May is an easy time of year to fall in love with the Athens on the Charles: think blue and gold weather, farmers markets, and gardens in bloom. The standard tourist destinations—such as the downtown mall and food court at Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market, and the historically Italian North End—are pleasing enough to visit. But Boston’s delights are best revealed serendipitously. Sure, you can tramp the Freedom Trail or catch the Red Sox at Fenway Park, but also take some time to seek out the hidden treasures of one of America’s oldest cities.
After bulldozers finished burying the interstate during Boston’s infamous Big Dig, the city turned what used to be unsightly highways into pleasant green spaces. The Rose Kennedy Greenway (rosekennedygreenway.org) snakes through Chinatown, the waterfront, and up to the North End—it features fountains, organic gardens, public art, and free Wi-Fi! You could easily spend a day meandering from park to park or cruise through on two wheels from one of Boston’s new city bike rental stations (thehubway.com). The nation’s craze for food trucks has come to Boston, and the Greenway is the best place to find tacos, Vietnamese food, barbecue, and more.
Several detours along the Greenway make memorable visits. While the North End can be a tourist nightmare in warm weather, it is still a treat to dig into a cannoli from Mike’s Pastry (300 Hanover Street, mikespastry.com) and imagine Paul Revere’s revolutionary “One If by Land, Two If by Sea” hijinks at the Old North Church (193 Salem Street, oldnorth.com). If sharks, seals, and penguins are your thing, the New England Aquarium (neaq.org) is one of the world’s leading institutions for marine conservation and it set a standard for aquarium design. The cost of admission is lower while the building is under renovation until July 2013, but most of the exhibits are not affected by the construction.
Just south of the aquarium and across from the Greenway’s “Urban Arboretum” is the Evelyn Moakley Bridge, which offers stunning views of the seaport and entry to the Fort Point neighborhood. Once a gritty outpost, Fort Point now boasts attractive restaurants, a thriving art scene, and Boston’s most innovative new building in recent years, the Institute of Contemporary Art (100 Northern Ave., icaboston.org), designed by the multi-disciplinary architect firm Diller Scofidio + Renfro. Even if you take a pass on the ICA’s impressive exhibitions, the museum’s translucent façade and stunning waterfront location make it worth the hike. Find the ICA via the Boston Harbor Walk (bostonharborwalk.com) lined with native plants and interpretive panels about Boston’s seafaring history. Be soothed by waves lapping the shore as you hop over huge breakwater stones and watch seabirds diving for fish.
The harbor walk is best explored with a picnic from the Italian lunch counter Sportello (348 Congress St., sportelloboston.com) or sandwiches from Flour Bakery + Cafe (12 Farnsworth St. and others, flourbakery.com). Set right on the water, The Barking Crab brings the atmosphere of a Cape Cod clam shack right into downtown (88 Sleeper St., barkingcrab.com). If you’re still in the neighborhood in the evening, mixologists at the bar Drink will create custom cocktails based on your favorite flavors (348 Congress St., drinkfortpoint.com). Boston is known for its world-class cultural institutions that somehow inspire intimate, personal connections with their audiences. The venerable Boston Symphony Orchestra, for example, switches to lighter fare during the spring. If it suits your taste, drop by Symphony Hall (301 Massachusetts Ave., bso.org) to catch Megan Hilty from Smash singing with the Boston Pops. It’s worthwhile to pay a visit to the BSO’s home for its shimmering acoustics and balconies full of replicas of classical statues. While you’re in the neighborhood, take a look across the street at the Christian Science Mother Church (christianscience.com/church-of-christ-scientist/the-mother-church-in-boston-ma-usa), headquarters to one of New England’s own homegrown religions and the Christian Science Monitor. In addition to the striking plaza, a visit to the HQ features the memorable Mapparium, where you can stand inside a glass globe of the world.
Just down the road from Symphony Hall is the main auditorium at the New England Conservatory, the gorgeous Jordan Hall (290 Huntington Ave., necmusic.edu). A Far Cry—the youthful Boston-based, conducter-less string orchestra—performs there on May 24 (afarcry.org).
In addition to the symphony, the other dominant institution on Boston’s cultural scene is the Museum of Fine Arts (465 Huntington Ave., mfa.org). Visit the recently expanded Art of the Americas wing for everything from Mayan ceramics to portraits of the society leaders who made Boston the “hub of the universe.” Just down the road from the MFA but evocative of worlds away is the uniquely Boston Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (280 The Fenway, gardnermuseum.org). Inside the Venetian-style palazzo you’ll find a conservatory garden of tropical plants and a collection of fine and decorative arts, hand-picked by the city’s foremost patron of the arts. Admission is free to anyone named Isabella.
Another totem of Boston culture and an impressive architectural treasure is the main branch of the public library. The historic McKim building of the “palace for the people” evokes elements from classical French and Italian architecture and includes an open-air courtyard in the style of a Renaissance palazzo (700 Boylston St., bpl.org/central/walkmckim.htm). Not to be missed is the series of murals by the great portrait artist John Singer Sargent (sargentmurals.bpl.org), his most ambitious mural commission. Entitled Triumph of Religion, the work came to be known as the “American Sistine Chapel,” but for the glorification of education and learning.
The library is one of the institutions that characterizes Copley Square, Boston’s most iconic plaza (friendsofcopleysquare.org). The spectacular Trinity Church features recently restored stained glass windows designed by pre-Raphaelite artist Edward Burne-Jones and American painter and muralist John LaFarge (206 Clarendon St., trinitychurchboston.org/art-history/windows-slideshow). A terrific farmer’s market comes to the square each Tuesday and Friday beginning in May.
They don’t call Boston the walking city for nothing. In just an hour or two you can take in some of the prettiest parts, with excursions to unique sites along the way. A good place to start is on the Boston Common, where you can also pick up the start of the Freedom Trail. Opposite the lofty Massachusetts State House is the powerful frieze by Augustus St.-Gaudens, commemorating the first black regiment of the civil war (nps.gov/boaf/historyculture/shaw.htm).
From there walk through the Common to the Public Garden, the jewel in the city’s Emerald Necklace Conservancy, a string of green spaces that stretches for seven miles (emeraldnecklace.org). Take a gander (pardon the pun) at the famous swan boats and the Make Way for Ducklings statues. From here you can poke your head into the original Cheers bar (84 Beacon St., cheersboston.com) across the way or stroll down Charles St. to soak in Beacon Hill, one of Boston’s stateliest neighborhoods. If you go that route, hike up the hill to Secretary of State John Kerry’s house—a former convent—at 19 Louisburg Sq. Back by the Public Garden, on the corner of Boylston St. you will find the Arlington Street Church, a hidden gem full of resplendent Tiffany windows (ascboston.org/about/building.html).
The Public Garden makes a good launch pad for exploring Newbury St., traditionally the most fashionable strip to shop in town. Tucked among the luxury boutiques and designer stores are some of Boston’s best vintage shops, such as Second Time Around (176 and 219 Newbury St., secondtimearound .net), The Closet (175 Newbury Street, blog.closetboston.com/) and newcomer Rescue (297 Newbury St., rescuebuyselltrade.com). From Newbury St., turn right and after one block find Commonwealth Ave. (or Comm. Ave., as it’s always called) where you can continue your stroll through streets lined with elegant Victorian mansions, flowering magnolias, and a wide grassy mall at its center.
The best skyline view is found from the Mass. Ave. Bridge, on the way to Cambridge. (Go local and don’t call it Massachusetts Avenue!) From Comm. Ave., take a right onto Mass. Ave. to fortify yourself with a sugar bomb from Sweet cupcakes (49 Mass Ave., sweetcupcakes.com). Follow Mass. Ave. and the increasing breeze off the Charles River to enjoy the view of sailboats and sunshine over Boston’s Back Bay. Keen boaters can even rent kayaks and canoes to see the city from the water (various locations, paddleboston.com).
Along the way you’ll notice odd markings that indicate the bridge’s length in “smoots.” This was once an MIT prank, in which fraternity brothers coerced a pledge—one rather short Oliver R. Smoot—into lying down again and again to measure the bridge with his body. The joke had traction, and the smoot is now considered a nonstandard unit of length.
If your feet get tired, hop a Mass. Ave. bus to Central Square, the bustling downtown of the City of Cambridge. Some leading restaurants of the Boston area’s locavore movement are found here, such as Rendezvous (502 Mass. Ave., rendezvouscentralsquare.com) and the ever-packed Craigie on Main (853 Main St., craigieonmain.com). If you can’t get a table at either place, drown your sorrows in Boston’s best ice cream at Toscanini’s (899 Main St., tosci.com) and try your luck at Cuchi Cuchi (795 Main St., cuchicuchi.cc), which features inventive small plates, festive cocktails, and wait staff in flamboyant costumes.
If you have more appetite for Cambridge, you’ll want to pay a visit to Harvard Square. Spend some time soaking in the atmosphere—and dodging the tourists—around Harvard Yard, the heart of the university’s old campus. Crowds fill the Harvard Coop, but the real independent bookshop is the Harvard Book Store (1256 Mass. Ave., harvard.com). There you’ll find a thoughtful and diverse selection, including gently priced used books in the basement. True bookworms will linger at Grolier Poetry Bookshop, (6 Plympton St., grolierpoetrybookshop.org) which claims to be the country’s oldest continually operating bookshop devoted exclusively to poetry.
It’s always exciting to see what’s going on at American Repertory Theater (64 Brattle St., americanrepertorytheater.org) whose innovations in straight and musical theatre consistently draw national attention. Afterward try some single-source hot chocolate at Burdick Café (52 Brattle St., burdickchocolate.com/stores-and-cafes-cambridge.aspx) or pick up a souvenir box of their signature chocolate mice (made with pure chocolate—not mice).
If you happen to run out of things to do, you can always find more ideas in the Boston Phoenix (pick up a free copy around town or go to thephoenix.com) or visit the ArtsBoston kiosk on Copley Square for information and discounts on cultural events (artsboston.org). But with America’s walking city right at your doorstep, good times practically come find you.
