Dec 04, 2008 11:59 PM
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My city, my home: Victoria BC.
best place I have ever lived in. Victoria is situated on Vancouver Island. Yes, an island. It is the capital of British Columbia. The only way to get to victoria is by plane(from anywhere) or by boat(ferry) that run from Seattle, Port angeles, and from 2 spots on the Vancouover coast, tsawassen and horseshoe bay.
Victoria is a small but beautiful city. The adventure begins from the ferry ride, which takes you through numerous islands situated along the west coast of canada. Small island with secluded residences is quite a sight. Make sure your camera has enough juice in it cause you will be taking loads of pictures. Might even see seals or whales, if your lucky. Ferries port at swartz bay(although a lot go to other parts of the island too). Swartz bay is right next to a small town called sidney. Dont get confused with the Sidney Australia cause there are other towns called sidney, 2 that I know of in Canada. Sidney Bc and Sidney, Nova Scotia. Sidney Bc is a retiree's heaven. Walk a few blocks east from any place and you end up at the ocean.
Enter Victoria. When you drive down the highway towards victoria, you are greeted by a huge "welcome to victoria. Home of the Canadian naval fleet" sign carved out of wood. From that sign onwards, you can actually see the Olympic Mountains of Washington US(on a clear day) from the highway. The highway ends downtown victoria which is a shoppers heaven. although downtown is only around 8-10 blocks long, its sufficient for the size of the city. You can basically walk around downtown to all the popular attractions. Walk to the downtown harbor and you can see float planes land/ take-off, boats in the marina. The world renowned Empress Hotel(where the queeen of england apparently stays whenever she is in victoria) is right at the harbor. to the left of the hotel is the parliament building. Next to the Parliament building is the Royal BC Museum, which is a must see.
Across from the parliament is the BC wax Museum, with wax figures of a lot of world famous people. From there, one can get a tour of the city on a horse pulled carriage. Not just any horse, huuge horses that elegantly take you around the city for a tour, in style. One can take whale watching tours from the harbor which take you out on the ocean for whale watching, which is pretty cool.
Go further west from the harbor and you end up at marine drive. this road goes along the water shore of the western tip of the island and lots of view spots to park the car and go sit on big rocks by the water and just take in fresh pacific air.
Another famous attraction are the Butchart Gardens. Although its a little way out the city, but its worth going there. The gardens run a bus service from downtown to- and back for those interested. All the major hotels are in a few blocks vicinity of the harbor. Lots of good restaurants, bars, joints for food and drink(mostly along wharf street that runs along the harbor).
One favourite place of mine, which most tourists/visitors dont knwo about, is Mt. Tolmie. It is close to the university of victoria and can easily be reached by car. You basically drive upto the hill-top(at night), park the car and can view the whole city lit up at night. The view is just amazing. On clear nights, you can even see blinking lights at seattle(its a 20 min boat ride from victoria).
Best time to visit victoria is summer and spring. Really really nice weather and hoards of tourists make their way to victoria from all over the world. Walk around downtown, sit in an open patio of a restaurant, enjoy a cold one in hot sun. Nothing beats that feeling.
In winter and fall, make sure you have a good rain jacket in your wardrobe as it rains quite unexpectedly here(sometimes for days). Does not snow that much(or at all), but it can get cold in winters.
Lots of beaches and lakes to enjoy a perfect summer afternoon and take a dip in the cold water to cool off. Elk lake and Thetis lake are two major one's.
One can also make their way upisland towards nanaimo, port hardy etc. all the towns up island are basically small harbor towns but offer quite retreats for those seeking some quality time with their families. Tofino is a small town upisland( a few hours drive from Victoria) that offers miles of sandy beach, a big spot for surfers. River rafting, tubing, hiking, surfing, camping, fishing, hunting, ATV'ing, just chilling. you name it, Vancouver island will provide.
The only thing that has me worried is the increasing homeless population in victoria. Yes, even though Canada has the highest standard of living in the world, it also has a homeless population to deal with. Due to favourable weather(as compared to other parts of canada), a lot of homeless people make their way to victoria. I've also heard that due to the 2010 winter olympics in Vancouver, Vancouver authorities are trying to control their homeless population by putting their homeless people on a bus to Victoria. If that is true, thats a real shame on Vancouver authorities. And the Victoria City does not seem to be doing anything about it.
