National Geographic Traveller

Cambridge
The tip of John Harvard’s foot is much
shinier than the rest of him. The tradition of
kissing or rubbing it has seen to that. “But,”
says undergraduate student Mike, who
leads The Hahvahd Tour, “it’s the statue of
three lies.” HARVARD UNIVERSITY (motto:
‘truth’) wasn’t founded by John Harvard
(he merely bequeathed the funds that
allowed it to expand); it wasn’t founded in
1638, as the plaque states (it was, in fact,
set up two years earlier, as New College);
and the sculpture isn’t an accurate
representation of John Harvard — it can’t
possibly be, as there’s no record of what he
looked like.
The Harvard Yard — surrounded by
handsome, red-brick Georgian buildings
and full of the pick of America’s young
academics milling about — is what
Cambridge is ostensibly all about.
Technically a separate city — just across
the Charles River from Boston — it’s
essentially a suburb, and one that’s quite
happy to pile on the mythology.

Every shop, restaurant and bar around

Harvard Square seems keen to play up

its own heritage and piece of the legend.

The HARVARD BOOK STORE boasts of being

locally owned and independently run since

1932. The neighbouring GROLIER POETRY
      BOOK SHOP was founded in 1927 and is the
      ‘oldest all-poetry bookshop in America’. And
      next door, there’s MR BARTLEY’S GOURMET
      BURGERS, ‘a Harvard landmark since 1960’
      with a near-permanent queue outside.
      But Harvard is just one end of Cambridge.
      At the other is another of the world’s
      top universities — the MASSACHUSETTS
      INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY. The MIT campus
      is studded with arresting public art from
      big names such as Anish Kapoor and Jaume
      Plensa. English-inspired gentility in the
      architecture is replaced by a willingness to
      let all ideas burst free — as typified by Frank
      Gehry’s dazzlingly chaotic STATA CENTER.
      Even nearby restaurants, such as the AREA
      FOUR pizza and craft beer joint, play up
      the science in their dishes and plump for
      industrial-looking decor.

BASEBALL

Other sports lag way behind the

ball game in Boston’s affections.

Baseball diamonds can be found

all over the city, but Fenway

Park — the home of the Boston

Red Sox — is the high temple. It’s

open for tours and, if you’re lucky,

match tickets. boston.redsox.mlb.

com/bos/ballpark

SEAFOOD

With plenty of coastline nearby,

it’s no surprise that cod, clam

chowder, and anything else fishy

that Bostonians can get their

hands on, feature heavily on

restaurant menus.

JFK

The 35th president was born

and raised in Boston, with his

birthplace and presidential

library open to visitors. Several

other spots — from restaurants

he frequented to Harvard, where

he studied — gleefully lay claim to

their slice of the Kennedy legend

too. nps.gov/jofi jfklibrary.org

REVOLUTIONARY HISTORY

The Boston Tea Party kicked

off the American War of

Independence, and the Greater

Boston area is full of key sites.

Many are along the Freedom Trail,

a 2.5-mile walking route weaving

through the more historic parts of

the city. freedomtrail.org

FOOD TRUCKS

Boston has embraced the food

truck phenomenon. Key spots

include the Rose F Kennedy

Greenway, Boston Common

and just outside the Harvard

Science Center in Cambridge.

bostonfoodtruckblog.com

When in Boston...

PREVIOUS PAGE: Sunflower stand beside

a farmer’s market in Copley Square,

Back Bay; Trinity Church.

Pedestrians cross the Harvard

University campus.

INSET: Water vendor at Fenway Park,

home of the Boston Red Sox

58 natgeotraveller.co.uk

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