The semester is now well underway. If you’re a freshman, you are feeling the stress of homework once again—after a leisurely senior year. If you’re returning, you’re probably trying to shake off those last summer bad habits—I know I need to get off my phone—while trying to start up a good homework schedule for the new semester. The mornings are becoming chilly, dipping into the high forties, but the days are still giving us their last breaths of summer air. There’s no time better than now to take a day for yourself and your friends to zip on into Biddeford and Saco to grab a slice of Maine in the summer before the leaves fully turn. Luckily, if you don’t have a car or don’t want to drive, UNE has the solution for you!
The Silver Line, run by Biddeford Saco Old Orchard Beach Transit (BSOOB), makes the trek from Main Street Biddeford to the Alfond Forum and Campus Center around every hour-and-a-half to two hours, making its first stop at 6:25 in the morning and its last at 8:55 in the evening. The bus, which is styled like one of the classic street trollies which used to be prevalent throughout New England, is completely free for UNE students with their UNE IDs. The trolley makes a complete circuit of downtown Biddeford and Saco, making it a terrific opportunity for UNE students—with or without a car—to get to explore both Biddeford and Saco.
Realizing that students might know about the Silver Line but not what to do in Biddeford, the Bolt has decided to make a weekly “Silver Line Saturday” schedule. This schedule, which is centered around the Silver Line’s UNE stops, gives you something to do to get off campus with your friends and experience a slice of Maine life.
To start, you’ll hop on the Silver Line at either of the campus stops—either the Campus Center or Alfond Forum—around 6:10 in the evening. You’ll take the Silver Line into Biddeford, tour around the former mill district downtown, then get off at the Saco Transportation Center at 6:27. Just as an additional piece of information: the Amtrak Downeaster service stops at the Saco Transportation Center. The Downeaster can take you either southward to Boston or northward to Freeport and Brunswick.
From the Saco Transportation Center, you’ll take an around five-minute walk over the Saco River and into downtown Saco to Quiero Café. Quiero Café is a cozy Latin American restaurant nestled in the heart of downtown Saco, which serves the best empanadas that I’ve ever tasted (no joke). You’ll have dinner at Quiero Café for around an hour, savoring every bite of whatever you order off their fabulous menu. Then you’ll head a block down the road to the Saco Scoop for a post-dinner ice cream.
After you finish empanadas and ice cream, and just as the sun has set, you’ll head back through Downtown Saco to the Saco Transportation Center to catch the 7:50 bus back to UNE. You’ll arrive back at UNE in time to either partake in some of the later campus events or curl up with a movie in bed.
