Travel Charlottesville, VA: Main Street, now great pedestrian mall

This video was taken during our fall vacation in Virginia on October 3, 2007. Our first excursion was to the town of Lexington, a historic settlement of about 7000 souls in the southern Shenandoah Valley. Lexington has a well preserved downtown and features two major academic institutions with impressive campuses: the Washington and Lee University and the Virginia Military Institute. The downtown streets are flanked by ecclectic retail stores in historic homes and the adjoining neighbourhoods are full of impressive mansions and mature trees.

Our drive then took us east to the Blue Ridge Parkway, a scenic drive along the Appalachian Ridge that stretches 755 km (470 miles) from North Carolina to Virginia. Great mountain vistas opened up towards the west over the expansive Shenandoah Valley and the mountain ridges towards the east.

We exited the Blue Ridge Parkway near Waynesborough and headed east on Interstate 64 to a city called Charlottesville. We were both impressed by this city of about 40,000 people whose main anchor is the University of Virginia. It was founded by Thomas Jefferson, whose nearby mountain-top villa Monticello is a big tourist draw for the area. The campus impresses with its colonial architecture, and the downtown area features a pedestrian zone called the "Downtown Mall". In this area several blocks of a main street have been blocked off to traffic and now feature restaurants, galleries, retail stores and other attractions. Charlottesville was apparently chosen as one of America's most livable cities, and we could certainly see its appeal. We capped off a great outing with a tasty dinner in a Mexican restaurant in the student quarter and headed back to our home base over the mountains.

I am actually a travel writer who loves to explore international destinations as well as my chosen home town of Toronto. On Youtube you will find hundreds of video clips from a wide variety of destinations. Feel free to check out some of my 700+ articles and interviews on http://www.travelandtransitions.com. Also, my travel e-books containing stories from my trips to destinations such as Sicily, Havana, Mexico City, New York City, Chicago, Florida, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Vancouver, Halifax and many others are available right now at http://www.travelandtransitions.com/e-books.htm.

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• Virginia
• Lexington
• Lee
• University
• Shenandoah
• Valley
• Charlottesville

[hearvirginia1]

Thanks for sharing your travel experience with us.

[travelandtransitions]

@hearvirginia1 : Thank you for your kind comment. Charlottesville is a very picturesque city.

[koolala]

I've lived in Charlottesville since 1966. I always get a chuckle out of the new arrivals who think they've landed in some idyllic place. It's not.

It's an urban town, with urban people (mostly people from NY, NJ, PA, OH, DC/Northern Virginia, etc.) and urban problems (shootings and stabbings every other night now.)

[skatebordstephen]

this town sux it looks nice but i think the people make the place and they make this place a cold place to live.everybody whos a nobody thinks there somebody and the yuppies are just plan rude they look down on you like your scum and its raceist as shit fair warning to black people and particularly the men dont come to charllottesville.

[chicoandnibbles]

Been in C-Ville for 3 years now. Its not as perfect as it seems. Some kids I talked to in the projects said there was a rapist in their neighborhood, and I've been asked for weed at least 4 or 5 times skating around the mall. The only plus about it is that its pretty hilly, which is good for longboarding. Just putting that out there. Oh, and theres a lot of people who have yelled at me out of their car windows and thrown stuff at me. C-Ville kinda sucks, in other words...

[Rao665]

@skatebordstephen

speak english.

[skatebordstephen]

@IamaColdplaygirl get you're facts straight. and don't come at me with this victim act.i said something you didn't like get over it.you can never be a victim you're a white women in a america white men who runs the united skanks of america put you on a pedestal hell you can even see a real black women in a beauty mag these days with out her looking damb near white with euro features or mixed.they're looks are judged based on who close they look to you.and you got the family court in your pocket

[skatebordstephen]

@IamaColdplaygirl and you must be such a dumb ass if you were paying any attention you would have saw i wrote the comments months ago when i was in charllottesville i lived there for eight years now who's pathetic.

[IamaColdplaygirl]

@skatebordstephen okay. your so cool though...for commenting on a place you don't even live in...your life must be so pathetic and boring. i'm so sorry...

[skatebordstephen]

@IamaColdplaygirl but you probably would be too scared to come up here though.



[skatebordstephen]

@IamaColdplaygirl i did my channel say i live in philadelphia  pay attention

[skatebordstephen]

@IamaColdplaygirl must of struck a nerve the truth hurts.

[IamaColdplaygirl]

@skatebordstephen yea okay...if you hate charlottesville so much, then fucking move.