Mobile In Bloom

Southern Living, Mar 2004 by Lingo, Karen

When flowers splash color along the Southern coast, there's no place prettier than Alabama's Port City.

A zaleas reign in Mobile this month, not only at lovely Bellingrath Gardens and Home, but also all around town. Along with a generous serving of natural beauty, enjoy a taste of coastal cuisine mixed with a dash of antebellum charm. Throw in some sand and a bit of naval history, and you have the makings for a relaxing, funfilled weekend.

Friday Firsts

Stop at Fort Conde Visitor Welcome Center and Historic Museum for brochures and maps. Ask the staff to help reserve your spot on tomorrow's guided tour around town ($12.50 per person). Or call Bay City Tours at (251) 479-9970.

Step inside at least one of the city's historic homes: Conde-Charlotte Museum House edges up to Fort Conde, Oakleigh Historic Complex tucks into Oakleigh Garden District, and the antebellum Bragg-Mitchell Mansion sits amid century-old live oaks near downtown. If you come March 12-13, plan to take the Historic Mobile Homes Tour. Tickets cost $15; for more information visit www.historicmobilehomes.org.

If you're here March 25-28, head to the campus of Spring Hill College for the 11th annual Festival of Flowers. It includes landscaped gardens, horticulture exhibits, and seminars. Tickets cost $10; for more information visit www.festivalofflowers.com.

Make the historic Radisson Admiral Semmes your home base. It's just a two-block walk to the restaurants and shops on nearby Dauphin Street. Rates range from $89 to $109; (251) 432-8000 or 1-800-333-3333.

A brochure (available at Fort Conde) details the architecture and heritage of Dauphin Street Historic District. For local and international art, duck into Cathedral Square Gallery. To refuel, load up on chocolates and pralines at Three Georges, Mobile's oldest candy company (at the corner of Dauphin and Joachim Streets).

For dinner, try The Pillars. Start with Crab Rangoon ($6) and Oyster and Spinach Salad with lemon Stilton cheese ($8). Vegetarians find the Butter Bean Cakes ($7 appetizer, $ 13 entree) rich and filling. Beef-and-seafood lovers get the best of both in Gorgonzola Filet with Jumbo Lump Crab ($28). Reservations are recommended; call (251) 471-3411.

Saturday Strolls

Begin the day at Spot of Tea, on Dauphin Street across from Cathedral Square. Try the Eggs Cathedral, a crispy crab cake on an English muffin, topped with eggs and seafood sauce ($9.95). Then head to Fort Conde for your city tour, an hour-long overview that includes three historic districts.

Spend the afternoon out of town. Take 1-10 west, and exit south onto Dauphin Island Parkway (State 163 and 193). Stop for lunch at Bayley's Restaurant on State 193. The seafood is fresh, and lunch specials begin at $4.25. Don't miss the West Indies Salad, a tangy crabmeat treat said to have originated here ($5.95 for 6 ounces or $ 17.95 for a pound).

Just past Bayley's turn onto Fowl River Road. When it intersects with Bellingrath Road, turn left, and follow the signs to Bellingrath Gardens and Home. Relax and stroll the 65 acres that bloom with more than 150,000 azaleas each spring. Then tour the home, and hop aboard the Southern Belle for a 45-minute river cruise (combination ticket costs $25 adults, $15.75 ages 5-11). March brings a blaze of azaleas and other spring blooms, and the first blush of roses begins mid-April.

You can easily spend an afternoon at Bellingrath, but save a few hours to walk barefoot on the beach at Dauphin Island and explore historic Fort Gaines ($5 adults, $2.50 ages 5-12).

For dinner, drive back up Dauphin Island Parkway to The Mariner Restaurant, which overlooks the Dog River (call [251] 443-5700 for directions). Start with an appetizer of deepwater Royal Red Shrimp, steamed and spicy ($6.50); then order fried crab claws ($13.95) as an entree.

Sunday Finishing Touches

Eat breakfast at Oliver's in the Radisson Admiral Sommes, or wait until 11 a.m. and indulge in the Sunday brunch ($14.95). Then take U.S. 90 East (Battleship Parkway) to U.S.S. Alabama Memorial Park ($10 adults, $5 ages 6-11). Explore the battleship U.S.S. Alabama inside and out; climb into the submarine U.S.S. Drum; and view aircraft from World War II, Korea, Vietnam, and Desert Storm.

Unless you opted for brunch at the hotel, pull into Felix's Fish Camp of Mobile, near the battleship, for lunch. The crab soup ($3.95) makes a tasty starter. Follow it with the fresh catch ($11.95 meuniere, $12.95 amandine).

Round out your weekend at a museum. The Museum of Mobile and the Gulf Coast Exploreum Science Center and IMAX theater are both downtown. Our choice, though, is The Mobile Museum of Art in Langan Municipal Park. Through May 9 it features a special exhibit of 120 works by international glass artists. KAREN LINGO