Saturday 13th May
We experienced several rounds of good fortune today. The first was with the weather; tt was another beautiful and sunny morning for our departure from Seattle. Our ferry from Seattle to Victoria left from Pier 69 at 8 am and the clear sky and sunny conditions made for an easy trip from the hotel to the ferry and for great viewing on the 3 hr trip.
The second round of fortune was that we made it to the ferry with good time and were seated in our excellent front row seats rather early. I had booked them in January and was the first to do so as I could have chosen any seats in the front row. However, a ticketing glitch resulted in our particular seats being issued twice and I’m not sure we would have been able to claim them if we hadn’t arrived there first.
Our third bit of fortune was that we had two very pleasant companions seated beside us for our journey across the water. It was also rather spooky though because the two people, Geoff and Lorraine from Nottingham in the UK, were are also on our walking tour just two days prior. What are the chances? Anyway, we had a lovely time chatting with them on the way across and they have also decided to take the same walking tour we are doing on Sunday. They were of a similar age and stage and fans of cricket so there was lots of overlap
Our ferry docked in at Victoria at just after 11 and we made the decision that we would walk, dragging our bags and the bike, to our apartment. It was only a 15 minute walk and it seemed a more sensible endeavour rather than trying to find a vehicle that would fit all our luggage to make the three minute drive to the apartment.
We were loving this beautiful weather but the 25° heat meant that, by the time we arrived at the apartment, the first thing we did was strip off all our clothing and put it in for a load of washing. Ali: make sure you inform Brett 🤣. This was where the next bit of fortune kicked in, our apartment was in a great location and was absolutely wonderful. It was modern, sparkling clean and had a lovely balcony where the 10th floor level afforded us lovely district views with glimpses of water on a couple of sides as as well as snow capped mountains.
It was after 2 pm by the time we headed back out and we took the Frommer’s self-guided walking tour which proved to be an excellent way to use the afternoon hours to discover this beautiful city; especially given the magnificent weather. It was more good fortune here that I had stumbled across this resource in my searching! The Frommer’s guide suggested this walk would take about 2 hrs without stops but we ended up taking about 4 1/2 hrs. I do think the author of this guide might suffer the same affliction as my husband as 2 of the stops, on the 9 point tour, were at craft breweries! (The map of our walking route is in the photos). The online guide was a little bit out of date because the ferry crossing that was suggested to be five dollars is now $14 and the brewery that was once called Canoe is now called Craft Beer Market (or just ‘Craft’ for short).
The tour started at the Victoria inner harbour with commentary about the history of the area and then had us on a lovely foreshore walk around to Fisherman’s Wharf. The first main detour stop on tour though was at the craft beer Spinnakers Gastro Brewpub and this has the fame of being the oldest craft brewery in all of Canada; dating back to 1984. There was a lovely Maitre’d there who was interested in our travels and journey thus far and informed us that the high prevalence of homelessness and drug use throughout BC seems to be a consequence of the newly relaxed drug laws. She informed us that cocaine was about to be decriminalized in Canada and will be available for sale through the cannabis outlets. She also mentioned how the CBD area of Victoria was previously populated with high-wealth individuals but, with Covid, many of them moved out to the areas usually taken up by first homebuyers; in the semi rural fringe. So, the CBD area of Victoria, whilst busy in the tourist months, is somewhat quiet and problematic with homelessness in the off-season. The Maitre’d herself was recovering from drug use and was worried that decriminalization was increasing the drug abuse situation. Some sobering issues to consider there for sure with no clear or easy solution.
We farewelled the Maitre’d and continued on our guided walk. The final stop for us was at a great spot, right on the Harbour, called Craft Beer Market (previously Canoe) which was doing great trade on this very warm afternoon. We were very tired though from our long day of travel and walking so eventually made our way home for an early night having a quiet meal on our balcony as we enjoyed the sunset and great view; ever thankful for all of our good fortune. We had covered a fair bit of ground in Victoria in the few hours we’d been here but already had a great affection for the beautiful city, much more so than for Seattle. We’d enjoyed our time in Seattle, and were glad to have experienced the city, but it is did not hold nearly as much appeal for us as Victoria.
Sunday 14th May
It was another spectacularly glorious morning. Mark set off early for his one and only bike ride around Victoria and I ventured out for a morning walk. It was lovely to stroll the waterfront and the High Street (Government Street) and take in all the glorious sights and architecture in the quiet of the early morning.
Our walking tour didn’t start until 10 am so we had plenty of time to reach the starting point and catch up again with Geoff and Lorraine. Our guide for the day was a young man, Forrest, studying Counseling at a local University and who guided part-time through the summer. Lorraine and I had a bit trouble at times concentrating on the content of the tour as we found Forrest to have a rather unusual presentation style for someone in such a position. His speech was rather measured, monotone and deliberate and lacked the usual bombastic flair and wit we had come to expect from guides on these types of ‘free’ tours; where they are literally singing for their supper. I noted to Lorraine that I immediately thought of Forrest Gump when he first introduced himself and, the more the tour went on, the more like Forrest he became. However, he did a good job taking us around many of the key historical sites around the inner harbour and downtown area and led us through some of the many interesting alleys that give Victoria much of its character. I did feel for him though when he struggled to answer some questions; which were then found to be explained on a plaque on a nearby wall. It was only the start of his second season of guiding though which may explain this but I do hope he took away some key learnings from this tour as well!
It was around 12.30 by the time our tour wound up and Mark, Geoff and Lorraine and I headed back to Garrick’s Head Pub where we spent a lovely hour or so chatting further over a drink and light lunch. Lorraine entertained me with stories of village life back in Nottingham and had me laughing with the mystery of wondering who was responsible for cutting off King Charle’s head from the community crocheted wall hanging prepared by the Villagers for the recent coronation. And it was cut off not once, but twice! Which immediately had me thinking this was clearly a matter for Lewis to solve!
We parted ways after lunch but not before exchanging contact details and forging a promise that they would visit when ever they might be back in Australia. Mark and I then went on to retrace some of the path from the latter part of the tour so as to stroll the shops and sample some beers at one of the craft breweries we had passed. It was then on home for Mark to pack up his bike in preparation for our morning departure the next day for Vancouver where we will pick up a car for the next 2 1/2 week leg of our Canadian journey.
It was just before 6 pm when we next ventured out and the temperature was 28oC! We were lucky to get in to Pagliacci’s for dinner and seated inside with the air conditioning. There are normally long queues out the door for this venue so arriving early certainly payed off.
