chamber of commerce boasts that spring flows into Savannah in February, but to experience the city in all its magnificence, mid-to-late March as azaleas bloom in abundance is an ideal time to visit. It’s also the time for one of our country’s largest Irish celebrations. Sure’n if you’re lucky enough to be in Savannah on St. Patrick’s Day, you’re a very foresightful and lucky person.

But Savannah is really a history buff’s paradise at any time of year.

Founded by James Ogelthorpe in 1733 as the 13th and final of original English colonies, the city situated on the Savannah River provided a prime shipping avenue for New World goods bound for Europe. The seaport had cotton as its predominant export for nearly 100 years.

Savannah served as a determent to the Spanish insurgency in Florida during the Revolutionary War, and again during the Civil War when General Sherman presented the city (which suffered little destruction) as a Christmas gift to President Lincoln.

Unintentionally, but very fortunately, we came upon the Savannah Visitors’ Center as we entered the city on a drive from Hilton Head to Florida. How lucky could we be? It was the perfect place to begin our visit.

Savannah offers a wide choice of touring options. One may see the sights by bicycle, carriage, trolley, bus or boat. It also is a most well-arranged city for walking tours.

Our narrated bus tour covered 250 years of history and a drive through the historic district. We visited the now-restored waterfront, which houses restaurants, boutiques and antique and curio shops.

City Market, named the “art and soul” of Savannah, is the city’s most vibrant art colony with dining, shopping and entertainment in the blocks of restored grain warehouses.

We drove over cobblestone streets where old cotton warehouses have been converted into taverns, shops and museums.

The tour route passed historic churches such as St. John the Baptist, which houses the oldest continuous Roman Catholic congregation in Georgia, and the beautiful Mickve Israel Temple, the third oldest synagogue in America. We also admired the splendid mansions, hotels, a quaint historic inn and early government center.

We passed by the Colonial Cemetery, The Pirates’ House (an inn for seafarers in the middle years of the 18th century), the cotton exchange and the home where the murder occurred in John Brendt’s intriguing book and later movie, “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.”

There’s even a tour featuring just the house, the secrets and the lives of many of Savannah’s “quirkier” residents, as well as the sights and sounds of the book’s setting.

Savannah also has been the fictional home of many other movies, including Forrest Gump, Gator, Glory, The General’s Daughter and The Legend of Bagger Vance.

After learning the “lay of the land” via the tour bus, Savannah’s historic district is ideal for exploring by walking or on a rented bicycle (that is if you don’t happen to have one hidden in your car’s trunk).

Savannah’s blocks or squares are virtual gardens. The massive oaks with their branches veiled in hanging Spanish moss means that you are in the true South.

Our visit was in the fall of the year so we can only imagine how beautiful Savannah is in the springtime with azaleas in blossom and the beginning of the city’s annual garden parties’ tours.

The 75th Savannah Tour of Homes takes place next month, March 25-28. The event offers self-guided walking tours through private homes and gardens in the Savannah National Historic Landmark District.

Every March 17, Savannah, as indicated previously, turns green. Half a million or so people celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.

As a prelude to St. Patrick’s Day, there’s a Savannah Irish Festival in February and March, the annual St. Patrick’s Celebration begins in City Market with live music and fun; there’s also a Tara Feis Festival in Emmet Park in March and there’s food and entertainment on three stages along River St.

The grand finale of the festivities is the great St. Patrick’s Day Parade. It is expected that 300,000 people will line the streets on that day to watch the parade.

Aside from special events that attract visitors to the city, Southern hospitality in the forms of food and great dining exist the year-around.

Seafoods unique to the region are prepared with spices of the Caribbean. Crab shells and shrimp tails are flipped into buckets in the middle of tables. Homemade biscuits and fried chicken are passed around tables in family style. Grits and sweet tea are accompaniments. There are southern barbecues, oyster roasts on the nearby beaches,-- and a coastal favorite known as “Lowcountry boil,” a delicious concoction of shrimp, corn on the cob, onions, sausage and new potatoes, all boiled together.

We thought we were tired after a day of sightseeing, but the sounds of cool Savannah jazz and blues drew us to a nightspot near our hotel. Believe me, nightlife in Savannah is alive with a variety of theaters, clubs and piano bars. Songs from Savannah’s son, Johnny Mercer, are often featured.