Baltimore - the largest city of Maryland, known to most Russians, perhaps, only on the detective series about the "slaughter department." More enlightened in the course, that here lived and published the great Edgar Poe. In principle, both combine well with the current appearance of the city: severe, harsh, concrete.
How to get to Baltimore
The city is served by three airports, including the international Thurgood Marshall (Baltimore / Washington Airport) . You can get to the city by train or from the railway station "Amtrak" (to Baltimore station "Penn"). By car it is easy to get to the city from Washington in an hour or a couple of hours from Philadelphia.
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A bit of history
The history of Baltimore began not with one but with several villages that ran erratically on the Atlantic coast around the 17th century . In 1729 . they were combined into one, named after the first colonial lord, Lord Baltimore . Historically The city standing on the river Patapsko near its confluence in the Chesapeake Bay was divided into the lower and upper - but not the river, and the border between the Atlantic Plain and the Pidmont Plateau . All this made Baltimore a fickle city, with a multitude of hills and lowlands and elevations in one and a half hundred meters . And with According to official statistics, almost a third of the city is occupied by water areas .
The Americans themselves admit: Baltimore is a black city . About 65% of the population is of African-American origin, and approximately the same percentage can boast at least secondary education . @ The development of heavy industry (metallurgical, steelmaking) and shipbuilding led to the prevalence of the corresponding class in the society . The same statistics informs that about a quarter of the citizens permanently live below the poverty line . All this was one of the reasons that the action of the police series was moved here . Anyway, in recent times Baltimore has become a major millionaire city and an important port, whose population is nevertheless steadily shrinking .
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Baltimore's entertainment, excursions and attractions
Baltimore has a very clear division into zone. The northern districts of the city are blocks of "white rich". And the south - this is the focus of industrial buildings interspersed with the housing of the working class. Here you can meet the most diverse audience. Unlike the eastern and western parts of Baltimore, here the population consists almost entirely of African-Americans. And here the highest level of crime is observed, so the west and east of the center are not the best places for tourist walks.
And the best places for them are, of course, the center and downtown . Here first of all the Inside harbor (Inner Harbor), the pride of the city . There are art galleries, museums, cafes, designer shops and clubs in the docks and warehouses around the water. . Here are moored ships, sometimes quite old ones that can be visited with excursion . In particular, it is a cutter of the Coast Guard, a submarine Torsk "during the Second World War, the sailing ship" Constellation ". The latter, by the way, can be considered one of the last ships of the Civil War, preserved in decent condition and almost on the move . In addition, it was in Inner The main attractions of the city are concentrated in the harbor: the aquarium, the state science center, the children's museum "Port Discovery" and the World Trade Center .
The main historical landmark of the city is the so-called Baltimore Basilica . Her started in 1806 . and completed in 1821 . The Basilica, dedicated to the Virgin Mary and the Immaculate Conception, became the first US Cathedral . Almost 100 years before the American Revolution, the Catholic Church in the country had little weight, but with the adoption of the constitution church leaders wanted to build a cathedral that would symbolize the spirit of the new America . The architectural appearance of the basilica is therefore specially made not resemble the dark Gothic and medieval European churches: it is a light classical cathedral, majestic and symmetrical, a cat which at the time of construction could compete with the Washington Capitol . In 2006 the . the large-scale restoration of the basilica ended, and today it is open to visit, as well as a small museum with it .
- View the Edgar Alan Poe Museum in a two-story mansion on Emiti Street, where the writer lived for two years. The museum is open on Saturdays and Sundays.
- Eat crab-cake.
- Enter the Cross Street market, which has been operating here since the 19th century. Buy fresh meat, baked goods and flowers.
- Look inside the Tradestone gallery, which specializes exclusively in Russian decorative and applied art; in particular, on lacquered boxes.
- Drive along the Chesapeake bridge, better known as Bay Bridge, connecting the eastern shore of the same gulf with the western one. It is actually two bridges, each with a movement in its direction, so that you can immediately go back. This is worth doing, since there is really nothing to look at on the east coast. And moving west, you will go straight to Washington.
The most famous monument of the city is the monument to George Washington, which became the first in the country and is now the oldest surviving . The construction of the monument began in 1815 . and it was finished in 1829 . The monument is a more than 50-meter white marble column of the Doric order, at the base of which a small museum is opened . On 228 steps you can climb to the top and see the city . The monument is in Mount Vernon - probably the most gracious quart north of downtown . Mount Vernon is considered a "cultural area" of Baltimore, originally the most prosperous and respected families have settled here, and today the most important urban cultural sites are located here: John Paul Hopkins University Peabody Conservatory, Historical Society, Museum of Modern Art , symphonic hall, opera, art school, Enoch Pratt library and Methodist church in the beautiful building of 1872 g . construction, fine specimen of Victorian Gothic .
To the east of downtown is Fells Point, a district that used to be a place for resting sailors. Traditionally, here are full of bars and eateries, and the place is still very popular for entertainment. This quarter is considered the best place to have a good drink in Baltimore. You can swim to Fell Point, including a water taxi. And south of Inner Harbor is the Federal Hill, from where you can get beautiful shots of the harbor.
Cultural rest in Baltimore
As for museums and cultural life, in Baltimore, if you want, you can find opportunities for such a pastime . National the Baltimore aquarium is combined with Washington, and in all there are about 16,000 animals - fish, birds, reptiles and mammals . The Walters Art Museum contains a world-famous collection that was collected directly by William and Henry Walters . In numbers about the exhibits are paintings, sculptures, jewelry . And in the Art Museum of the city are stored about 90 000 works of artists, from prints and sketches of the 15th century and ending with a collection of art objects of the inhabitants of the Pacific islands . Art objects are filled not only the room itself museum, but also the territory with a landscaped garden around the building .
20 km from the city, if you move to the south-west, there is a very interesting museum: National Cryptographic. The museum works under the supervision of the National Security Service (which is convenient, since the head office of the latter is very near - in Fort Meade)
And 40 km from Baltimore is the old city of Annapolis, the former capital of the United States and still - the capital of Maryland. This is one of the oldest cities in the country, and here there are enough buildings from the 18th century. Here is the Academy of the US Navy
Baltimore's Kitchen
The most catchy and famous local specialty are crabs . Actually, specifically the blue crab with its juicy and sweetish tender meat - the pride of Maryland . In the middle of summer in the city even Crab and beer festival . The rest of the time you can taste crab-dishes in restaurants (recommended - in Inner Harbor), buy ready-to-cook in order to take with you to a picnic in the park, or even try to catch arthropods yourself . Most popular techniques and the preparation of crustaceans in the state is steamed . And the most famous delicacy of crabs in Baltimore is the crab-cake, which in fact is something like a cutlet or fritters .