Atlantic Canada 2015

It was summer, but it was cold and rainy, and as we made it to the Canadian province of New Brunswick, heavy winds also joined the party, making it extra hard for Stina... First, we stopped in St. Andrews By-The-Sea, a pretty Loyalist town in the Bay of Fundy - the bay which is famous for cold climate and enormous (the highest in the world) tides: the water levels rise and fall more than 10m every day! We arrived into St John, New Brunswick capital, on July 1, which is Canada Day: so even though we were frozen and exhausted, it was a joy to walk around the small, cold, cute, and steep town, watching Canadians celebrate and party, and the local beer and lobster rolls were delicious too! The last sight of the area were the famous Hopewell Rocks in Bay of Fundy: they are islands at high tide, and rocks you can climb onto at low tide. (They do charge you to see them - and there is not much to really see, so we thought that was a little stupid and skipped it).

After three whole (and cold and rainy) days of riding on highways, we spent the night on the ferry and landed on the south-eastern side of Newfoundland. We rode around the beautiful Avalon peninsula and stopped at Cape St Mary's, "North America's most accessible bird sanctuary": it was awesome, all you had to do is walk for a mile, and you were standing on a 60m-high rock, next to tens of thousands of murres, kittiwakes, rasorbills and other seabirds (btw, the water below gets its pretty turquoise color from all the bird poop falling into it :D ).

Next, we stopped in the capital, St John's - a steep, pretty city (they paint their houses in bright colors, in order to cope with the constant cold grey sky), surrounded with little old fishing villages like Quidi Vidi.

From there, we had to ride north in order to see icebergs, and then across the island to see the other side and take the ferry from there - but it was cold and rainy, 10 degrees (50F), so we had to put on garbage bags, buy cheap woolen hats at the gas station, and stop in every Tim Horton to warm up with their coffee. We made it to Trinity (a big port in the 16th century, now a cute village frozen in the 19th century), where thankfully, the lady at the store sold us some awesome hot clam chowder and told us that there was a little iceberg close by - so we didn't have to ride all the way to the top to see one (and it was awesome, and it was as "little" as our house!).

We froze on, to the western side, where we visited Gros Morne National Park, famous for fjords and Tablelands (which were all nice but nothing special), and finally found some traditional food: the islanders don't eat particularly well (and it seems like there is margarine in everything), but it was interesting to try moose (which tastes like lean beef) and fish & brewis (chunks of salt cod mixed with chunks of old cooked bread)…

On to Nova Scotia!

We landed on Cape Breton Island, northern Nova Scotia - and we were finally warm (well, it was still cold, but not compared to Newfoundland)! First we went Louisbourg; its an impressive reconstitution of the 18th-century fortress. The costumed "interpreters" looked real and are pretty knowledgeable, there is a military drill, they're are cooking, making lace and nails...nice!

Nova Scotia means 'New Scotland' in Latin, of course - and the most Scottish emigrated there in 18th and early 19th century; Breton especially is still very Scottish, even bilingual (well, at least the signs are): they still have schools where children learn Gaelic and traditional music, and it is known for Ceilidh (i.e. visit, gathering of Highlanders; they used to visit each other's kitchens where they would sing, play fiddles and bagpipes, dance and drink, and tell stories... and this is still very much alive - it is said that traditional Scottish music is better preserved here than in Scotland).

We decided to go to a fancy ceilidh - because Kyle is a Milne, and Milnes are a clan (that belongs to the Gordon clan, in case you were interested) and also simply because Scottish culture is awesome in general! We attended a ceilidh in the North America's first single-malt distillery, Glenora. They are not allowed to call their whisky 'scotch', because it was not made in Scotland, but the wee dram in the picture was simply incredible. And expensive - so we only had one drink each :D

The sunny day turned (as is tradition up here) into a cold and cloudy one again - so of course we decided to leave the Cabot Trail and add a little more - we rode to the northern peak of Cape Breton Island, Meat Cove, because the lady in the store said it was a nice place. We enjoyed the gravel road out to the wild top of Nova Scotia - and the lady was right, it was really beautiful up there (and sunny again - you just never know)!

We then rode south a bit and spent the night in Baddeck, a little town in the north-east: the town itself is nothing special, but they had a working lobster-shack: in July, when lobsters are in season, temporary shacks are built everywhere in Nova Scotia, in which they cook amazing, cheap, fresh seafood! Just look at the menu in the picture: all-you-can-eat mussels and clam chowders and salads, along with the whole lobster, for $30! We ate so much we almost burst! :D

We moved on, but instead of taking it easy, we decided to squeeze in a little something - another Canadian province (in a day; it later turned out that this would be a regular thing for us - we just cannot stop and go home, we keep adding to our route!), so we crossed to Prince Edward Island, PEI for short, onto which you can take a bridge or a short ferry; PEI is cute, fluffy, green, and a bit warmer - but unless you're into frigid beach vacations, you can see the whole island in one day. Fun fact: PEI capital, Charlottetown, has only two streets (but they contain everything any town ever needs, including the many nice pubs with great beer and food, and live easy jazz music for free in the street), and it was here where Canada was born. (Wikipedia: "In 1864 representatives from four British Colonies gathered in Charlottetown, PEI, to discuss unifying under one common government. These colonies were Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec and Ontario.")

We rode further down, to Halifax, the capital of Nova Scotia. Again, a small, steep, cute, pleasant city, with lots of music, good beer and food. And it is also the place where they buried the victims of the Titanic (and yes, you can find Jack in the Titanic graveyard as well).

Moving south, we stopped at Peggy's Cove (30 miles from Halifax), because the guide book said so - even though we didn't care for another lighthouse, these things are everywhere, hundreds of them! - and the book was right, this place, a 19th-century picturesque fishing village with its famous lighthouse, was gorgeous!

Next stop was Lunenburg, where we stayed at a motel; Stina loves those, because they are a bit trashy and very Americana - there was even a green gremlin, an old funky 70's American car, in the parking lot! Lunenburg was a famous Loyalist town (i.e. British, loyal to the crown in the time of American revolution) and it's now a UNESCO site for the colorful old buildings. ...Well, it was ok, but we weren't very impressed.

Lastly (before taking our last ferry, the one to Maine, USA), we checked out the Pubnico peninsula in the south, which used to be a part of Acadia, the former colony of New France, because we wanted to see what was left of the French heritage, too. (Acadians are the descendants of French colonists who settled in Acadia during the 17th and 18th centuries, and many of them are also descended from the Indigenous peoples of the region; and by the way, some later moved down to Louisiana, where 'Acadian' turned into 'Cajun'). Stina doesn't speak much French, but even she noticed their very thick accent, reminiscent of the Amish and their 17th-century German :) The local village-museum in Pubnico is really cute - the staff are dressed up, skilled in the roles they play (18th-century farmers, cooks, blacksmiths etc.) and speak the old language - and they all told us that they are still not happy about the fact that they are ruled by the British! :D

We also had to try the Acadian delicacy, the rappie pie: they grate potatoes and squeeze the starch out of them, and there is chicken and lard and onions in there, and then they eat that with butter and molasses. The recommended restaurant had no room for us so we got a pie to go (and had it in front of the restaurant); it was delicious, like a really good and really gooey shepherd's pie.