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Unlike many of its American sisters, Boston is a compact city that is handled with relative ease. To locate ourselves: the main points of interest are concentrated in an area approximately one mile wide by about three miles long. It is perfectly walkable, although we can also ask ourselves - sports shoes on and water canister in the fanny pack - run it. Let's go there.
Let's start at Beacon Hill, one of the city's historic neighborhoods founded 400 years ago, something that in a country like the United States is a lot to say. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, this suburb, today the most affluent in Boston, was paradoxically the meeting point of all those who came to the city in search of infamous pits where to spend the daily wage. Over the years, Beacon Hill was gentrifying and ended up domiciling the headquarters of local political powers, thus raising the purchasing level of its visitors and residents.
Today, Beacon Hill, in addition to the mansions listed in the national heritage, retains its characteristic Victorian buildings, its cobbled alleys - attention to the beautiful Acorn Street - and its old lanterns that are still gas. "In this neighborhood, many things from the past are also preserved on a social level."
Lori Hedtler owns Devonia, one of the elegant antique dealers that dot the neighborhood. "For example, here is the headquarters of the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America, formed by direct descendants of settlers who arrived in America before 1776. Today they are still active as a cultural foundation."
Tip for Runners
In favor of Beacon Hill: very quiet neighborhood and excellent green areas such as The Esplanade and Boston Common. Against him: some alleys have a steep slope and cobblestones!
The next area to run on the map of Boston covers the neighborhoods of North End and Downtown , the epicenter of financial, commercial and tourist action. The first European settlers who came to this side of the world in 1606 claimed these coasts for their English crown and baptized the entire region as New England.
A few years later, in 1630, the first urban center of Boston was erected in this precise place. "Today those who visit the North End do it basically for two reasons: the very patriots come to travel The Freedom Trail , a 4-kilometer route that stops at some key points in the history of the United States," explains Miguel Sánchez, guide Spanish from Civitatis in Boston.
"The other reason is, primarily, gastronomic, because here is our particular Little Italy." In fact, in the neighborhood Italian is spoken in every corner and in its alleys, which also retain their brick architecture, there are plenty of salumerias, trattorias and patisseries where you can have authentic Siciliani cannoli and the best coffees in the city.
Tip for Runners:
The quintessential runner destinations are Commercial Street and Atlantic Avenue, an extensive sea front where quays, wharfs, harbors and marinas proliferate. If we cross the bridge to Harborwalk we will have the best possible views of the Boston skyline.
And finally we arrive at the two most runner-friendly neighborhoods in Boston - sorry for the Harvard university area that actually belongs to the neighboring city of Cambridge - which are Back Bay and Fenway-Kenmore. The last section of the legendary Boston Marathon runs through them, the oldest in the world still active, which started in 1897 with only 15 male runners.
They were not allowed to participate until 1972 although, previously, there were women who skipping the ban achieved the feat. They did it running without dorsal ( Bobbi Gibb in 1966) or enrolling in the race with a neutral name ( Kathrine Switzer who participated as KV Switzer, in 1967).
Raised along the Charles River in the 19th century, the hallmark of Back Bay is its Victorian houses of red sandstone and some notable buildings, such as the Trinity Church or the Boston Public Library . The adjoining Fenway-Kenmore is the cultural center of Boston: it is the seat of several museums - an essential Museum of Fine Arts - and houses something that is almost religion here: the Red Sox stadium, the local baseball team.
Tip for runners
To emulate the runners of the Boston Marathon in its last kilometers, you can go along the very long Beacon Street (which measures 10 miles), then connect with Commonwealth Avenue and end in front of the Boston Public Library, where every year the goal.
PRACTICAL GUIDE
Drop down
How to get. Norwegian operates three direct weekly flights to Boston from Madrid for 129.90 each way. For the rest of the days of the week and for departures from Barcelona, the flight is with a stopover in London. The young company operates with the new Dreamliner aircraft.
Where to sleep. Mandarin Oriental Boston. Luxury and sophistication at the highest level in the Victorian neighborhood of Back Bay. Actor Morgan Freeman is one of his regular guests. For a stylish dinner, visit its oyster bar, run by media chef Daniel Boulud. Since 488. www.mandarinoriental.es
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