P and I have never really ventured into Southie, the neighborhood famous for its St. Patty’s Day parade and the heart of Boston accents. Don’t confuse Southie (i.e. South Boston) with the South End (another neighborhood near the Back Bay) as I have so many times… Here in Southie, we found ourselves amongst the old and the young, families, and tourists.
Castle Island is on the shore of the Boston Harbor and houses the imposing Fort Independence and is connected to Pleasure Bay where people can wade, swim, and tan along the narrow beaches. Parking was relatively easy to find around 11 am when we arrived, but it didn’t look so easy when we left about 3 hours later.
The sun was in full force, which made strolling along the beach front boardwalk that much better. As we approached the fort, we happened upon a restaurant favorite among the locals, Sullivan’s, which had a line reaching all the way to the end of the sidewalk. Since we were starving, we decided to grab some food. So, we waited in the line (which moved surprisingly fast) and came out of this food shack with some fried clam bellies, a battered fried fish sandwich, a chili cheese hot dog, and some of their homemade slaw. Heartburn on a tray. Everything was decent (I mean a hot dog is a hot dog, right?), especially for the price, except for P’s fish sandwich, which needed some condiments. Apparently, we forgot to order the sandwich with the condiments… oops… so P got a fried fish fillet and a hamburger bun.
After lunch, we headed to the fort and were just in time for their free tour. At first, we were a bit intimidated by the hour long tour because we anticipated that it would only take 20 minutes. But, the tour was actually really informative and fun, and the guide was fantastic.
Before we headed home, we dipped our feet into the water and sat on one of the many benches lining the boardwalk to people watch. This area was such a nice surprise! We will definitely be back with our swim suits and beach towels!
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