The old whaling port and shipbuilding center of MYSTIC , the purists will tell you, does not in fact exist; it is an area governed partly by Groton and partly by Stonington. Nonetheless, it does have a small, well-kept, and somewhat touristy downtown , lined with typical New England-quaint clapboard galleries and antique shops. The old bridge across the bustling Mystic River that divides it down the middle still opens hourly, and self-guided walking tours take in the many old houses built by well-off sea captains. The Olde Mistick Village , at the intersection of I-95 and US-27, is a pleasant enough outdoor mall with over sixty upmarket shops in colonial-style buildings. For a scenic walk or bike ride away from the tourists, take the four-mile river road, which is protected from cars and development and passes by Downes Marsh, a sanctuary for osprey.

What brings the tourists to Mystic is the impeccably reconstructed seventeen-acre waterfront village of Mystic Seaport , at the mouth of the river, where more than sixty weathered buildings house old-style workshops, stores and a printing press. Its Stillman Building exhibits exquisitely carved scrimshaw and a vast amount of products made from whales' wax-like spermaceti, as well as showing film of a bloody whale capture. There are demonstrations of shanty-singing, fish-splitting and sail-setting, among other salty pastimes, as well as storytelling and theater, while in the shipyard you can watch the building, restoration and maintenance of wooden ships. The pièce de résistance is the restored Charles W Morgan , a three-masted wooden Yankee whaling ship built in 1841 (daily: summer 9am-6pm; rest of year 9am-5pm; $17, late-afternoon arrivals are granted free entrance on the next day; tel 1-888/9SEAPORT). The last of its kind, the Morgan is a remnant of an age of exploration and arrogant expansion remembered now with a mixture of nostalgia and shame. Done up ready to embark on a hypothetical two-year voyage, the ship is filled with whaling memorabilia; below deck, accessible by perilously narrow stairs, the blubber room is crowded with huge iron try-pots for melting down the stinking blubber.

Over six thousand weird and wonderful sea creatures glug about the Mystic Aquarium , at exit 90 off I-95. Hourly shows at the Marine Theater (daily: summer 9am-6pm; rest of year 9am-5pm; $16) showcase porpoises and a beluga whale, and the explanations of the creatures' behavior make this a step up from standard aquarium fare. For those interested in the history of underwater exploration, there's the high-tech "Challenge of the Deep" exhibit, hosted by Dr Robert D. Ballard of the team that found the Titanic .

Mystic

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