I am a New Englander Born and Raised, however I was born on the Southern side of New England. I have explored much of the Cape and southern parts of MA and I know the streets of Boston like the back of my hand. Portland Maine has been on my bucket list for a while and one of my closest fiends and I decided to make it happen.
Out side of the beautiful scenery, Maine in my opinion has some of the best eats – not just sea food. Not to mention that the little shops are adorable and SUPER affordable.
Where to stay?
We got a double queen room for two nights at the Hampton Inn Portland Waterfront. They actually upgraded us and we ended up having a beautiful view of the water and sunrise. I chose the hotel because it was super affordable, updated, and close to all the cute shots. Valet parking is $20 a night, there is free continental breakfast and coffee all day. I can be quite a hotel snob from my 6 years working in Luxury hotels – and this hotel met my high standards! Service was as to be expected but we didn’t need much on this trip.
Where to Shop?
The location of the hotel put us in the perfect area to shop. We were right on the corner of Fore Street and Franklin St. Fore Street has a ton of tiny shops including our favorite that we found Siempre Mas which as the CUTEST trinkets – we had a bit of a shopping spree. Around this area you can find some smaller shops down all the small streets.
Where to Eat?
You KNOW I couldn’t do a post with out talking about food! We went up on Good Friday, she had worked all day, we got up there around 6pm. All we wanted was wine and Pizza. The WEIRDEST thing about Portland is they have amazing pizza and Slab Pizza did NOT dissapoint. This pizza is Sicilian style pizza (we actually are both Sicilian) and we were salivating over this pie. Highly recommend if you are ever in the Portland area for lunch.
LOBSTER ROLLSSSSSSSSS – if you go to Maine without getting a lobster role, did you even go to maine? A lot of business was hit pretty had with the pandemic. Portland Lobster Company is DEF the place to go, but unfortunately they were closed when we were there. When researching other top options we came across The Highroller Lobster Co. What I loved about their options was that you can dress up your lobster roll in a number of ways, or have it traditional!
For dinner we ended up going to Old Port Sea Grill and Raw Bar – oh mannn. This meal was amazing and the Vibe was all there. Michelle got Salmon and I ended up getting Steak and Truffle Fries. The Highlight of the meal tho was the Clam Chowder as an app. This was the best clam chowder I have ever consumed. It had a twist on traditional clam chowder and had a little kick to it. HIGHLY RECCOMEND
What to see?
On our way home we took a trip to Cape Elizabeth to see the Portland Head Lighthouse. It was BEAUTIFUL. There are walking trails around it that go along the water and there’s a ton of History in that area as well. I recommend stopping by on your way up/down.
I hope this post was helpful. If you are in New England I highly recommend you take a weekend trip up. There is still so much more I want to see so look out for another post!
XOXO
Tay
The Tay Greeley Blog 