Before this first visit to Canada, I often mistook Vancouver, the province's biggest city, to be the capital of British Columbia. But no. Instead, it was Victoria, the quieter, (in my opinion) more charming sister to Vancouver, that was the capital. We made our way down to Victoria after our stay in Vancouver.
This journey began with a drive down to Tsawwassen Ferry Terminal, located not too far from the US border, to catch a car ferry over to Vancouver Island. The morning started out dreary and grey (we got quite a spell of less than perfect weather on this portion of the Canadian trip), so I was expecting little from the ride over.
The first portion of the crossing - over the open waters of the Strait of Georgia - was as expected, fairly dull. Things became much more interesting, however, when we reached the outlying islands surrounding Vancouver Island that marked the second portion of the journey. For there was fog. Not too much of it; just enough to give the shrouded islands a beautiful, yet mysterious ambiance. At times, it even felt as if we were sailing through the sky.
Mysterious fog shrouded islands
More Fog Shrouded Islands
Our first stop on the island was to the historic Fort Rodd and Fisgard Lighthouse, located on the outskirts of Victoria. It was then that it began raining, so our visit was unfortunately somewhat soggy.
A closer look at the lighthouse
Stormy skies made the visit a very wet one
View from the base of the lighthouse
Fortunately, the sky cleared up for a brief bit by the time we headed into Victoria for lunch by the Inner Harbour. We got some food at an unassuming little place (with an equally unassuming name of Red Fish Blue Fish) which apparently had some of the best food in the city. It definitely had fairly amazing stuff.
Our lunch from Red Fish Blue Fish
Parliament of BC
The Inner Harbour
It got gloomy again fairly quickly after that, though it stayed dry while we wandered around the city, and into the night, where I got a shot of the brilliantly lit up Parliament of BC.
Parliament of BC, all lit up at night
We concluded our visit early the next morning, heading back to the mainland on the ferry. Clearer weather on this return journey provided very different, but equally amazing views.
Good weather on the return to mainland
Due to our limited time, and my lack of knowledge about the rest of the island, we only visited this tiny corner of Vancouver Island (which is actually fairly large). There was already quite a bit to see though, even on our whirlwind tour of Victoria. If I had the chance to return to this part of Canada, I'd love to have a look around the rest of Vancouver Island.
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Till the next time, when we head into the mountains.
Raylen