Nova Scotia, Canada

Aug. 7-15, 2010

J had been engulfed in a project for work requiring early morning phone calls to India and several 70+ hour weeks. We were aching to get out of town but couldn't make any plans because of the precarious nature of her project. Finally, it looked as if J could sneak away for a week in mid-August without all hell breaking loose. We had to pick a destination within driving distance, and a place to beat the summer heat would be ideal. All signs pointed toward a week of golf on Prince Edward Island or driving tour of Nova Scotia. Since neither of us had stepped on the links for some time, Nova Scotia won the day.

Fishing boats

Bald eagles patrol the coast

Sea lions lounging in the sun

Cape Breton

Rather than take the ferry across the Bay of Fundy, we elected to drive up and around through Maine and New Brunswick. It would take an extra day each way but would save us some money and give us a chance to bond. Fourteen hours after piling into the car we arrived in Cape Breton – more than sufficiently bonded. We decided on a bed and breakfast in North Sydney as our base of operations. We are not really B&B people. They always sound like a good idea, but in reality we would be much more comfortable sleeping in a hotel rather than someone's house. The old creaky beds, the tiny bathrooms, the awkward conversations at the breakfast table – definitely not for us. Nevertheless, the romanticism got the better of us and we booked two nights in a 140 year old B&B.

Cape Breton was part of the French Acadian territories and was known as Isle Royale. After the treaty ending hostilities between France and England following the War of Spanish Succession, France ceded all of its Acadian holdings on the peninsula to Great Britain with the exception of Isle Royale. Despite peace, tensions between the catholic French and the Protestant English remained strong. The English demanded that the Acadians take an oath of allegiance to Great Britain. The years that followed saw thousands of defiant French Acadians deported to other colonies (some settling in Louisiana were “acadian” became “cajun”) or back to Europe in what became known as the Great Expulsion. Ultimately, in 1763, the English gained legal claim over Isle Royale and unified the Nova Scotia territory.

Our first morning began with a brisk boat ride from Englishtown to see the “bird islands” at the mouth of St. Ann's Bay. While the tour was advertised as a puffin watching excursion, we saw only a few fishing in the water as nesting season had ended weeks ago. We saw scores of seals sunning on the rocks and a number of bald eagles circling and looking for a quick meal. After we docked back in Englishtown, it was back in the car again for a lap around Cape Breton Provincial Park along the scenic Cabot Trail. We paused for lunch in Ingonish and took another break in the Acadian settlement Cheticamp. The scenery along the coastline was stunning, and J felt a twinge of homesickness as it was reminiscent of Highway 1 in California.

We left for Halifax the next day but took our time and drove out to the eastern shore of Cape Breton to visit Fortress Louisburg. After the French lost their colonial capital of Port Royal to the English, they constructed a grand fortress to serve both as a port to supply the Acadians and also to protect their remaining holdings on Isle Royal. The English captured the fort several times before finally dismantling the fortifications to ensure it could not be used as a defensive position in the future. Today the fort has been reconstructed, albeit only to a quarter of its original size, and is full of interpreters who speak about how it was to live in Louisburg and provide demonstrations of a number of 18th century activities including public flogging. Moving on, we continued along our coastal drive enjoying the splendid picturesque fishing coves and pulled into Halifax late in the evening.

Sea lions and seals abound

Almost had lunch

A mink dining on shellfish

Heads popping out of the sea

The lone puffin we spotted

A drive down the coast

The Acadian town of Cheticamp

Cape Breton coastline

The flogging pole

View to the quay at Louisbourg

Parade grounds

Signs of Gaelic

Louisbourg lighthouse

Lunch at Chubby's

Halifax

While the capital of Nova Scotia and its largest urban area, Halifax is a bit odd in that it is not technically a city. It is a municipal area that encompasses the Halifax peninsula along with seven other towns. The British found the natural peninsula on which Halifax now resides to be an ideal strategic site. Despite the fact it was land belonging to the Mi’kmaq nation, they began building the Citadel in 1749 as well as several additional forts in the area to protect the future city. Eventually, the British and their indigenous neighbors quite literally "buried the hatchet" in a 1761 ceremony. The city thrived and became the headquarters of the Royal Navy in the North America for 60 years.

Halifax played a role in two additional notable maritime events. Ships from the area helped recover bodies from the Titanic in 1912, many of which are buried in the local cemeteries. It was also the site of accident involving a French munitions ship during World War I. The Mont Blanc collided with another ship resulting in a fire and an explosion that destroyed the northern part of the city. The blast also had the dubious distinction of being the largest man-made explosion until the testing of the atomic bomb in 1945.

We decided to confine ourselves to the peninsula that was the original British settlement in Halifax. The full day we spent here was meant as a day of leisure and above all no driving. We roamed the streets, popping into the odd pub, and eventually made our way through the public gardens up to the citadel to take in a view of the surroundings. There are a few buildings left of historic value such as the Government House, clock tower, Henry House, but the real charm of Halifax can be found at its waterfront. Here one can stroll around the old wharf buildings that have been converted into shops, restaurants, and bars. Street performers attract crowds of locals and tourists alike, and boat tours of Halifax harbor leave frequently.

Nova Scotia has been the destination of thousands of Scottish immigrants over the centuries –after all the name itself means New Scotland – and the cultural influences are evident in the architecture, music, food, and even language. There are several thousand Gaelic speakers in Nova Scotia and some of the road signs are posted with Gaelic place names. Halifax has embraced its Scottish roots and its pub culture suited us well for both food and drink.

Lads and lasses

St. Pauls Gazebo

Halifax public gardens

The Citadel

Government House

Alexander Keith brewery

Halifax Town Clock

Lobster traps

Peggy's Cove

Idyllic Nova Scotia

The seaside town of Lunenburg

Lunnenburg Academy

A view from the links

South Shore Trail

It is rare for us to have idyllic weather during our travels, but such would be the case for our week in Nova Scotia. Blue skies with only a hint of clouds and a temperature that did not exceed 78. As we pressed on south of Halifax, we took advantage of the weather and drove the roads that hugged the coastline known as the South Shore Trail. This is postcard scenery of Nova Scotia with spectacular views of seaside towns, and we stopped frequently to take them in. Sadly, we arrived at the picturesque Peggy's Cove just as the Carnival Cruise excursion buses discharged their payload, but the charm of this small fishing village is still surviving its rapid commercialization. As dusk was descending, we came to Blue Rocks, a tiny fishing harbor which still seems to be a well-kept secret judging from the deserted roads. We walked the shoreline as the sun began to duck below the horizon and gazed upon some of the most striking scenes we had ever encountered in our travels. We finally arrived in nearby Lunenburg after dark to check into a motel overlooking the ocean.

It was time to get our legs moving again, so early the next morning, we drove to Keji Seaside Adjunct for a hike. While the main Keji park is located inland around a lake, this adjunct covered a small peninsula on the coast. We completed both of the two rather easy trails which run along the coastline rife with seabirds and seals warming themselves in the early morning sun. The rest of the day was spent meandering the streets of the Lunenburg old town, a UNESCO world heritage site, and sipping some beverages dockside.

Fishermen Monument

Peggy's Cove lighthouse

The Dory Shop

Kayakers

To the grapes

Northumberland sunset

J chips one close

Northumberland Shore and the Bay of Fundy

Though we would have liked to the southwestern part of Nova Scotia more thoroughly and visit some of the sights near Anapolis Royal, our week was rapidly coming to an end, and it was time to head back. Our next stop was the Northumberland shore for a visit to the Jost winery, maker of some fine eiswein, including a maple version, and an afternoon of golf at a links-style course on Brule Point.

That night we conspired to try and see one more sight early in the morning before we drove back. We are both rockhounds and always like to add new UNESCO World Heritage sites to our list, so it was only natural that we made a quick stop at the Joggins Fossil Cliffs on the Bay of Fundy. After a quick look in their visitor center, we roamed the beaches finding some interesting fossils. More than 300 million years ago this part of the world was an equatorial dense forest crawling with amphibians and insects. Most of the fossils we found had imprints of vegetation such as ferns, but some looked to have tracks or even body parts of insects. Despite finding some choice samples, we were alas not allowed to take them home. Joggins has a strict no keeper policy to sustain the site for researchers and other visitors, so we hit the highway toward Moncton with the hopes of being home by nightfall.

What's up with all the kayakers?

Fossil find

Fossil hunters