Sunday, May 04, 2014

Portsmouth NH

Sorry that I haven't been using this and will try to go back and do some posts filling in some of our other travels since the last post.
As you may have seen on BoSox Tavern, Shel and I finished our weekend with a Sox game at Fenway.  You can read about that part of the trip on that blog post.  The trip idea did begin with me deciding and buying Sox tickets but then we decided, since neither of us had spent anytime in Portsmouth -- a quaint little city we'd heard plenty about -- that we'd take a day off from work, drive down that far and spend the day and night before going to Fenway.
If you get the chance, do yourself a favor and spend a day in Portsmouth.  It is a quaint, beautiful little city that has retained much of its history, from so many houses and downtown buildings built over the centuries, to Strawberry Banke, a living history city block.
There are a couple dozen buildings in Strawberry Banke with character actors in many, showing how life would've been there (the original name of Portsmouth) over the last few centuries.
Another piece of history is the Memorial Bridge, where we were lucky enough to see it in action from the city park.


We started our visit with a detour to see the lighthouse in Newcastle (she loves lighthouses), which sits inside a Coast Guard station that was part of an old fort protecting the area.  This is where most, if not all of my photos were taken.  We finished our sightseeing day with a fabulous dinner at a Latin American/Spanish fusion restaurant called Brazo and a wonderful rest at a boutique hotel made from an old downtown mansion called The Hotel Portsmouth.
Hope you enjoy the pictures.

took this one from one part of the old fort

you can see part of the old fort in the foreground

Look closely, that little knob just left of the lighthouse is another small one way in the distance on an island

Shel by a sign describing one of the oldest houses in NH

Memorial Bridge

Looking back across the Piscataqua River, across an island and you can see the Navy Yard and the old naval prison

4 comments:

Deb said...

Looks like you had a lovely time. I don't think I've been to Portsmouth other than to pass through. Perhaps I should. I love lighthouses too.

Pam Balancio said...

Good job with the photos, Zeb. And also with the narration. Hope I get to see your part of the country someday.

Mary said...

These are wonderful pics! Portsmouth is a great little city. I spent quite a bit of time there in the mid 80s when i lived in Saco. Quite a few weekends my girlfriends and i drove south. And Strawberry Banke is fantastic at Christmastime. You and Shelly might enjoy a visit back then. I know you're not into Christmas, lol, but you might have fun?

And i'm (as always) jealous of the food you enjoyed. :)

Shel said...

What great pictures! The weather was perfect, the hotel was great and the restaurant in Portsmouth fantastic! We will definitely go again to seek new adventures! Thank you, Zeb, it was great exploring new worlds with you... :-)