Tue 20th June
It was an overcast morning as we took one last walk out to Bar Island and around the Shore Path. We were sorry to be leaving Bar Harbor as we would have liked another day or two here. The drive down to Portland was 3.5 hrs and we timed it to arrive near the 2 pm for check in to our next lodging. There were two noteworthy events on our drive down to Portland though. The first was a brief stop at a petrol station, but this wasn’t just any ordinary petrol station. Check the photos to see the range of goods available at this venue! The second was a cafe stop in the little known town of Gardiner. We’ve found it hard to find a decent cafe for the last two months but we finally scored at Bintliff’s Corner Brew. They had great coffee and food and a great ambiance so it’s worth a visit if you’re ever in the area.
Our accommodation in Portland for the next 5 nights was at a VRBO. We found the place easily and met our hosts, Sue and Barry, who kindly gave us detailed information about the local area and suggestions for things to do. The apartment was on the ground floor of a duplex apartment block with Sue and Barry, seeming to own at least one side of the duplex, residing upstairs and another permanent tenant in the opposite apartment to us on the ground floor. It was a good sized space and there was plenty of room for our luggage, something I had been initially concerned about, as there were two rather large walk-in-robe cupboards that easily catered for my large clam-style suitcase. It wouldn’t be a true McNamara holiday though without doing a load of washing (BRETT!) and that was our first activity after we had settled in.
There were two things that we did next that shaped the rest of our time in the USA. We decided to go to WholeFoods to source dinner AND we decided to walk. The first part of the 20 minute walk was interesting enough, along Congress St that’s their version of the high street, but it was then back to being surrounded by mostly poor homeless and drug affected folk and WholeFoods, most uncharacteristically, was a depressing place as well. On our way back to the apartment we decided to cut our stay here down to three nights and head to Boston, a place we’ve been to before and love, for the last two nights. We only hope Boston hasn’t changed too dramatically in this post Covid world.
We had a quiet night dining in and watched a rather troubling Netflix movie but it was nice to have a simple meal and a low key evening.
Wed 21st June
The sun was out for our first morning in Portland, but neither of us were. We’d both slept poorly the night before and so I didn’t head out for walk, not that I’d venture out alone anyway as I didn’t feel safe in this area, and Mark aborted his planned bike ride. Instead, we had a slow morning until heading out for our first activity of the day where we used another Action Tour Guide self guided walking tour to explore Portland. The start of this tour took us down to the Harborfront area where sections reminded us a bit of the Sydney Rocks area except Portland waterfront was much larger. Neither of us saw anything on this walk though that made us sorry we’d decided to leave Portland earlier than planned, in fact, it just affirmed our decision to decamp to Boston. The tour got us walking along different streets and, unlike many other coastal areas of this region, the majority of the buildings here are made of red brick due to the timber building having burned down in the numerous fires the area has endured since European settlement. The great fire of 1866 was apparently started by an errant firework during 4th July celebrations and this destroyed 1,800 buildings.
We needed to pick up a few things at the shops so we ventured over to South Portland after our walking tour. This area of Portland wasn’t anything to write home about either. I wasn’t feeling very energetic so we decided to take a short drive out to Cape Elizabeth and view the Portland Head Light. The homes along the way, or rather mansions, around Cape Elizabeth, were rather spectacular and the drive was almost worth the while just to see them. The lighthouse is located on the shores of Fort William Park, an area used as a defense post during the Spanish American was of 1898, and reminded us both of Sydney’s Vaucluse and Parsley Bay area. There were loads of families out enjoying the sunshine but we couldn’t help wondering how amazed these folk would be if they could see the sights around Sydney. We took the obligatory photo of the lighthouse and a 1 km cliff front walk but then it was back to the apartment to have a bit of a rest.
It was around 5.30 pm before we drifted out again and we headed downtown for Mark to have a beer at Blythe & Burrows, located in the popular Exchange St. They had a special on for $1 oysters which we order but they didn’t arrive in time before we had to leave for our dinner booking. The waitress had such an attitude and it kind of spoiled the whole vibe of the thing. Needless to say she received zero tip! Dinner was at a great fish / seafood venue called Street & Co. The restaurant was busy with a nice atmosphere and our fish meals were up there with the best we’d had this trip.
The walk back home was not very pleasant as numerous shop fronts have been abandoned and there were lots of homeless out, again. Some of the boys looked little older than our Tom which really cut to the heart. The homeless situation throughout the New England area of the USA is a huge problem and I’m not sure how much attention this issue is receiving from the appropriate authorities. It has been a defining feature of our whole trip which is depressing on so many fronts, and most significantly for the poor afflicted individuals. It is much worse than we have ever seen previously.
We were home by 8 pm which suited us both because we were still pretty tired and mentally wanting to move on from Portland and, indeed, the whole of the USA.
Thurs 22nd June
It was a beautiful sunny morning for Marks first and only bike ride around Portland. I still wasn’t keen to walk here on my own so I opted for yoga. After that we took another Action Tour Guide option and did their self-guided driving tour around Portland. It only took us about a hour to complete but took us further afield than yesterday’s walking tour and gave a bit more background about Portland so it was well worth doing.
It was such a beautiful day we decided to spend our last afternoon in Portland taking a ferry trip to one of its many offshore islands. We chose Peaks Island as it was the closest to Portland, just a 17 min ferry trip away, and it offered a range of places to eat. The 12.15 pm ferry gave us the option of having lunch out there thereby giving some purpose to our trip.
We stopped off at a Maine icon on our walk down to catch the ferry. Potato based donuts are a thing in Maine so we thought we should try one. There were many flavours to choose from at The Holy Donut but we settled for the simple cinnamon option. It was ok but, given it was not freshly made and was served cold, it might be unfair to evaluate it against traditional hot donuts.
The trip out to Peaks Island was pleasant enough and we had an ok lunch with a nice view at Island Lobster Company. There were options to fill in more time by either walking around the island or hiring a bike to take the trip but we weren’t in the mood for that kind of exploring. We got back to Portland by around 3 pm and Mark found a Barber for a hair cut in busy Exchange Street; this is a street in downtown Portland that is worth visiting if you’re ever in the area. After that, it was back to the apartment for a bit of packing up and a quiet night of dining in. We head to Boston tomorrow for the last two nights of this New England leg of our RTW journey.
