Vancouver Island - British Columbia

 Our last day in Vancouver city for a while was spent, as always, packing and organising, but we did find time to visit one of Vancouver’s best loved attractions…Stanley Park. The girls have had some big shopping days recently, so elected to pass on this one and stay back for some much needed R & R. But Mike and I were keen, especially to give the e-bikes a try. 

Vancouver is a very bike friendly and oriented city so it makes sense that they have “share/rent” bikes all over the place…..but they also have bikes to hire around the park. So, e-bikes it was ….. and weren’t they great. We found very quickly why they are so popular. The park is huge with a bike/pedestrian path all around (maybe 10kms) and criss-crossed with a network of other, joining paths and areas of interest but with pedal assisted electrical power, we didn’t even raise a sweat. It’s a great way to get around and a great way to see quite an impressive part of the city.

The path caters for bikes and pedestrians. It is a great way to get around.

Points of interest are dotted all around the route. Vancouverians are very proud of their city and history…and rightly so.

The e-bikes are terrific!

Never miss a chance for some “peaceful contemplation”.

Victoria, Vancouver Island

After collecting our people mover vehicle from the local depot first thing, we headed to the ferry terminal at Tsawasssen. The ferries here, as in Europe, are very large and impressive and make the journey through the straits to our next destination most enjoyable…..especially as the sea was as flat as a tack!

Our Chrysler Pacifica, a spacious and comfortable mode of transport.

We stopped in Sidney (yes that is the correct spelling), a quaint ex fishing town, on the way to Victoria for some lunch and a look around.
Erin just could not resist a re-enactment of this street sculpture!

Our “digs” at the Swan’s Hotel in Victoria is another “quirky” establishment with the rooms created out of an old waterfront warehouse. We were saddened to see that the city centre area seems to have gone right down hill since our last visit in 2012. We had a “wander around” to reminisce, but the amount of homelessness and poverty was quite confronting. I suppose all modern cities have an underbelly but we did wonder if the recent de-criminalisation of marijuana has had an impact. 

Swan’s Hotel was a flasher establishment ten years ago but I suppose age and Covid have had their effect. 
But it is located in the heart of town and has a quirkiness about it.

The next day however presented a more familiar side of Victoria, a small city with a strong British heritage. It is the capital of BC with many grand buildings and the seat of government. In our wandering around the more “touristy” part of town we found restaurants, markets, shops, pubs all clustered around a compact working harbour. As we strolled around the foreshore to Fisherman’s Wharf, there was constant activity on the water, ferries, tugs, barges and float planes, regularly taxiing, taking off and landing in the harbour. There was even a control tower directing the traffic.

Ice creams after lunch on the Water Taxi heading back to our hotel on the other side of the harbour.

Fisherman’s Wharf is a collection of quaint, colourful houseboats with restaurants and shops dotted around the floating dock.
Some Canadians seemed to have embraced this style of living.

A visit to the Butchart Gardens is a “must” in any visit to Vancouver Island. Even for non-gardeners or unenthusiastic gardeners, it is mighty impressive. To transform an old limestone quarry to such a beautiful space is an achievement indeed….and it is still a family affair.

Words and/or pictures cannot do it justice…..at all. Mayfield Garden in Oberon will probably be very similar when it has 100 years of maturity and it is the closest thing we have to this wonderful place.

Wendy and I were impressed when we visited last time in Autumn, but this display of rhododendrons, mass plantings of tulips a the whole garden just bursting into life was something to behold. The following shots are just a peak at what we experienced.

The sunken garden reclaimed from and old limestone quarry.

Just one of the tranquil scenes from the Japanese section of this huge garden.
The familiar sound of the shishi-odoshi gently clonking in the background made us all think of Val.

Bloomin’ lovely!