Posted: 3/24/2023 | March 24th, 2023
I love New York City. I’ve spent so much time visiting and living here. To me, it’s the beating heart of the world. There is no language spoken or food eaten that you can’t find here. And there’s a never-ending stream of things to see and do. You can never be bored in this city.
Whenever I want a deeper dive into a place, I take a walking tour.
And when it comes to walking tours, NYC has it all.
Free tours, history tours, pub crawls, food tours, ghost tours — there are a ton of walking tours around town.
My favorite company — in NYC and abroad — is Walks. They began in Italy in 2009 but quickly expanded to other countries and cities in Europe. Then they made the leap over the Atlantic, offering guided tours in New York City, Niagara Falls, New Orleans, Chicago, Boston, and Washington, DC.
While their tours aren’t free, they are super insightful and balance having fun with learning.
In New York, they run a handful of offerings, including a tour to Ellis Island to see the Statue of Liberty.
As someone who studied history in college (fun fact: family came to America via Ellis Island) this tour was especially interesting to me.
And, after taking it, here’s my review:
Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island Tour Review
“Welcome to the real door to America,” our guide said when he opened up the front door to the vast Registry Room. Here, up to 6,000 immigrants per day got their first taste of their new life in America.
Between 1892, when the 27-acre island first opened in New York Harbor, and 1954, when it closed, the Registry Room received over 12,000,000 immigrants, who quickly became new Americans.
The tour group met at 8:15am on the southern tip of Manhattan. There were 14 of us plus our guide, Nicola, an Italian-born former criminal lawyer who said he had been fighting the mafia in his native Florence before he wisely decided on a career change. He soon shepherded us toward the ferry for our half-day stroll around Liberty Island, home to the iconic Statue of Liberty, and Ellis Island.
As we walked there, Nicola regaled us with tales about the founding of New York City, how it ping-ponged between the Dutch and the British, and how 35 percent of Manhattan today is on landfill.
When we got to the ferry in lower Manhattan, there was a huge line to board the boat. But Nicola led us around the army of tourists, much to their annoyance, and we got right to the front of the line. I don’t know if…
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