thrilling safari rides in the Delta, Mobile's attractions deserve a closer look. Across Alabama discover championship golf courses in line with the best PGA- approved ones as the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail entices golfers to hit the links and save on the pocketbook. As one insider revealed, local golf courses are a real bar- gain, more affordable compared to similar courses elsewhere in America. "Golfers can play a week on the RTJ Golf Trail for the price of one round at Pebble Beach," says Bill Lang, the public relations director of RTJ Golf Trail and Resort Collection at the tony downtown Battle House Hotel located near two golf courses—the Magnolia Grove (25 minutes away) and the Lakewood Golf Club (a 35-minute drive). I sussed out the old and new and took ample strolls through a compact, walkable downtown that is a New Orleans shoe-in but without the Bourbon Street revellers, except, of course, during Mobile's Mardi Gras. Come February, the city morphs into a glitzy parade of bead-wielding celebrants who traipse down Dauphin Street past ornate wrought-iron-laced balconies and store- fronts from yesteryear. There's Three Georges, a chocolate shop from 1917 with big-haired Liz behind the milkshake counter, and the city's crown jewel, the Saenger Theatre. Once hailed as "Alabama's Greatest Showplace" and "the most beau- tiful playhouse in all of Dixie," this exquisite vaudeville throwback (c. 1927) has been transformed into the city's finely restored concert hall where patrons can snag afford- able tickets (US$20-75) for class acts. On my quest for the Old South in this changing landscape, it was evident how Southern hospitality remains front and centre. You hear, "Yes ma'am," as you hunker down at Panini Pete's for his "Famous Muffaletta Panino," pegged in a statewide list as among the "100 dishes to eat in Alabama before you die." It's no sur- prise slow and easy definitely reigns. ARTS WALKS The Mobile Museum of Art is situated by Langan Park. Built with private donations, the largest gallery along the Gulf coast is devoted to international, contemporary and American art with 10,000 objects in the permanent collection, many repre- senting the Deep South. On a gallery tour of contemporary ceramics at the American Master Crafts 1945–Present exhibition, I spotted a Dale Chihuly and a Peter Voulkos piece stacked in lumines- cent wood-fired stoneware entitled Chubbs, with other art displays from Robert Indiana to Norman Rockwell. At the Alabama Contemporary Art Center in the heart of the city's historic downtown by Cathedral Square, gallery goers can FALL/ WINTER 2016 DREAMSCAPES 37 OPPOSITE: The tony downtown Battle House Hotel is located near two golf courses. TOP: The Alabama Contemporary Art Center is in the heart of the city's historic downtown by Cathedral Square. CENTRE: The Old City Hall is now the History Museum of Mobile. BOTTOM: The Mobile Museum of Art is devoted to international, contemporary and American art.