While the fudge and bear claws are all tempting, the thing I love to get here the most is a freshly cooked praline. You'll discover there are often broken up samples of this delectable Southern treat to tempt you served right off the counter where a person will be busy making them, and I never, ever, ever go to River Street without buying at least one praline to eat as I walk up and down the river. They might seem expensive, but the sugary goodness just melts in your mouth. While they are sold packaged separately - and that's great if you have to travel with them - get one fresh because they are at their best just made... like hot Krispy Kreme doughnuts. Oh, the delight if you can get a praline still warm! How do I describe this confection? Sheer Southern heaven. Yummmmm.

If you can't make it to Savannah, River Street Sweets also has a location in Phipps Plaza in Atlanta as well as locations in Charleston and Myrtle Beach in South Carolina.

You can visit www.riverstreetsweets.com or call 1-800-SWEETS-6.

Of the two candy shops, my favorite is River Street Sweets. They make old-fashioned saltwater taffy, pralines, chocolates, nonpareils, and other confections. As the tourist enters the shop there is an old-fashioned machine for taffy pulling that one can watch. Confectioners constantly make fudge and other chocolate delights as you pass through the shop. Usually there is an employee of the store passing out samples to everyone passing through the store. This is somewhat like the "candy man" described by Motley Crue and other when they sing about drugs. The man is giving samples so that people will get hooked and purchase more of the product. However, this drug contains only the sugar that is in the candy. One taste and you cannot resist.

Inside you have a wonderful array of all types of pralines, bear-claws, fudge, taffy, and other assorted varieties of candy. They have an old fashioned taffy machine that stretches the gooey candy on mechanical arms and then feeds it into a machine where it is cut and subsequently wrapped. If you wait at the end of this assembly line you will be rewarded with a piece of taffy (or two)(or three).

The company was started in 1973 in Savannah and now has a branch shop in Charleston, South Carolina (I've been there, too; also very good). They have a catalog and an web site where you can order sinful treats on-line. The address is www.riverstreetsweets.com.