Downtown and Chinatown
The city is crossed from northwest to southeast by a long ribbon of parks, the Rose Kennedy Greenway, which spans the underground Hwy 1 highway. Completed in 2007, Big Dig, the largest urban project of its kind, has changed the face of the city. To the west of this green belt, Downtown is very lively and a good place to stay and go out. In Chinatown, eating out is easy, with eateries on every corner.
Faneuil Hall Marketplace and Quincy Market are lively lunch spots for locals and tourists alike.
Chinatown and the theater district. The main streets in this friendly Chinatown are Kneeland, Essex, Beach and Tyler. A few blocks away, the Wang Center is a stage specialized in large-scale productions.
The Financial District is home to numerous corporate offices, around Congress, Purchase and State streets. Not much to see here, but at night the buildings light up for photographers.
Beacon Hill and Boston Common
Beacon Hill. When it was founded, the town was surrounded by three hills (Tri-mountain). All that remains today is Beacon Hill, now a charming middle-class neighborhood. On the north side of Boston Common, between Charles Street and Beacon Street, brick and wood houses abound harmoniously. On Charles Street, even the signs for Starbucks Coffee and the 7-Eleven grocery store are painted in gold letters. You'll soon fall under the spell of the beautiful 19th-century Victorian mansions, covered in ivy and sometimes flanked by old lampposts. Many of these grand houses have been converted into apartments, now occupied by a bourgeois population, some of them famous. Discover them on foot, strolling through the streets on a sunny day.
Boston Common (19 ha) is the oldest public park in the United States, created in 1634 when Puritans, including John Winthrop (1588-1649), founder of the settlement that later became the city of Boston, pitched their tents here. At the time, they grazed their cows here (no more than 70 per person). In more recent times, personalities such as John Paul II and Martin Luther King have made speeches here. This is where the Freedom Trail begins. It's also the heart of Boston. Joggers, strollers, families and skaters (on Frog Pond in winter) all meet in its lush green alleys. Scattered throughout the park are several statues and plaques dedicated to Boston's history. Another park, adjacent to Boston Common, is the Public Garden (1837), where a scene from the film Will Hunting, starring Matt Damon, was filmed on a bench by the lake. This was America's first public botanical garden.
North End and Charlestown
These two neighborhoods are home to Boston's oldest buildings. They were founded in 1630 and 1629 respectively.
North End. Inhabited since 1630, North End is home to many sites steeped in history, including Paul Revere's house, Old State Church and Copp's Hill Cemetery. For decades, the streets of North End have smelled of Italy. In the early 20th century, bakeries and restaurants took up residence in this neighborhood of steep streets. When you enter via Hanover Street, you leave the buildings of Downtown behind and enter another world. In Hanover and Salem Streets, pasta restaurants abound and green, white and red flags fly from the windows. The neighborhood is lively and pleasant to stroll through. Occasionally, you'll catch a glimpse of an old woman sitting in the doorway of her apartment building, lighting a cigarette. Here and there, you'll come across grocery stores that haven't changed with the times, selling Italian produce and real espressos!
Charlestown. In the North End extension, north of the Charlestown Bridge, we reach Boston's original neighborhood. It was here that the Puritan colonists settled in 1629. Here you can visit the Bunker Hill Monument, an obelisk erected in 1823 in memory of the battle of 1775, one of the bloodiest of the American War of Independence.
Back Bay, Fenway and South End
Boston's southwest is home to three lively, pleasant neighborhoods.
Back Bay. In the mid-19th century, the Back Bay neighborhood was located next to swamps that were so foul-smelling that the city took matters into its own hands and drained the area. French Second Empire-style houses were built. In fact, the idea is to make Back Bay look like Paris. What to see Newbury Street, known for its cachet and populated with restaurants and stores (shopping fans won't want to miss it).
Fenway. This district is home to most of the city's administrative offices. Nevertheless, there are many points of interest here, including Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox, and museums such as the Museum of Fine Arts and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.
South End. This vast neighborhood is a testament to the country's history. Itsbrownstones are among the oldest in the United States. Far from the noisy, touristy Boston of today, South End is a residential neighborhood, an extension of the upscale Back Bay and Beacon Hill districts. In the 19thcentury , Boston's bourgeoisie took up residence here, before moving to the Back Bay district. The South End was then deserted, and many immigrants (initially African-Americans and Caribbeans) settled there and worked on the construction of the city's buildings. By the 1970s, workers were abandoning the neighborhood, which had fallen into disrepute. Since the 1990s, however, the South End has been reborn. It's becoming trendy, with its excellent restaurants and trendy bars. Yuppies are moving in, as is the gay community, and rents are rising.
Waterfront and Seaport District
Until the late 1870s, Boston's livelihood was based on maritime activities (shipbuilding and the fish trade). In the 17th and 18th centuries, the city grew wealthy thanks to its harbor and trade links with England and the West Indies. The Waterfront area includes the shores of the Boston Inner Harbour. In recent years, Boston's waterfront and harbor district have developed a number of tourist, cultural and entertainment attractions that energize the surrounding streets.
To the north of the city, on the Charlestown side, we discover Pier 6, the fishing harbor still in use today. Built in 1914, it's the oldest working port in the country. There's a lot of fun to be had here. Don't miss the ponds full of lobsters (sold live in cardboard boxes), not far from the water.
Continue south to Christopher Columbus Park and the New England Aquarium. The Long Wharf brings together the companies that take you by boat around the bay and to the islands of Boston Harbour.
To the south, the Seaport District has also been revitalized in recent years, thanks to the presence of the Convention Center, the Boston Children's Museum and the ICA, a center for contemporary art.
South Boston, or Southie to its friends, is the historic district of Irish immigration. In the 1840s, the Irish fled their homeland, affected by the Great Famine, and found asylum in Boston in this neighborhood. At the time, they were employed in the textile industry. Boston's Irish community became one of the largest in the United States. Today, the population has dispersed, but South Boston still boasts many Irish pubs and the best St. Patrick's Day celebrations in the country. Martin Scorsese's film The Departedis set in this neighborhood. Recently, Southie has been modernizing. Located south of the Seaport District, it has benefited from the redevelopment of the neighboring neighborhood and is attracting a mixed population.
