The Continental is a fabulous-from-the-outside diner in Old City Philadelphia. It seems to be closed now and I realized after snapping this photo that a person was sleeping on the stoop.
That stack of dice still turns, giving me a shred of hope the rest of the place will sometime spring to life. At this point, the sign is the best part of this place. Here’s hoping someone will polish up the place and make the pancakes the best part of the Continental.
During your trip to the historic areas of Philadelphia, be sure to explore as much as possible on foot.
We did not have a car for this trip and that was by design. Traffic can be terrible and parking is an expensive, often challenging endeavor in a city like Philly. However, being on foot means you will see things that you would otherwise never notice or stop to enjoy if you had to look for parking.
This is true of most towns and cities but Philadelphia has some truly charming nooks and crannies.
There are alleys and pathways that are literally centuries old. We strolled through this little neighborhood that we only found because we decided to take a different route back to the hotel and I said “this looks like something.”
Isn’t it charming?
It’s very Parisian with fleur de lis architectural accents, cobblestone and bistro tables surrounded by flowers galore. An occasional Canadian flag next to an American one alerted us that our instincts were correct.
If I ever return to Old City, you can bet that time will be dedicated to finding more places like this. There are also tons of what my friend calls “pocket parks” and sweet little spots with murals and fountains or statues with markers letting you know that so and so lived here or that an important event once took place on this site.
I have several more of these spots to show you but this was my very favorite. I hope you like it too.