BOSTON -- BOSTON -- If Boston is called America's Walking City, some wags claim that's because only intrepid motorists will brave downtown Boston's crooked streets and famously volatile and voluble drivers. In fact, it's the charming juxtapositions of old and new, land and water, urban vistas and open spaces that make Boston such an attractive city to wander through at any season.

Several well-marked routes help walkers find their way easily through the city. The newest of these, the Norman B. Leventhal Walk to the Sea, begins downtown at venerable Beacon Hill and ends at Long Wharf jutting into Boston Harbor.

Named for a prominent real estate developer who developed many contemporary Boston landmarks, the one-mile Walk to the Sea is punctuated with stops at eight popular sites. Along the route, illuminated stainless steel and glass panels display maps and information that illustrate Boston's history.

By the early 1800s, the south slope of Beacon Hill had become home to many of Boston's most prominent families. The preserved brownstone townhouses surrounding Louisburg Square bespeak the genteel lives of yesteryear's Boston Brahmins. The area remains one of the city's most prestigious addresses. Gaslights still illuminate brick sidewalks and ancient elms and pear trees shade cobblestone streets.

From Beacon Hill, walkers stroll on to King's Chapel, built in 1750 on the site of the original 1688 building. A great hue and cry went up from Boston's Puritans when King James III ordered construction of the wooden chapel, which became the first Anglican Church in America.

Despite its staid name, the next stop, Government Center, has its own tales to tell. Known to generations of Bostonians as Scollay Square, in the mid-20th century the area was one of the last bastions of vaudeville, including raucous performances at the infamous Old Howard Theater. Now office buildings, courthouses, Boston City Hall and federal buildings surround an airy, open plaza.

COMPACT CITY

Boston is such a compact city that walking from the ultra-modern Government Center to the historic Old State House takes only a few minutes. Here the contrast between old and new could not be more dramatic. The graceful building, built in 1713 and now surrounded by shops, banks and skyscrapers, was the hub of political machinations and debates in Colonial Boston. The British occupied the building during the Revolutionary War, to the dismay of the colonists. Small wonder that on July 18, 1776, most of the citizenry turned out to hear the first reading of the Declaration of Independence from the Old State House balcony, an event that is repeated each July 4.

From the Old State House, it's a straight route along State Street to the sea, first passing through Boston's Financial District, an area that once bustled with warehouses and merchants selling goods arriving at nearby Long Wharf. Today, it's home to the Boston Stock Exchange and the headquarters of several major corporations.

Also in the Financial District is the beautiful old Custom House, the sixth stop on the walk and now a Marriott property. Built in Greek Revival style between 1837 and 1847, the Custom House was the center of maritime business, including the collecting of tariffs from ships from around the world.

Just before Long Wharf, walkers pass through the new Rose Kennedy Greenway, named for the Boston-born matriarch of the famous Kennedy family. Prior visitors to Boston will remember this as the site of the old expressway; today, traffic is routed underground, freeing the space for 15 acres of public parks that link the North End -- Boston's iconic Italian district -- Chinatown, and the Wharf District.

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