West of the central Charles Street - where you'll find the main cluster of businesses, restaurants and cafés - is Baltimore's original shopping district, now in decline as consumers head for the huge Harborplace Mall. Though many of the premises have been abandoned and boarded up, there are a few remaining, including the oldest and loudest of the city's covered markets, Lexington Market , at the center of which is Faidley's , the best (and cheapest) of many outlets serving oysters, clams, crabs and other Chesapeake Bay produce. Safely busy during the day, the surrounding streets can be threatening after dark, when the area is best avoided.
Three blocks up, at 600 N Paca St, the Mother Seton House (Sat & Sun 1-4pm; free) is a small, late eighteenth-century brick house, now a museum, where Elizabeth Seton , the first American woman to achieve sainthood, founded the Daughters of Charity Catholic order.
Just south of the market, Westminster Church was built in 1852 on top of the main Baltimore cemetery, and many ornate tombs now stand in dark catacombs underneath. Among the prominent citizens buried here is Edgar Allan Poe , who lived in Baltimore for three years in the 1830s, marrying his thirteen-year-old cousin and beginning a career in journalism before moving on to Richmond, Virginia. In 1849, while passing through Baltimore, Poe was found incoherent near a polling place and died soon afterwards. In 1875 his remains were moved from a pauper's grave and entombed within the stone memorial that stands along Green Street on the north side of the church.
A particularly fun place to visit is the narrow brick rowhouse where baseball great Babe Ruth was born in 1895, at 216 Emory St (April-Oct daily 10am-5pm; Nov-March daily 10am-4pm; 10am-7pm on days when the Orioles have a home game; $6; tel 410/727-1539). Chock-full of photographs, film clips and baseball memorabilia, it not only traces the life and achievements of the much-loved home-run hitter, but also serves as an enjoyable introduction to the game and its personalities.
Appropriately enough, Oriole Park at Camden Yards , the beautiful baseball stadium of the Baltimore Orioles, is just two blocks west, on the site of the old railroad terminal at Camden Yards (for tickets to a game, phone Ticketmaster tel 410/481-7328). Guided tours of the ballpark cost $5 (daily April-Sept; last tour 2pm; information on 410/547-6234), leaving from the ticket office at Eutaw and Camden streets; tickets can only be purchased in person. The centenary of the Babe's birth was marked by the unveiling of a bronze statue in the summer of 1995; see if you can spot the mistake, which was immediately picked up on by hardcore baseball buffs.
Just next door, looking very much like the mother ship just landed, is the PSINet Stadium - home to the Baltimore Ravens football team - which opened its 68,400 seats to a professional football team-hungry crowd in September 1998. Fans were amply rewarded by the team's unexpected Super Bowl victory in 2001. Tickets can be purchased through Ticketmaster (tel 410/481-7328), and tours are offered daily (tel 410/261-RAVE).
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