Nova Scotia

Monday 1 Oct

Breakfast was made by our host of the B&B, he is a retired chef (he was the executive chef at the Chateau the Fairmont Le Frontenac in Quebec) and breakfast was delicious.

We made our way to Halifax with a few stops along the way for a coffee and lunch. We also stopped at a winery but this was closed, Canada also celebrate labour day on the first Monday of October so many business were shut. However we did have fun with sitting in their oversized garden chairs.

Tuesday 2 Oct Halifax

We got on the road early (and this time we did not have to pack the car as we will be staying here for 3 nights). Our first stop was Peggy’s Cove Village and Lighthouse and is one of Nova Scotia’s most well-known lighthouses and may be the most photographed in Canada.

There is also a sculpture created by in the late 1970s, William E. deGarthe as a ten-year project to create a “lasting monument to Nova Scotia fishermen” on a 30 m granite outcropping behind his Peggy’s Cove Home. In 1976 deGarthe invited one of his students, J. Rene Barrette (Lt. Col. Retd) to help him with the sculpture. They worked together for 5 years. The project was about 80-per cent complete when the artist died in 1983.

We then walked around the quaint village and noticed several (big) buses arriving while we made our way to see the lighthouse. Well by the time we got there they unloaded 7 buses and the place was crawling with people.

Time to move on to our next stop for the day; Mahone Bay where we had lunch in a restaurant that was recommended to us and came with great reviews.

They had poutine on the menu, poutine is a dish of french fries and cheese curds topped with a brown gravy or in Arno’s case pulled pork. It emerged in Quebec in the late 1950s in the Centre-du-Québec region, though its exact origins are uncertain, and there are several competing claims regarding its invention. For many years, it was used by some to mock Quebec society. Arno saw this before and just wanted to try a local dish. It was good but way too much but he can tick that one from the list. Fair to say Arno only eat about 1/3 of the dish 😊

We were in luck as there was a scarecrow competition in this lovely village. Almost every house or business had a scarecrow or a group of them in their front yard. It was such fun to see all these crafty handiworks.

After Mahone Bay we went to Lunenburg, this is one of only two urban communities in North America designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site. Seventy percent of the original colonial buildings from the 18th and 19th centuries continue to greeted us with their colourful façades.

There are a few churches and the St. John’s Anglican Church was open for a visit. This was the first church established in 1753. It is the second Church of England built in Nova Scotia, and is the second oldest continuous Protestant church in present-day Canada. Early on 1 November 2001, St. John’s church suffered significant damage by fire. It was restored and re-dedicated June 12, 2005. We had another full day with lots of things to see and to do. We had booked a special restaurant and by 10 PM we were all ready for a good sleep.