Three days were not long enough for Veronica Stivala to explore Boston, but she still managed to get a satisfactory taste of this pretty city, including its renowned cream pie.

The first thing that struck me upon visiting Boston was its beautiful ocean coastline. We were staying in the North End and were within walking distance of the picturesque seaside apartments. Having arrived at the pleasant time of around five in the evening, we took the opportunity to get our bearings and amble around to explore the city.

Panoramic view of Boston, showcasing the Boston Public Garden with its famous duck family brass statues during the fall season.

Perhaps it is because I grew up in a country surrounded by the sea, but I truly find the sea, oceans and rivers to have a wonderful calming presence. And this is precisely the effect the Atlantic ocean had on me as we walked by the nearby oceanside apartments and along the wooden boards with nearby private boats floating peacefully on the water.

Further along we walked by a grassy football pitch where young boys were training and then we passed by a couple sharing a meal on a wooden bench. I really did feel like I was walking in a scene from Dawson’s Creek, although Boston is definitely not as sleepy as the television’s fictional town of Capeside is.

Suitably mused by what we had seen so far, we soon found ourselves in one of the well-known parts of the city – Little Italy. This area is just what it says on the tin and features lots and lots of restaurants run by Italians and serving Italian food. While the eateries did look quaint I confess we could not bring ourselves to queue, and queue (for the queues were very long) to eat overpriced pizza or pasta (some €20) when we could easily get the same in our continent of origin. We used this to our advantage, however, and I had one of my most enjoyable pizzas on a bench, by that magnificent ocean.

I found it amusing that cannoli are used as though they are singular nouns

For our next day we were diligent tourists and explored the historical side of the city. We were conveniently staying bang on the famous Freedom Trail, and almost right in front of one of the star sights: the Old North Church, where we started our journey. The Freedom Trail is a four-kilometre path through downtown Boston along 16 locations significant to the history of the US.

Little Italy in Boston.

The path is very easy to follow as it is marked with red bricks on the ground. I was particularly impressed by the Old North Church, the city’s oldest standing church, having been built in 1723. The church is intrinsically tied with a phrase so famous that it has even made it to a clothes label’s new slogan.

The phrase “One if by land, and two, if by sea” was originally coined by American poet Henry Longfellow in reference to the secret signal orchestrated by Paul Revere, a patriot in the American Revolution, during his historic ride from Boston to Concord on the verge of the American Revolutionary War. The signal was meant to alert patriots about the route the British troops chose to advance to Concord. One lit lantern in the North Church’s steeple meant the British would march over the Boston Neck, a narrow strip of land and the only road connecting the town to the mainland, which would take a considerable amount of time. Two lit lanterns in the steeple meant the British would take a shortcut by rowing boats across the Charles River into Cambridge, cutting valuable time off their journey.

Mike’s Pastries. Photo: Joseph Sohm/Shutterstock.com

We spruced up our day with a ride on the ever popular Ride the Ducks, a World War II style amphibious landing vehicle that rides both land and sea. Our, ahem, ‘conducktor’ (warning, cheesy puns, not mine, to ensue), named MacInQuack drove the bus and was also our tour guide. I suspect it would have been a better (but probably more costly) idea to have both a driver and a guide, as I felt our guide ended up getting caught up with road rage and generally being careful of the road, which infiltrated his commentary and which tourists were surely not really interested in.

I also found it odd that our kilt-kitted guide spoke with what sounded like an Australian accent; but, he told us, he had Scottish ancestors. Perhaps it was tourist fever, but I really did find the names of the guides on these tours hilarious. My favourites, which still have me giggling, were Hardly Davidson, Drake Mallard, Jersey Shoreline and the Cod Father.

A ride on the famous Swan Boats. Photo: f11photo/Shutterstock.com

We drove along famous landmarks such as the Custom House, the US Coast Guard Base, Beacon Hill, the Boston Common, the Old Scollay Square, the Old State House and King’s Chapel. It will not surprise you that my favourite part was the water part where our vehicle eased itself into the scenic Charles River and passengers were given the opportunity to sit at the wheel and drive.

On our last day we ventured into Greater Boston to visit the university city Cambridge where Harvard is located. I love University campuses and as I was lucky to have a friend studying at Harvard, I got treated to a tour of the library. The star attraction here was the Widener Memorial Room, named after Harry Elkins Widener (1885-1912) some of whose extraordinary collection of books are found here including one of the few surviving copies of the Gutenberg Bible.

Other highlights included a visit to the Harvard Art Museums whose galleries boasted impressive art pieces. The current exhibition while I was there was Mark Rothko’s Harvard Murals. The presentation cleverly not only had Rothko’s arresting red and purple hues paintings on display, but also included an innovative, non-invasive digital projection as a conservation project.

Other highlights included a visit to the Harvard Art Museums whose galleries boasted impressive art pieces

So visitors could view the enhanced works of art thanks to a camera-projector system that includes custom-made software developed and applied by a team of art historians, conservation scientists, conservators, and scientists.

A conclusion is never easy for any holiday trip, nor any travel piece so I’ll end on a sweet note: a dedication to the mecca of sugary creations that is Mike’s Pastries.

While I found it amusing that cannoli are used as though they are singular nouns (people order “a cannoli”), once I tasted the sweet in question, my brain was so suitably saturated in sugar that they could have called the cream-filled pastry rolls ‘soil’ for all I cared.

I must also dedicate a sentence to the divine Boston Cream Pie: A misnomer, because this is more of a cake, but an utterly delicious one, filled with custard cream and topped with mouthwatering chocolate ganache. Bliss.