PlanetEye

Local Expert: Maria Olia

I am a freelance writer and the author of “The Little Black Book of Boston” (Peter Pauper Press).   I fell in love with Boston when I was a kid, came to the city for college, and never left!  

Travel is my passion; and I have written dozens...

 

Latest posts from our Boston expert:

March 25, 2008
Insider's List

Three Overlooked and Underrated Boston Sites

Visitors to Boston are spoiled with choices for historical sites, cultural attractions,  and fun things to do. The following list of places may not be as well-known as Boston’s main attractions but step just a little off the Freedom Trail and you will enjoy discovering these Boston treasures. 

1
New England Holocaust Memorial

The New England Holocaust Memorial is simply unnoticed among the raucous hullabaloo of nearby Quincy Market .Walk along the granite path among the six glass towers-each 54 feet high- representing the main Nazi death camps. Six million numbers are etched in random, yet orderly, sequence on the towers, and smoke rises from the grates at the base. A sobering reminder of the victims of the Holocaust.

2
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

Maybe museum fatigue explains why the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is overlooked- it is literally located in the shadow of the more well known Boston Museum of Fine Arts. In the early 1900’s Boston socialite Isabella Stewart Gardner designed her home in the style of a grand fifteenth- century Venetian palazzo. Now this gem of an art museum displays Gardner’s personal art collection including paintings from Titian and Rembrandt, celebrated American artists such as John Singer Sargent and ancient sculpture and artifacts. The absolute highlight of the museum though is the enclosed courtyard where flowers bloom year-round.

3
Franklin Park Zoo

Franklin Park is a wonderful respite for kids who have had enough of “First in the nation this” and “Oldest in the nation that”. Perhaps because it is located on the outskirts of the city, but Franklin Park just doesn’t get great tourist buzz like other zoos such as those in San Diego, DC and Philadelphia. All the big zoo animals are here - apes and zebras, giraffes and lions and tigers too. And for very young children there is a nice petting zoo.

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