Victoria is my kind of place. British Columbia's capital city is quite large, which was somewhat of a surprise for me considering it's on an island, but the historical area near the water is very quaint and village-like. We took the ferry from Vancouver to Swartz Bay and then a bus to Victoria. I haven't taken all that many ferries in my life, but I'll tell you what, I was so impressed with the experience. The whole process from our Vancouver hotel to the harbor to the ferry to the Victoria Hotel and then back again, to the airport, was like a well oiled machine. I'm sure they have their glitches every now and then, but their promptness and efficiency puts the airline industry to shame.
Anyhow, Victoria is very pretty. The fires continued to take its toll on the air quality and the sky color. Thankfully, it wasn't yellow there, but still very hazy.
Parliament Building
Salish Totem
Victoria is one of the oldest cities in British Columbia, and a lot of its buildings in this area are original structures. There are also colorful structures sprinkled in, which added to the prettiness of it.
Market Square Main Gate Fountain - early 1900s tri-leveled fountain, one level for people, one for their horses, and one for their dogs.
For dinner one night, we headed into Chinatown. It is the oldest Chinatown in Canada.
Fan Tan Alley is the narrowest street in Canada.
There are small shops and galleries on this street. We ended up having dinner at FanTan Cafe, and it was delicious!
Victoria is small enough that it's ok to get "lost" by just walking up and down the streets. My favorite part of traveling is the exploring and stumbling upon some interesting sights.
This looks like a beautiful city! Modern, yet still quaint in so many ways. I can see how it would be fun to explore on foot in a wandering sort of way.
ReplyDeleteI love the fountain! (For dogs, horses, and people)
It was a good visit!
DeleteIt looks a lovely town. But the architecture is very very British Empire. If every you get to New Zealand or to Adelaide in Oz you'll see something of the same. And no real surprise really when it was a bit thing to shuttle back and forth over the Pacific. And you can also see echos of Irish towns and some English towns. Irish banks buildings were built in the latter part of 19th C.
ReplyDeleteBut it's very colourful, and truly lovely for it. A bit like a cake shop.
Just a few blocks away, it had the newer (70s-ish) small city architecture. But this village-llike section was very charming.
DeleteYou make the back and forth across the Pacific seem so easy. :) A 14 hour plane ride sounds terrible...imagine on a ship. At least on ship they got to move around a little. Both on my travel list, but that flight is a deterrent - cheaper and quicker to fly to Europe.
They set up colonies and towns to a template. So they would have certain requirements for trades and professions. Builders were at times at a premium usually the first 5 years, 30-35, 50-55 who in the interim would travel. A bit like the Irish construction workers in Canada right now. And the would bring the style of design with them.
DeleteIsn't it interesting that after those initial builds the style went from that charming look to ugly, flat, and grey (in personality). I know it's a product of growth, but still. The area surrounding this (as I mentioned) has the look of the architecture here (mostly in The Valley) that was built in the 70s. It was very familiar - smatterings of the old, but overpowered by the new and ugly.
DeleteI love little villages. I really love the pops of color dotting the buildings! : )
ReplyDelete