Christopher Corbett (corbett@umbc.edu) is author of Orphans Preferred: The Twisted Truth and Lasting Legend of the Pony Express.

Faidley's has been family owned since 1886, and it makes a great lump crab cake. Photograph by Matthew Worden

When my father died a few years ago he left behind a Crown Victoria, an American car dating from the time when Ford, as the slogan put it, really had a better idea. It was white. It had velourlike seats. It was big.

I took to touring Baltimore in that car. Riding in it was like being in a moving La-Z-Boy. As middle-aged white men wearing Hawaiian shirts, my friend and I frequently were mistaken for police officers.

When anyone comes to visit I take them touring à la Crown Vic. I prefer this method of hosting visitors if they’ve been to Baltimore before. They’ve seen the Inner Harbor. I like to show them the things they may have missed.

We go first to Green Mount Cemetery,slightly north of downtown. (The main gate is on the 1500 block of Greenmount Avenue.) An estate in Colonial times, it provides a 360-degree view unlike any other. It’s historic and a nice place for a walk. And it’s free.

The famous (Johns Hopkins) and the infamous (John Wilkes Booth) sleep in peace eternal here. The grounds, encircled by a fortresslike stone wall, are dotted with fabulous headstones, ornate statues, and enormous trees. Green Mount looks as if it were designed by a committee consisting of Charles Addams, Edward Gorey, and Edgar Allan Poe.

Poe’s actually buried on the other side of town at Westminster Burying Ground.

I like the statue of Buddha hard by the Jones Falls Expressway near the Maryland Institute College of Art. It’s best observed from the southbound lane. I like the hooker free zone sign at the corner of Catherine Street and Wilkens Avenue. I like to take visitors to see the statue of Liberty. She lifts her light beside the car wash on Howard Street just above North Avenue. The statue is on the roof of Liberty Roofing, along with a replica of the Liberty Bell.

I like Lexington Market,the largest of Baltimore’s historic public markets, and a great lunch stop. Try a crab cake at John W. Faidley Seafood, a city landmark. I like the sign calling for the repeal of Prohibition at the bottom of Broadway on the side of a building next to the Admiral Fell Inn in Fells Point. Prohibition was repealed in 1933. But here is a reminder that the past is always with us. Baltimore, after all, is a town that loves its past.

A ship-shaped restaurant? This Canton landmark is one of Baltimore's many quirky sights. Photograph by Matthew Worden

I feel the same way about dining out—I like quirky places. One of my favorites is Samos in Greektown, at 600 South Oldham Street off Eastern Avenue. It’s a tiny Greek family restaurant. The family does not have a liquor license (you can go up to the corner and get wine or beer). They do not take reservations (get there early). They do not have valet parking. Like Green Mount Cemetery, this is the real Baltimore.

I had dinner there recently. Four of us shared a platter of olive spread, taramasalata, and hummus; a basket of freshly baked pita bread; three appetizers; a couple of slices of baklava; and a round of coffee. With a tip it was maybe $50. After a lively meal at Samos you will see why I’ll take the neighborhoods over the Inner Harbor.

Baltimore has neighborhoods for all tastes.Bolton Hill is the polar opposite of Greektown, looking like an upper-middle-class section of London. Bolton Hill, just northwest of Mount Vernon, borders the Maryland Institute College of Art and near Meyerhoff Symphony Hall and the Lyric Opera House(boltonhill.org).

The neighborhood, which is very 19th century in design, is ideal for walking. Among its former residents—many of the grand brick rowhouses are marked with historic plaques—are the novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald (1307 Park Avenue) and Woodrow Wilson (1210 Eutaw Place), before he was president. Stop at B (1501 Bolton St.), at the corner of Bolton and Mosher, for dinner or Sunday brunch.

Fells Point,which was in not-so-distant memory working-class waterfront, has been transformed. Longtime residents tend to stay out of the Point on weekends when young revelers pack the bars along the narrow streets. That said, I always take visitors to see this old waterfront district. A favorite stop is to see the graves of William and Edward Fell on Shakespeare Street. Their plots sit wedged between rowhouses in the shipbuilding community these Englishmen helped to found.

Around the corner on Thames Street, I recommend Kali’s Mezze, a Mediterranean tapas restaurant. (It has valet parking, and in Fells Point that’s a good thing.) It’s more expensive than Samos—Greek food is popular in Baltimore because it’s so cheap—but Mezze’s not that pricey.

Drive east from Fells Point toward Canton, another waterfront district that has been spruced up. If you find yourself hungry, stop at Dangerously Delicious Pies(dangerouspies.com)at 2400 Fleet Street, or Patterson Perk, a coffee bar on the edge of Patterson Park at 2501 Eastern Avenue.