Portland, Maine

I’m still in a quandary about Portland, it’s nice enough but from what I’ve seen nothing special, so I’m rather at a loss as to why it is in so many must visit lists (apparently even in Fodor’s Top Ten cities to visit, but I can’t find any evidence for that, except what the chap told me). People are very proud of the place and maybe in summer it’s charming, but to me it felt rather desolate. There were a lot of unemployed and homeless people about the town and the social worker I met did say there is a big problem in Portland. The public transport is appalling, buses are late and people spend half their time waiting for them. As I said, it could be that I was there at the wrong time of year and the economy has affected the place, so it’s not at its best and having a car could have made a difference, but it just didn’t seem to have much going for it, except the seafood!

I arrived in Portland train station and was offered a lift from a local couple just back from a cruise to the Bahamas which was very kind and friendly of them and I‘m sure out of their way. I checked into hotel and was upgraded, so had a private bathroom, down the hall, but all for me. On Thursday night I was upgraded again, unfortunately there are no hostels in Portland, but I was able to get a good price for the hotel and a little bit of relative luxury every now and then can‘t be bad. I walked into town and along the old port to get an idea of where things are, then it was dinner at The Dogfish Café which was conveniently next to the hotel and a bit of a Portland institution or so they say. It was a very good dinner and I had their speciality burger which was piled high, in fact a skewer was through it to hold it together. The couple at the table next to me were out celebrating her birthday, but they spent most of the meal telling me about Portland, where to go, what to do etc. Not sure that his wife appreciated that he spent lots of the meal talking to me. But again it was more friendly Portlanders.

Next morning I caught the bus into town and walked along the old port and harbour front again. Plus wandering about the arty part of town with the tourist shops and cafes. Lunch was an oyster po’boy, which was very tasty, especially the chipolte mayo. Never thought fried oysters would be nice. Then it was onto a boat for the mailboat run around the islands of Casco Bay, even saw some lighthouses from a distance. The mailboat runs twice a day, collecting and dropping off locals to their islands and also dropping off the mail. This is every day, year round, in the summer it has a narrative for tourists, but a kindly deckhand pointed out things of interest to me, when he was on deck. The weather wasn‘t my friend for the trip, but I braved the outside deck for most of it, working out which side to hide on when it rained or got too windy. Two guys who were off for lobster and beer in a house on the island were taking bets on how long I‘d last outside!

Then, after my adventures at sea, it was dinner of lobster, couldn’t go to Portland and not have a lobster. I knew which restaurant to avoid (Demilio’s - a tourist trap) and eventually chose the Portland Lobster Company, which has a sort of shack on the waterfront. The lobster was served with drawn butter, chips and coleslaw and instructions on how to get into the pesky creature, it was very messy, but very good. And I didn’t even use the bib provided.

Next morning the sun was shining and I was off a hunting lighthouses. I wanted to go to the Portland Head Light, which is a few miles out of town, but there is no public transport to it nor, as I was led to believe, is it an easy walk. Though I’m not sure on that, as people were saying that even walking to the two lighthouses I did visit was a fair distance, it wasn’t, I just get the feeling people rely on their cars a bit too much.

Anyway, I caught the bus to the community college in South Portland and headed towards the beach, thinking that must be in the right direction, it was and as a bonus I got to stroll along the sandy Willard beach too. It was just a short walk along the beach to Spring Point Light, then it was a case of navigating the huge rocks that create the promontory to get to the lighthouse itself. It’s only a baby lighthouse which is primarily for the entrance to Portland harbour and is by the site of fort Preble, which was built to protect Portland from invasions by sea.

After Spring Point Light, I went to the even smaller Bug Light, which is made of iron and it’s very small, but I guess being in a harbour it doesn’t need to be very tall. It’s on a bit of land that was also used for the Liberty shipyards and there’s a memorial to those who built the Liberty ships in the second world war. I managed to see one more lighthouse, but it wasn’t a real one, it was a prettily decorated one in the centre of town! I then wandered through the wharves in the old port and through the old streets of town and retired back to the hotel for a 5.45am train the next morning.

Next stop: Washington DC