Portsmouth - Backgroud - Overview

C&J Trailways buses (tel 1-800/258-7111) halt at 5 Congress St, on Market Square, en route between Boston and Portland. You can pick up information from the visitor center at 500 Market St (MonFri 9.30am5pm; tel 603/436-1118, www.portsmouthchamber.org ), and the outside tables of the Caf Brioche in Market Square (tel 603/430-9225) make an obvious point from which to get your bearings. Portsmouth Harbor Cruises (tel 603/436-8084 or 1-800/776-0915, www.portsmouthharbor.com ) is among operators offering boat trips from $10.

Of the in-town restaurants , the Stockpot , overlooking the river at 53 Bow St (tel 603/431-1851), specializes in paella and stir-fries; Porto Bello , at no. 67 (tel 603/431-2989), does superb Italian dishes at reasonable prices reservations are recommended; and funky Friendly Toast , 121 Congress St (tel 603/430-2154), makes for an inexpensive breakfast and lunch spot for the generous portions and homemade bread. At night, the Portsmouth Brewery , 56 Market St (tel 603/431-1115), is raucous with live music and The Press Room , 77 Daniel St (tel 603/431-5186), has live jazz and good bar food.

New Hampshire's oldest community, PORTSMOUTH , might look like a major city on the map, but once you're there it has much more of the feel of a country town, and a pleasant lived-in atmosphere that places it well above some of the smaller, more tourist-focused communities along the coast. Its position at the mouth of the Piscataqua River has always made it an important port it was the state capital until 1808 but it has barely grown, and the spire of North Church in the central Market Square remains the highest building you'll see in town.

Of a striking selection of grand timber mansions, the 1758 gambrel-roofed, cream-and-white clapboard John Paul Jones House at 43 Middle St, on the corner of State Street, is the most distinctive (June to mid-Oct MonSat 10am4pm, Sun noon4pm; $4). However, with so many old houses to see you can contentedly walk at random (or, better, get a Harbour Trail leaflet from the visitor center), and a visit to Strawbery Banke provides a better overview of local history. In Prescott Park along the waterfront, the Sheafe Warehouse Museum (free) has a fascinating collection of mostly nautical ephemera.

Indeed Portsmouth's fortunes have long rested with its naval shipyard , visible across the bay (in Kittery, Maine). Founded in 1800 by John Paul Jones as the US government's first shipyard, it has remained active ever since it launched 31 submarines in 1944 alone, and built the first Polaris in 1962. During World War I, Humphrey Bogart , as a junior naval rating, suffered injuries, while attempting to prevent the escape of a prisoner, that left him with his trademark sneer and a slight lisp.