My day in Portland started with a nice cup of coffee and a brisk walk into town from the house of my friends, Tom and Shuli, armed with a cartoon map and only a vague sense of purpose.  Having never been here before, I wanted to get a sense of what the city was about, what it’s key features were, what it’s people were like.  Although I didn’t see many other buildings like it, the City Hall was certainly impressive as I walked past it.

Most of the streets in the south eastern area of the peninsula are older and filled with unique shops and restaurants.  I’m not much of a shopper, but even I had a fun time window shopping here, and enjoyed exploring some of the cobbled side streets.

I spent quite a bit of time exploring Commercial Street, that runs along the shoreline near the wharfs.  One really outstanding shop that I discovered there was Edgecomb Pottery.  Their designs are really gorgeous, and I particularly like the crystalline glaze effect that has such depth.  I understand that all of their pottery is handmade from true china clay, imported from the White Cliffs of Dover in England.

The shop also contained pieces produced by other artists, including paintings and jewellery, but I particularly liked these little dogs and cats that looked a bit like metal origami and were really adorable!

If I still had a house and a kitchen, I think I’d be very tempted to pick up this beautiful tea pot and mug that caught my eye.

Or perhaps one of the original whale tail mugs to remind me of the sea.

I spent quite a bit of time chatting with the owner Kevin about life, the universe, and pottery, and wish him well with his lovely shop in a lovely location.  How did you manage to smile all during our conversation but not for the picture, Kevin??

Strolling a bit down the street, I found a shop called Maine’s Pantry that I just had to take a look into.  They had a very nice selection of jams, honeys, candies, and other products from local producers.

I got a bit distracted by the home made fudge counter, though, and this lovely cheerful young lady helped me to some chocolate caramel sea salt fudge that made me strongly consider a move to Portland just so I can get more on a regular basis!  Absolutely delicious!

Tearing myself away from the fudge counter with much difficulty, I wandered further along the road to LeRoux Kitchen.  Although I’m told that they’re not uncommon, this is the first time I had seen an olive oil tasting bar, and I was quite impressed with the idea, having occasionally ended up with oils that were too strong or not right for my cooking purpose.  They also had truffle oil and balsamic vinegars for tasting.

Other shops in the area had a variety of unique Maine products, including these things that amused me and seemed to fit the light mood of my day.

Portland is a working port, so there were plenty of lobster boats to watch coming and going, and places to buy fresh seafood.

The working docks were perhaps more worn looking that the more touristy parts of the town, but even the little bit of graffiti there seemed in keeping with the pleasant nature of the city.

The really big event that I had planned for this day, however, was a windjammer cruise.  I had never been on a large sailing yacht before, so was really excited to walk over to where the Portland Schooner Company had the Wendameen docked.  This boat was built in 1912 as a racing yacht by preeminent yacht designer John G. Alden, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  In gleaming white, and with beautiful woodwork, it was really exciting to think of sailing in her.

After we got aboard and had a safety briefing, we motored out of port and began to set sail.  I got the opportunity to help crewman Katie raise one of the sails, and when she told me that we did a good job and got it up quickly, I was surprisingly proud of my small contribution to getting us underway!  I was too far forward to meet our captain, but had a great time with our two crewmembers, trading stories about travel, places we’ve been, and places we’d like to see.  It was great to spend time with you both — if you ever need spare crew, please remember me!

The crisp white sails looked beautiful against the clear blue sky.

It had turned out to be a rather gusty day, so we picked up speed quickly, the boat heeled over, and it was thrilling to watch the water rushing by just under the gunwales where we passengers had braced our feet.

Not being very familiar with the area, particularly from the water, I can’t really tell you how far we went, but it was a two hour trip out and back, that managed to be both exciting and peaceful!  We saw Wendameen‘s sister boat, the Bagheera, also a listed Alden yacht, playing tag with us on the water of the Casco Bay.

I met some wonderful people during the course of my day, and the couple that were sitting next to me on the cruise were no exception.  Marree and Tom were from Boston, spending the week in Ogunquit and in Portland for the day.  We talked about travel, Australia, and importantly, our mutual love of craft beers and good scotch!  So it seemed natural after we returned to port to continue our new friendship with a drink at the nearest brewpub, after first stopping for Marree’s favorite ice cream (salted caramel ice cream from Captain Sam’s may be the real reason she came to Portland!).  We ended up at Gritty’s, where I had a very nice stout.

Although we considered staying for another, I was eager to get to the distillery that Tom and Shuli had told me about the night before, so instead we walked up town a bit.  Perhaps because we were hot from the walk, we stopped in another brewery for some samples, Oxbow Blending and Bottling.  After having their nice flagship IPA, and helping Tom and Marree sample their flights, I also tried a good leathery scotch that went down very easily.  But the scotch reminded me that we still hadn’t gotten to the distillery I wanted to visit, so we moved on… and ended up next door in the Maine Mead Works!  Now, I’m not a big person, and I don’t actually drink all that often, so I was a bit… affected… by this time.  However, I remember being quite impressed with the lightness and fragrance of the strawberry mead — so much so that I bought a bottle — and also enjoyed the lavender mead.  I was forgetting to remember to take pictures by now, but Marree sent me this great artsy shot she took of the strawberry mead!  It tastes as good as it looks… trust me!

But really, I still wanted to get to that distillery, although by this time I had more sheets to the wind than the Wendameen.  Unfortunately, by the time we got there it was just closing up.  Aw.  So I’d just like to say that the Fifty Stone Single Malt Whiskey from the Maine Craft Distillery comes highly recommended, and I still hope to try it someday!  I also want to say a warm thank you to Marree and Tom — it was a wonderful afternoon and I’m so happy to have met you, please keep in touch!

About this time my friends Tom and Shuli found me, fed me, took me home, and sent me to bed.  I like to think that I was just giving them some practice — you’ll make great parents guys!!

So my day in Portland was certainly eventful, and full of wonderful experiences, but what stands out in my mind are the awesome friendly people I met.  I like it here.  Fare thee well, Portland, I’ll be back!!