Nova Scotia's southern shore

After breakfast at the hotel -- free of charge since the air conditioning is still on the fritz -- we walked to the car and headed off to Peggy's Cove. We had been getting mixed signals about whether the roads farther west from Peggy's Cove were closed due to wildfires but once at the Cove we confirmed with the tourist information folks that indeed they were open! So from Peggy's Cove it was on to Lunenberg via Mahone Bay with a stop for lunch in Hubbards.

Once outside of Halifax we wended our way to Rte 333 and meandered past one small village after another, most of them perched on or close to the water. We soon found Peggy's Cove and pulled into the spacious parking area overlooking the ocean. (You can find information about the origin of the name more details about this gorgeous bit of rock and its old fishing village right here.)

When we arrived the sun was bright in a clear blue sky but the wind was rather fierce as we strolled across the village to the lighthouse and back.

Once can see right off why this place is so famous among artists and photographers -- it just begs to be painted or photographed. 

looking farther southwest down the coast

Richard just happy to be here!

looking back to the observation deck from the lighthouse

From Peggy's Cove we returned to our shoreline meandering back west-southwest until we reached the tiny village of Hubbards where we stopped for a delicious lunch at the funky Trellis Cafe. 

Back on the road we made our way through Mahone Bay, a wonderful place worthy of a serious stop, but we pushed on to Lunenberg, where we found parking right down on the waterfront near the Fisheries Museum of the Atlantic.

Designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1993 it is also a National Historic Site of Canada. (Want more?)

The town sits on a series of ridges overlooking the harbor which reminded Richard of San Francisco and indeed the streets, while short, were steep. One of the things we wanted to see was St. John's Anglican Church. Along the way we walked past the Royal Canadian Legion Hall which sported a block of the Berlin Wall on the corner. 

The original church burned down in 2001 and was rebuilt soon after. Unfortunately it was closed the day we visited but we thought a beautiful structure well worth a tour.

St. John's

From the church we walked back a couple of blocks to the memorial park, with plagues and plinths commemorating the Norwegians who trained here during World War Two as well as the local men who died in World Wars One and Two.

Just opposite and up the street from the memorial park is the Central United Church. We wouldn't have given more than passing notice except a man had just opened the door and invited us in if we'd like. So we did. 

Once inside we discovered a huge, cavernous space with a ceiling of carved wood and matching buttresses and what seemed like a veritable sea of pews. 

John, the organist and choir director as it turned out was there to get ready for choir rehearsal later that day and had let us inside kindly chatted with us about the church. He proved to be a literal font of information about the churches in the area as well as local history and we all thoroughly enjoyed the conversation.

the church on the left

the Fishermen's Memorial

view of the town from the waterfront

the Bluenose II

Before leaving town we sat outside by the museum and enjoyed a drink, which also gave us the opportunity to watch a pair of women practice for the upcoming Dory races.

We returned to Halifax via the limited access Rte 103 and were back in the hotel by about 6:30pm. Richard and Pauline took a quick swim and by 7:15 we were back out, this time walking up toward Argyle Street and our supper venue for the evening the Five Fishermen.

On the way we stopped off at Lot Six for drinks. 

After a delicious meal of seafood all round (Arctic Char for Susie and Richard, shrimp and mussels with linguine for Pauline and Halibut for me) we walked back to the hotel and headed off for a well-earned night's rest.

Tomorrow we check out and drive north to Cape Breton Island and Baddeck!

strolling down Argyle Street

To Halifax and old friends

It was a gorgeous morning when we left our hotel in Yarmouth. I had originally planned to take the southern (coastal) route 103 up to Halifax since it promised to be the most scenic. But portions of it were closed due to wildfires so we ended up on Rte 101, which proved to be a lovely drive: letting us occasionally see the Bay of Fundy, passing Digby (reportedly the scallop capital of the world) and through the Annapolis Valley area and Berwick (the latter apple capital of Canada). 

The highway was usually two-lane but limited access and frequent passing lanes for most of the journey; the surface in good shape and traffic light. 

After a little over 300kms and about 3-and-a-half hours were were struggling our way through the traffic chaos of the greater Halifax area. That said we soon found our hotel and checked in, unloaded our bags and settled in until time to drive to the airport and pick up our friends Richard and Pauline who were flying in from London.

Back out into Halifax traffic we wended our way through Dartmouth (on the other side of the harbor) in search of the airport - which, as it turned out, was about 30kms outside of the city. We arrived at the airport with about 45 minutes to spare before they landed so we parked and made our way to the international arrivals gate where we discovered their plane had just landed!

 Although we were now familiar with getting into the city traffic was in fact worse on our return. There is really only one way across the harbor from Dartmouth into downtown Halifax, the MacDonald Bridge, which is a toll bridge and their toll system is probably 50 years old. And the bridge itself is only three lanes so we found ourselves coming out of the half dozen tolls lanes squeezed into one lane. . . 

But once across we quickly found our way back to the hotel, dropped Richard and Pauline off to check in while I parked the car.

That evening we strolled a bit of the waterfront before ending up at Salty's for dinner.

the Historic Properties part of the waterfront

Bar Harbor to Nova Scotia

After packing up and checking out we drove over to Joyce and Avery's for breakfast. (They conveniently live just five minutes from our hotel.) We sat down to a scrumptious quiche and fresh fruit, just what we needed to get the day started right.

After saying good-bye we drove south to Bar Harbor where we would pick up the ferry to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia. (This trip seems to be a long series of hello followed soon after by good-be.)

Traffic was surprisingly light this Memorial Day as we cruised through Ellsworth and on to Bar Harbor, bringing up many fond memories of when we lived in nearby Winter Harbor in the summer of 2007.

After about an hour or so we found the ferry terminal just outside the village center. After check in, with our boarding passes and car tag in hand we had some two hours to kill before boarding so we drove into town. We parked the car and strolled down to the waterfront.

kayakers off the waterfront

playing on the beach

waterfront dining and whale watch boat

tourists queuing up for the whale watch - we have a different agenda today

lunch at the Fish House Grille

wedge salad

fresh haddock sandwich

Agramont Park overlooking the waterfront

back to the car

park across from the police station

After lunch we strolled back to our car and returned to the ferry terminal. The gates were open and we queued up getting ready to board.

looking back to the terminal and loading ramp

Driving on board we were directed to drive to the end of the ship circle around so we would be facing the right way when disembarking. The operation went very smoothly and before long we locked the car and headed for the stairs and the upper deck.

Once on board we made our way forward to the main lounge where we settled in for the next 3-and-a-half hours. It was a gorgeous day and we had a wonderful expansive view from our seats. Directly behind us and conveniently located was the bar. 

these seats do recline

view off the stern

The trip went surprisingly fast and a little before 7pm (local time) we caught our first glimpse of Nova Scotia. 

Nova Scotia!

ferry terminal in Yarmouth

After docking we were directed back to our car and before long were off the ship and through customs heading for our hotel.

Being such a small town Yarmouth was easy to navigate and we found our light's lodging with ease. Once checked in we went in search of a place to eat. The one recommendation from both our hotel clerk and guidebook was a place called Rudder's. But when we arrived they informed us the kitchen was backed up and it would be a good hour or so before we could expect food. We asked the hostess for a recommendation and she suggested Boston Pizza which as it turned out was close to our hotel so off we went. 

Once settled into a booth we ordered two glasses of wine from a woman who, in our humble estimation, has to be one of the top servers in the world. She had a spirit about her that, for us, was the epitome of Canadianess (if there is such a word): kind, friendly, of course, but with a smile that just bowled us over.

Anyway, we each had a small pizza, both of which were well-prepared, flavorful with a nice crust.

 

After supper it was back to the hotel. Tomorrow we head north to Halifax to meet our friends Richard and Pauline!