We weren’t sure what would be the best way to get to and from Salem. Reviews all said don’t drive since the roads are too packed. Bostonians said take the train since it is fast and cheap. My aunt said the ferry was nice but pricey. In the end we couldn’t figure out how the train worked and even if we did, we would have to Uber between the train and the hotel, so we decided to take the $40 per person ferry to Salem and decide how to get back later. Glad we got all tickets online since everything ended up sold out all over. We got to the ferry way early but it was so nice and cool. The announcer on the ferry was nice and informative and things moved along quickly.
When we got off we mozied along to the House of Seven Gables. Mom wasn’t sure it would be worth it, but the ferry guy really talked it up as the number one old home in America and we loved it. Beautiful place and neat history.
We ended up rushing ourselves out to make our 2pm tickets at Real Pirates. That turned out a really good choice too. Real, solid history and touchable treasure not pictured here as they forbid pics. A cute little girl also talked a lot about pirates and it was very informative.
After that we just wandered around and saw the witch memorial, which is just benches with their names on it. Walked down the very packed Essex street which was smartly closed to traffic. Tons of people, lots in costume as visitor, tip taking entertainer, and actual bums. We didn’t go in any of the shops since we don’t need any more cheap crap, but there were long lines waiting to get into some. By the time we got down to the Elizabeth Montgomery statue, we were pretty pooped. We wandered away from the crowd to just see the exterior of the witch house and then a bit further to see the very nice houses around Hamilton Hall. We got a Lyft back from there. Lots of construction and traffic coming back.
We were starved since we missed lunch again. Had a banana and forgot about it. We split a tasty burger and quesadilla at the hotel. They were running a restaurant and bar on Friday night with just one lady on the floor. Wtf so slow and had to order at the bar.