Exploring downtown Halifax and the waterfront
Any of you who travel know that there’s never enough time. That’s certainly the case with Halifax, Nova Scotia – the downtown and waterfront area deserves a week of exploring. But all we have is two days. By last night – the end of Day 4 of the trip and the first full day in Halifax – we felt it had been a particularly good day.
It was a lazy morning, and it was almost 10:00 by the time we took the elevator up one floor to check out the Harbourview Terrace. It’s a great space, but seems to get little use. I shot a few photos up there. The view is panoramic.
There’s a huge building under construction beside our hotel – I don’t yet know what it’s going to be.
Cabin Coffee, where we had an 11:00 date with a friend who once lived in the Yukon, and who travelled with me from Red Deer to Whitehorse when I brought Cathy’s new Jeep up 10 years ago, and her sister, who lives here.
From there we walked down to the waterfront for some exploring. We had no destination in mind. Seeing Cows, though, Cathy said we would have to get some of Canada’s best ice cream at some point!
The Bicycle Thief restaurant is one of the hot spots. Cathy had no luck getting a dinner reservation but we may try for a lunch.
We found 3 “melted” lamposts (only two are seen in my photo). This is a sculpture called “The Way Things Are.” It was presented to the Halifax Waterfront by Chris Hanson and Hendrika Sonnenberg in 2012. The lamposts each have a name – “Got Drunk,” “Fell Down, and “Fountain.”
A large Flowering Crabapple added both brilliant colour and wonderful scent to our walk.
Our early lunch at Cabin Coffee was wonderful, and the conversation could have gone on for hours.
Both from our hotel room and during much of our walks, the St. Georges Island Lighthouse, built in 1919, is prominently in view.
Our tour was booked for 3:30, and we were there well before 3 but half the other passengers were already there. This huge poster towered over the meeting spot.
The “duck” arrives 🙂
I was impressed by the skill of our driver, Curtis, in navigating this oversized beast through the narrow streets of downtown Halifax. Our tour guide, Adina, was exceptionally good, but knowledgable and animated. I took a lot of photos and some day when I have time I’ll do the research needed to identify them. This tour made it very clear that even a week might not be enough time to see Halifax well.
Not much of The Citadel can be seen from a drive-by, but we’l be taking a taxi up there today for a proper tour.
The views from The Citadel are excelent, as you’d expect from a fortification.
The incredible variety of architecture, old and new, is the main thing about Halifax that may get us back for a longer look some day.
Looking across a plaza up to The Citadel.
There are a whole of things to see from the water, both big things and smaller features.
Two little passenger ferries, Vincent Coleman and Christopher Stannix, shuttle back and forth across the harbour constantly.
We got a much closer look at St. Georges Island. I’d love to do a tour of it, but there’s just no time 🙁
The historic Arctic ship Acadia, the first vessel specifically designed and built to survey Canada’s northern waters, was launched in 1913.
The Baton Rouge Grillhouse & Bar is in a building built in 1841 as the Jerusalem Warehouse, and later known as the Morse’s Tea Building, “a vital hub for downtown trade and commerce.”
Back on land, we went back to exploring on foot. Cathy was determined to get a lobster roll, so we searched out Dave’s. It was as incredible as Cathy remembered, and she was impressed that I made no comment about the $69 cost for two of them 🙂
HMCS Sackville, the last surviving Flower-class Corvette, served in the Royal Canadian Navy and later as a civilian research vessel.
This culture is “Passage,” created in 2015 by Greek-Canadian Vasilis Vasili. It made a nice frame for the lighthouse.
After our lobster rolls, we had shared a beavertail for dessert. Our final local taste for the day was Cows ice cream. Oh yeah, it may very well be Canada’s best ice cream.
I sure love this place. I shot 142 photos today.
From there we returned to our hotel room. I went back down to the third view to see what the “Zen Garden” is. Perhaps it’s just early in the season, but the garden did provide a particularly good view of the Alexander Keith brewery. We had hoped to do a tour, but the last one was at 3:00. Maybe today…
Our day ended with a couple of beer in the quiet hotel lounge, then a hot tub and swim. The pool area was empty for much of our stay, but a group of 5 arrived as we were about ready to leave anyway. We both slept very well, and now we’re ready for Halifax Day 2, which will be largely focussed on museums.
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