It started with dinner at an Italian restaurant in the heart of downtown called Delvino’s .
We had to call for a reservation and the only one available was for 5:15. We felt old, eating dinner a full four hours before dark. But, eat we did. We started with a bowl of fresh Maine mussels in lemon sauce with steamed tomatoes. Then I had the sausage lasagna and Pam had salmon with mushrooms and spinach ravioli. The meal was sublime.
Then it was time for an after dinner walk through the bustling streets…
Bustling might not be the best modifier. More like “on streets which had the potential for bustling.” Anyway, this is the building which houses the Belfast Chamber of Commerce. Well, of course it does. Walking through Belfast on a Friday evening is to be reminded of what American towns and villages used to look like before the scourge of shopping malls began to proliferate across the fruited plain like so many wild mushrooms after a rain storm. Here, entertainment, eateries and small business are not hauled off outside of town surrounded by acres of asphalt parking lots where the architecture conforms to some master plan dreamed up in a boardroom a thousand miles away designed for aesthetic sameness. Here, everything sits together on elegant streets, the ice-cream and bike shop rubbing shoulders with the board game store and the law office. Down the street there’s the farmer’s co-op and a cannabis dispensary, along with a delightful wine and cheese store with the quite inelegant name…Eat More Cheese. Yes, I think I will. But first we had to stop by the Wild Cow Creamery for a bowl of unique, hand made ice cream. Pam had ginger. I got the Chocolate Toffee Crunch. Then we took our cups a block down the street to the bay and sat on a slab of rock on its edge…
Of course, there were other seating options in this expansive park. We could have sat in lobster trap chairs…
Or this beauty that somebody stole from a Hobbit village…
Speaking of seating, everywhere you walk in downtown Belfast, the city fathers are imploring you to sit, to take a load off, to take a minute and relax. On practically every corner, in every spare nook and cranny your desire to sit down is beautifully accommodated…
As we strolled through this adorable town we noticed how many dogs there were being walked by their humans. One particular older yellow lab seemed to be not very much interested in his walk, stopping in the middle of the street in protest. Another woman was walking by walking her own dog and we heard her say, “Don’t blame him. Its so hot!” Pam tried her best not to laugh. We had just remarked about how perfect the weather was. No humidity, a delightful 72 degrees and a refreshing breeze coming off the ocean. And this life long Mainer walks by complaining about how hot it was. Absolutely adorable.
If I were President of the Belfast Chamber of Commerce I would come up with a new slogan for the village…
Belfast. Come sit for a while.
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