These are some of the biggest surprises in the city, and very much in the spirit of JonGlez Secret guides.
What first strikes the visitor to New York City is how spectacularly manmade it is: the life of shops and restaurants, the variety of transportation, the grid system of streets and avenues, and the sleek canyons of buildings. But nature, both tamed and wild, is everywhere in Metropolis.
Birders from all points of the globe converge on Central Park for the variety of species spotted there (over 280 so far); the city is greener than it has ever been since it became a colony in the 17th century, with thousands of new trees planted every year. If you like your animals big and loud, take a whale watching tour of the Lower Bay, where lunging humpbacks are backdropped by the Empire State Building.
For a quieter, stranger experience, discover the hidden world of mushrooms with one of the regular excursions hosted by the Mycological Society. With wiser water and land management, New York has rebounded impressively in recent years: seals have been spotted in the Hudson as high as 34th Street, fish are flourishing in the brackish water under the Brooklyn Bridge, and for the first time in centuries, beaver have made a home in the Bronx River. And you prefer to stay on the grid, the city offers some of the best botanical gardens in the nation.
DO NOT MISS :
• Mycological Society
• New York Botanical Garden
• Brooklyn Botanic Garden
• Whale Watching
• Bronx River Alliance
• Audubon Society
• Central Park Conservancy
