A long weekend asks for going to the sea. So I drove up to the North Shore on Saturday when the sun was out in the morning. Friends told me that Manchester-by-the-Sea is a beautiful little seaside town. And even though I still haven’t watched the movie with the same name, I wanted to visit the town on Cape Ann. I would have already gone on Friday, but then it rained all the time. I rather went to the cinema and watched the latest Pirates of the Caribbean movie instead. A day later the weather was much better, and so I enjoyed driving through the sun up to the shore. Well, I didn’t enjoy all parts of this. I thought I’d try ordinary roads (in contrast to highways), but wasn’t aware that most of them are in a terrible shape. I am glad that my poor car didn’t suffer from axle fracture due to all the potholes. At least I got to see many different small towns and realized that they all blend until you reach Manchester-by-the-Sea. I immediately found street parking there and got out to explore.
The center of Manchester-by-the-Sea is small and cute. There are many of the typical New England houses and there is a creek in the middle of the town, both making it scenic. There are also many park benches to enjoy the view at the water where small ships sail. Otherwise, there are many antique stores and some pubs and cafés in the town. Even though the sun was shining, it was still too cold to have a picnic outside. Instead I went to the Beach Street Cafe for lunch, which was cosy and cheap. Their clam chowder and grilled cheese sandwiches were really good. Since I neither wanted to visit any museum (the weather was too nice) nor going to the beach (it was too cold), I just walked around a little more and looked at the pretty buildings. I also visited an antique store, but didn’t find anything absolutely amazing to buy. I was clever enough not to enter the big secondhand book store because I’d definitely have found something in there.
Having seen the whole town center, I continued my road trip along the shore. But in summer I’ll be back in Manchester-by-the-Sea because I’ve heard that its Singing Beach is beautiful. And I might take the highway there.
© janavar
