Forty minutes by car from downtown Manhattan, or an hour and a half by public transport, and you’re still in new York, and at the same time not. Beautiful village on the shore like the sea. The cries of gulls, dozens of great restaurants, sailing, fishing, cocktails with sunset views, dancing until dawn, your local theater is not worse than Broadway and the wonderful architecture — is it worth it to fly somewhere, if it’s all you have right at hand?
City Island is a district of the Bronx. A tiny piece of land — about two and a half miles long and less than a kilometer in width. The minimum number of residents — about four and a half thousand. The maximum number of restaurants — about three dozen. He is not so distant that it was difficult to reach but not so close to go there for dinner every day. Your theatre, Church, old houses and the boat station is a perfect place for Dating or leisure in the city limits.
History, architecture and cultural life.
Insanely beautiful Victorian architecture — it can be said, the first thing this place is famous. A piece of Europe, or rather England in miniature and on the Gulf coast.
source: nyc
Be sure to take a walk to Schofield House (65 Schofield St.), house, which was built in 1840 and is the oldest building on the island. Make sure that you find the home of Samuel Pell (586 City Island Ave). Pell was a captain, a descendant of the Pell family, one of the first in 1654, arrived on the island and owned almost all the land here. Built house was in 1876, served briefly as a hotel, and in 2013 sold less than 900,000 dollars. He looks like a mini castle inside and out.
The island is antique shops, you can buy jewelry and handmade Antiques. Ladies like to buy here the original articles of precious stones and wire.
source: flickr/cc/Valary
It is impossible to visit the island and miss the play at a local theater. The local theatre community is called The City Island Theatre Group. It was organized in 1998. This season in the theatre to give the play by Arthur Miller «a view from the bridge». The quality of performances has no complaints even from the venerable Broadway critics. Tickets in the region of twenty dollars. The performances begin at eight PM, and more information can be found on the website of the theatre.
Another cultural attraction of this place — the Museum. It is located in the former school building, called City Island Nautical Museum. Strange but true — not only that, the Museum is open only on weekends, and the entrance is by appointment only. The Museum will tell you about the history of the island, its inhabitants and landmarks. The Museum building is located on a small hill. It has a lovely view of another beautiful island. Is Hart island is one of the largest and closed for visits to the cemeteries of the United States. This is a very sad story.
The restaurants and bars.
The restaurants on the island at every step. Some of them are located on the water. There is no reason to paint the menu and compliment the chefs, it is worth to note only one fact — two local restaurant was named the best in new York.
source: flickr/cc/Joseph
The main dish here is fish and seafood. A lot of it — fresh, just caught. Here you can enjoy everything from lobster tails and ending with scallops, clams and oysters. Fish can be ordered fried, grilled, steamed, it can be eaten raw or in soup. On the second place in popularity after the fish, then the desserts, especially ice cream specialties.
And in the evening you must visit one of the island bars. Prefer local beer, but the range of drinks will satisfy even the most refined gourmet. But the most popular there are not so many drinks, how many conversations with them — all the local bartenders live here since birth, and they are a storehouse of stories and jokes.
source: flickr/cc/Shinya SuzukiYachts, boats and fishing.
On the island surprisingly affordable prices for rental boats. About seventy dollars in a week-day and a hundred on the weekend. If you want to not just ride, but also take special courses and receive a certificate professional, then you are in The New York Sailing Center ($ 395-795 — the price depends on the course you choose).
Separately need to talk about fishing. Here you can rent equipment and buy bait, and then will tell you the best areas where you can catch flounder, and bass in the Bay… this place is crawling with fish!
If you can afford a fishing boat, that nothing is impossible. You will offer to rent a really big boat, for example, 25 meters in length, equipped with a galley and a radar to search for fish, and a stereo and everything you wish. On such a yacht, you can celebrate a birthday, start fireworks and even a mini-carnival that is held every year in Rio. The same case when — every whim for your money. You can stay overnight on the yacht. If you want to stay on land, then the unit can always be removed through Airbnb. Prices range from 50 to two hundred dollars per night.
source: flickr/cc/Joseph
