I was out on our balcony when the ship was pulling into Halifax, and caught a shot of the Pilot vessel pulling alongside. I’m not entirely sure why the exposure suit was laying out on the stern of the boat, as it’s not going to do him any good there if he falls in!
We were greeted by this Bagpipe Player as we exited the vessel. Nice touch!
Halifax is the Capital of Nova Scotia, but the highlights of this area require some driving. We had yet another Tours-By- Locals, this time with Garry J, who took us on a 7 hour tour of the most popular sights in the region. Quick note, 7 hours is a long time to spend on a tour. I would try to limit it to 5, but two of the spots that are “must-visits” required the time to get there and back.
If you want to know everything there is to know about Tim Horton, Garry is your guy. On our way to our first stop, Garry gave us the entire history of the Tim Horton restaurant chain. I’ll never look at the chain quite the same way again. I had no idea he was even a real person! I just know they sell “poutine”, which sounds like French for “diarrhea”….which is why I’ve never tried it….but I digress.
After a brief spin around downtown Halifax, our first stop was Mahone Bay, with a line of churches across the bay.
Not too far away is the little town of Lunenburg, which was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995. UNESCO considers is the best example of a planned British colonial settlement in North America, as the appearance remains exactly as it looked in the 1800’s.
This beautiful building is the Lunenburg Academy. Built in 1895, it was once a school building, but has since been turned into a library
The buildings in the downtown area are quite colorful!
There is even a section of the Berlin Wall in the town. Very cool! I’m curious how many sections are spread across the world?
We ran into our new cruise ship buddies, Kenton and MP! We ended up spending quite a bit of time with them.
We had lunch in town, jumped back in the van, and headed off to our next stop, Peggy’s Cove. First we had to stop at Ryers Lobster, a “lobster pound” in Indian Harbour. A “lobster pound” is the middle man between the fisherman and the consumer. The guy running the place gave us a great little introduction to the various sizes of the lobsters.
He put them all out on the table for us to get a good look. These ranged in size from 1 to 2.5 lbs, and are from 5 to 7 years old. Some of them were scrambling to get off the table!
He showed us this monster lobster he was keeping in his own little spot. He’s been feeding this 14 pounder for most of the season, and once the lobster season ends he will be releasing him back into the bay adjacent to their business. He said he thought the lobster was about 40 years old!
We then visited the stunning Peggy’s Cove! This place is a photographers dream!
There were several busses here, so the place was quite crowded. It was a challenge to take a few photos of the highlights without a lot of people in the way. The lighthouse itself is the most photographed in Canada. There were several people standing in front of this lighthouse, but the “magic eraser” feature of Google Photos made them disappear! My new favorite blog tool!
We ran into Kenton and MP once again. These guys can’t stop following us!
The cove itself is a picture perfect setting, like it’s right out of a movie.
I’m so happy I don’t need to pay for development of film any longer! This trip would have sent me to the poor house!
The surrounding rocky shoreline is just as beautiful.
Another shot of the lighthouse. What a gorgeous setting!
One last shot of the cove.
It was dusk as we got underway, which made for a lovely shot of Halifax from our balcony. This has been an awesome trip for photos!
Next up, we visit Saint John, New Brunswick, our last Canadian stop before we enter Maine.