Our Travelogue
Canada/New England cruise on Crown Princess
Day 6 – Halifax, Nova Scotia
After arriving in Halifax at about 9:00 a.m. we disembarked the ship and boarded our motor coach for our trek out to Lunenburg and Mahone Bay, quaint fishing villages to the west of Halifax about 60-70 miles.
Unfortunately, our tour guide and bus driver had a specific agenda and time schedule. Because of this, our time in this beautiful area was quite brief and felt very rushed. Though we drove through Mahone Bay, the bus driver did not even slow down to take in the picturesque landscape along the babbling stream that had colorful trees lining its banks. He did not slow down to even allow us to take a picture of the Three Sisters churches across the bay. On our previous cruise a couple of years ago to Canada, our tour was longer and we were able to stop and enjoy these delightful little seaside communities. We passed by so quickly that we barely got a glimpse of the Victorian style homes and cottages along the seashore. This was truly disappointing to both Jim and me and to Nola as well because we had talked so much about our anticipation of returning to this area. Oh well…
Continuing on we came to Lunenburg about 10 minutes later. The bus driver drove to the top of the hill and dropped most people off near the Lunenburg Academy – once the home of an elementary school and now being turned into a museum. The walk down the hill is very interesting but quite steep – so Nola and I chose to stay on board and meet everyone at the bottom of the hill. As luck would have it, the bus driver took so long reaching the bottom of the hill because of having to make sharp maneuvers around the corners of the narrow streets that we literally met the walking group as they reached the bottom of the hill.
What we so enjoyed about our previous time here was that each of the wooden sided homes in Lunenburg and Mahone Bay are painted different and unique colors. There is a red one, next to a green one, next to a purple one, etc. In Lunenburg, each of the doorways is distinctly unique as well – and as such, they have created a postcard of the doorways of Lunenburg.
Lunenburg is on a small bay filled with numerous sail boats and water craft. The waters were sparkling in the sunshine on this warm day in October. Several of the boats were gliding gently across the waters with their sails billowing in the breeze.
Our time in Lunenburg was cut very short and we only had a total of about 45 minutes – which included the time that it took for the “walkers” to walk down the hill with the tour guide. Jim, Nola and I walked up a block or so and down the street so we could show her some of the ambience of this quaint seaside town.
After we returned from our 3 hour tour and were back in Halifax, we hailed a taxi who took us to the Blue Nose II restaurant where we enjoyed a bite to eat for lunch. Once we finished, we took off on foot and walked past several buildings marked as “historical” with oval plaques on the front of each of them indicating the original business that was in the building as well as the year it was built. We passed by Province House which is the oldest government building in Nova Scotia. Outside and to the right of the massive stone building was a monument and memorial to the Boer War in 1898. Winston Churchill fought in that war. To the left of the building was a statue of Joseph Howe. We don’t have any idea of who he was – but it must have been significant enough to honor him with this bronze statue.
We walked down to the waterfront and along a wooden planked walkway called Harbourwalk. On one side was the bay and on the other occasionally were small wooden shops with local vendors hoping you would go in and find the treasure you had been looking for! There was an ice cream shop and those that indulged were definitely enjoying their sweet treats in the warm sun. A pirate ship sailed by in the bay and scared us all when they blew their cannons. The Halifax lighthouse came into view about half way down the walk. We passed a large open area where about a dozen or so white Adirondack chairs were set on the lawn. Several people were enjoying the sun and sat in the chairs facing the bay or towards a large area full of red sand where children were playing on the swings and playground toys.
We walked about a mile down to the Halifax Seaport Farmers Market where we went inside to get out of the sun for a bit. This was very reminiscent of the Saint John Market or Pikes Market in Seattle. Vendors were there with fresh fruit and vegetables as well as others selling homemade soap. There was a lavender vendor selling anything lavender that you could want – including lavender ice cream!
From there we walked down to the Cunard Cruise Terminal. Out in front was yet another bronze statue of Mr. Cunard. In the background through the black wrought iron fence stood the Halifax lighthouse across the shore on a tiny island.
Nola and Jim found the Genealogy Center in the cruise terminal where she actually got a copy of a wedding license from one of the Dunbar’s in her family tree.
Once we were all back on board, we all went up to the Lido Deck for sail away. It was a warm evening; and we were treated to a spectacular sunset of brilliant pinks and oranges. We passed two more lighthouses before turning north out of the bay and sailing on to our next port tomorrow of Sydney. We all were pretty tired, so we turned in early. Till tomorrow…
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