City Tour – Portland ME

RATING: ♦♦♦♦♦

After spending the day in Portsmouth NH, we drove up to Portland ME, where we stayed for two nights at the Fireside Inn. We were pleasantly surprised to find Portland to be a vibrant and bustling city. Unknown to us, Portland is a stopover for cruise ships from New York, Montreal, and England. There were a lot of tourists in town.

The city is crowded down to the waterfront; the old brick streets are narrow and go every which way. Cars and pedestrians were accommodating and respectful in the small spaces. Parking is expensive. It was not unusual to see cars double parked (legally) in some places. We were able to find a space for $5/hour, and we were happy to have it.

We started our day with brunch at Becky’s Diner on the waterfront, which is very popular with locals and visitors alike. We each had the special for the day, fish tacos, which like most of the seafood we ate in New England was very fresh and wonderful. We forgot to take pictures.

We then took a trolley tour around town, which included a drive past a monument to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, who was born in Portland in 1807, and a side trip to the Portland Head Lighthouse. The waves along the shoreline were high because of Hurricane Jose, even though it was hundreds of miles offshore.

After the trolley tour, we walked around the old port area and downtown section. We found a fun store called Lisa Marie’s Made in Maine, where Becky bought earrings for herself and we bought sister Debbie a purple sea glass necklace, a late birthday gift.

The day ended with us dining at David’s Restaurant in Monument Square. As soon as we saw it, we felt obligated to eat there since we had begun the day at Becky’s Diner. But David’s Restaurant had more than a pretty name. Our dinner was excellent. David had Asian BBQ Pulled Pork and Becky had Mediterranean Bruschetta. Again, no pictures of our fabulous food.

A lot of the joy of traveling comes from having special experiences and great meals in unexpected places. And Portland is one of those places. We both loved this city and wish we had allowed for more time there.

From Portland we headed south to spend the next day in Kennebunkport.

Portland ME