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King St looking west towards the George Washington Masonic Memorial. Opposite: An ice-cream parlour just north of the waterfront on King St. It’s one of several ice-cream shops in this area.
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Clockwise, from above left: The King St Metro Station. • King St near the waterfront. • Another view of the Metro Station. • Dash’s, a long-established haberdashery store which also sells upmarket men’s clothing. • The Washington Sailing Marina, with a beautiful view of the river. • Misha’s Coffee, reputed to sell the best brew in Alexandria and a popular gathering spot for locals. Customers can roast their own coffee beans there.
mid the lapping waves and dockside boats, a single paddle-boarder strokes his way across the Potomac on the Alexandria waterfront. He looks over and witnesses the magnetic attraction of this Northern Virginia river city, nestled only minutes from the bubble of the nation’s capital. Overlooked by incomers who bee-line for the National Mall, Alexandria is a fascinating fusion of cultures. Specifically, the new waterfront is what you should make time to explore, being in the exciting stages of a renaissance with a 20-year plan in place to re-use historic buildings, develop eco-friendly businesses, expand the piers and bring in prominent live music performers. The area’s so hot that Mercy Street, an Alexandria-inspired historical drama, is set to première in January 2016 on PBS – and is expected to parallel the popularity of the BBC’s Downton Abbey series. Set against a backdrop of colourful 200-year-old row homes, Alexandria was congested with trains and yards during the railroad projects of the 1840s. Today those tracks have been cleared to pave the way for modern seafood restaurants, historical re-enactments on courthouse steps, boutique hotels and museums. Scanning the boardwalk from my riverside bench, I absorb the
cosmopolitan energy of people strolling on vibrant green patches of dog-friendly park, millennials playing volleyball and shoppers purchasing vintage jewellery from outdoor vendors. The caricature artists who dot the pier complete the waterfront’s laid-back vibe as they swerve their charcoal crayons at dizzying speeds. I focus my visit on the Old Town, the booming historic centre of Alexandria. King St is the main attraction here and is home to the King St Gardens Park, the Freedom House Museum, the Christ Episcopal Church (a
in this house to discuss how to fund America’s French and Indian War, which lasted almost 10 years. Heading towards the river, I stop at the new Waterfront Market, a locally owned dockside culinary establishment with floor-to-ceiling glass windows. The 125-seat, quick-service café serves everything from hearty soups and creative salads to sushi, flatbread and weekend brunches. I order hummus and pita chips for a quick bite before continuing my exploration of the market’s interior. Local businessmen on lunch breaks
FROM THE SATURDAY FARMERS’ MARKET, WHERE I BUY FRESH MEAT AND PRODUCE, I WALK THE SAME COBBLESTONED PATH THAT WAS LAID DOWN IN 1753. favourite of George Washington) and Gadsby’s Tavern Ice House. The complimentary King St trolley drops me off at the Saturday farmers’ market, where I buy fresh meat and produce, and walk the same cobblestoned path that was laid down in 1753. A few stops down, I join a small crowd at Carlyle House, one of Alexandria’s most-popular tourist attractions. My one-hour tour of this Georgian Palladian manor house (built the same year as the farmers’ market) paints the history of Alexandria. The interactive story details the conversation of five royal governors who met
eye the snacks in the small retail area before hurrying back to work. A few steps from the Waterfront Market lies the 40-year-old Torpedo Factory, the largest collection of publicly accessible working art studios in the USA. Three floors of artistic enclaves give way to ceramics, collages, fibres, glass, enamel, jewellery, mixed-media, paintings, photographs, prints and sculptures. I pop into some of the 88 studios and galleries and ask the artists what inspires them. “I’m from SA and have been drawn back many times.
Waterfront restaurants and bars at the marina near the Torpedo Factory Centre for the Arts. 00 Sawubona October 2015
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washington dc The Alexandria City Hall Market Square.
What’s stopped me from moving The longest continuously operating farmers’ market in the back home for good has been the country is set up here every Saturday morning. Below left: King St seafood restaurants and boutiques Torpedo Factory. The Art Centre near the docks. The area’s noted for its quaint brick has provided me with the means to grow walkways and al fresco dining. as an artist, support myself financially and collaborate with collectors and the public who visit from around the world,” says Rosemary Covey, a printmaker in Studio 224. One of Covey’s standout pieces, Crossing the Line, is a 1,5m x 1,8m wooden engraving and acrylic paint on canvas made from six wooden block prints layered into a single image. Gingko and maple leaves are carved into woodcuts collected around the artist’s home after a difficult time and reference her slow move forward. The yellow leaves that cover the red create an emotive mood. I browse through a few other studios and see imaginative works like the majolica teapot, a textured watercolour by Tanya Davis SAA flies C and the Roe Sea Core on D who visit the museum handcrafts by Alison cycle the 29km-long Mount Vernon Trail, Washingt k from o t are challenged to Sigethy. I leave with a few which provides a panoramic passage from e e w a s put together broken original artworks for my George Washington’s Mount Vernon Estate in seven day ternational In o b m ceramic plates as collection. On the steps Alexandria to DC’s national monuments and a T OR d offers n a they would pieces of the Torpedo Factory, memorials. Biking this trail provides an easy t r o p Air ights of a jigsaw puzzle. view of the Potomac River as I pass through fl g in t c e conn They’re inadvertently parks, yacht clubs, wetlands, neighbourhoods . a n from Gha transported into the and wooded acres. world of archaeologists On my return, I head south into Old who carefully reassemble Town Alexandria, exit the trail at excavated artifacts. Pendleton St and veer left onto Union St. History makes me hungry, so I As I dismount from my bike, I enjoy the take the King St trolley to Brabo, a Belgiancreative energy of Alexandria, which inspired restaurant nestled between Peyton permeates from the waterfront, through and Harvard Sts. The newly-designed Old Town and into beyond. courtyard is decked out in plush love seats and the Sweet Bay magnolia trees cast cool shade over the intimate tables. My waiter explains that the restaurant’s named after Old Town Alexandria: ww w. the famous fountain in Antwerp, where the visitalexandriava.com/ oldRoman soldier Silvius Brabo is in suspended town-alexandria animation, throwing a giant’s hand. Just as Old Town Farmers’ Ma rket: the hand symbolises the free waterway which https://alexandriava.g ov/ was vital for Antwerp’s survival in the 1500s, OldTownFarmersMarket Alexandria’s waterfront gives life to Old King St Trolley: www.dash bus. Town. I feast on locally sourced mussels, rock com/Trolley shrimp orecchiette and oak-smoked poussin. Carlyle House: www.nvrp a.org/park/ I run into a street soprano who entrances Sated, I settle in at the Lorien Hotel & Spa, carlyle_house_historic_ park onlookers with her operatic performance, across the courtyard from the restaurant. The Waterfront Market: ww w. drawing smiles and murmurs of approval. spa beckons with its new Cherry Blossom thewaterfrontmarket.co m The Torpedo Factory is also home to Ritual Treatment – a vigorous exfoliation Torpedo Factor y: http:// the Alexandria Archaeology Museum. As experience with warming gingergrass and torpedofactory.org someone fascinated by science and history, I bamboo. The final step includes beautiful Archaeology Museum: http:// find this one-room museum a hotbed of gems aromas, mixing organic rice bran scented torpedofactory.org/arc haeology beckoning to be examined. There are finds with cherry blossoms, and the concoction’s Brabo Restaurant: www. from the Alexandria waterfront excavation on rubbed into my muscles, releasing the bra borestaurant.com Lee St, a 19th-century drumstick that belonged tension built up from my walk around town. Lorien Hotel & Spa: ww w. to a Civil War drummer boy and a 1 300-yearThe next day I explore Alexandria’s lorienhotelandspa.com old stone tool. The most interesting artifact tranquil waterfront public parks, where more Mount Vernon Trail: ww w. may be the mysterious Wickham musket than 10ha of greenery make up peaceful visitalexandriava.com/ things-to-do/ from 1860, found in a local privy, that took hangouts like Founders’ Park, Rivergate outdoor-activities-and-w ellness/biking over a year to piece together. The children Park and Oronoco Bay Park. I choose to
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