Getting there...

The Spirit of British Columbia ferry enters Active Pass in  the Gulf Islands on her way from Tswwassen to Swartz Bay.
One of the best things about getting to Victoria is the ferry ride.  It can also be one of the worst.  You need to be aware of the potential for long waits on summer weekends, but with a little planning it's a great 1 hour and 35 minute ride.  You can catch a bus from downtown Vancouver and it'll take you right to downtown Victoria, or you can drive to the ferry terminal in Tswwassen and drive in Victoria from the terminal on Vancouver Island at Swartz Bay.
A sailboat motors between some of the  Gulf Islands.	Some of the beautiful Gulf Island homes you'll see on the ferry ride.
There is nothing to compare with being on a ferry cruising through the Gulf Islands in the summer with the sea breeze smacking you in the face and blowing your hair all around as the sun shines down and warms you.  Sheer bliss.  So relax, enjoy the ride and the beautiful scenery around you as you make your way to the Island.  This is also another good opportunity for people watching.  Oh, and avoid the ferry food.

Victoria BC is the capital of the province and a very pretty and quaint city as well.  It is a political town with the provincial legislature prominent at the harbour, and also hosts a University campus -- the University of Victoria, so there are lots of interesting people here.  The city is small enough to be easily navigable and large enough to boast lots of theatre, a Symphony and a really good museum, The Royal British Columbia Museum and has a small town feel without being small.  It's reputation is for being more British than the British themselves, and is illustrated by tea at the empress and the double-decker tour busses.  Lynda lived here for 9 years and Joe for 3.  It also has all the good weather that Vancouver has, with less rain, making for a very nice climate.
The Empress Hotel on the harbour in Victoria is a local landmark.	Longhouse and Totem poles outside the Royal BC Museum.
Victoria has lots of attractions for the tourist in us all. Some of the best are the museum and Craigdarroch Castle.  The Museum houses a wonderful collection reflecting British Columbia's history and geography, as well and an interesting exhibit about the ocean which involves taking you to the bottom of the sea.  There are also travelling exhibits: the Leonardo DaVinci exhibit was a huge success in early 1999. Craigdarroch Castle, a little outside the downtown core, was built by a coal baron in 1889 for his wife and is an amazingly beautiful building.  It has had several incarnations since then including the home of Victoria College which became U.Vic.  You can walk there (nothing in Victoria is too far) and pass by "Antique Row" (also known as Fort Street).  You might want to pop into the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, which is along the way on Moss Street.  Some of the other attractions include: Miniature World,The Royal London Wax Museum, the Crystal Gardens and the Pacific Undersea Gardens, although in 9 years of living in Victoria I managed to miss some of those.
Victoria's Crystal Gardens is on Blanshard Street  across from the Victoria Conference Centre.
More interesting is wandering around the Downtown of Victoria.  There is a lot to see in a small area starting with the Inner Harbour which is one of the nicest and most welcoming harbours in all of Canada.  Around the harbour is the provincial Legislative Buildings which offer daily tours in the summer, and tours on Saturdays the rest of the year.  Did you ever wonder how many light bulbs it takes to light up the legislature every night?  You can find out on this tour, as well as why the provincial crest in one window is different from all the others.  After the tour, you may be ready for a little trip around the harbour.  The Harbour Ferries will take you from the inner harbour causeway (below the Empress) to Fisherman's Wharf, or to the seawall around the Songhees development and some other stops.  You can ask where they stop or get the whole tour.  And if you're up early on a Sunday, you really shouldn't miss the Harbour Ferry Ballet -- 9:30 am Sunday mornings in the summer.  One of the furthest stops along the way is at the West Bay Marina in Esquimalt.  You can walk back to downtown from there and it's a very pleasant walk.  Along the way you'll pass Spinnaker's Brew Pub, and it's well worth a stop for some refreshment and food too!
The Johnson Street Bridge (bottom left) And Johnson Street. After some refreshment, you can continue along the sea wall back to Victoria.  You'll pass some condos (quite new and very nice) and a fairly new hotel, Ocean Point Resort from which you can get lovely views of the harbour.  If you continue, you'll pass over the Johnson Street Bridge (the big blue one) and find yourself back in downtown.  Along Johnson are some funky shops: Zydeco has quite a selection of weird and wonderful things and great cards and Off the Cuff has just about any hemp product you could want and fake nose rings as well!  Any teenager would love it.

On the other side of Johnson Street is Market Square which is often the setting for various events in town, Cinqo De Mayo being one of them.  They also host a couple of restaurants -- Cafe Mexico is a terrific one, a night club and various stores, including a holographic gallery and a great Teddy Bear Store: Bear Essentials (where Fudgie was purchased).  Also don't miss the fudge!  After exploring here, a quick jaunt over to Chinatown.  If you exit Market Square at the bottom of the square on Pandora street, you will find Swan's, another pub serving beer brewed on the premises across the street.  After walking up Pandora almost to Government Street, you can  and take Fan Tan Alley into Chinatown.  Pay attention or you might miss it, it is just a little gateway in the wall.  This is one of the few alleys left around Chinatown, at one time they ran all through it.  Shops open off the alley and if you follow it to the other end you will find yourself in Canada's oldest Chinatown.  There are some good shops and food along here as well as galleries.  At the corner of Fisguard Street and Government Street you will find the entrance to Chinatown and the "Gate of Harmonious Interest".  Across the street is a great place for dessert and coffee at 3 am, Quan Valdez.

Entrance to Market Square at the foot of Johnson Street. Lots of great shops, food and events here!

Wandering along Government you will come to the MacPherson Playhouse and up behind it a courtyard by Victoria City Hall.  This is the site of the yearly Folk Festival, which emphasizes some of the traditional backgrounds of Canadians.  You can see East Indian dancing and Irish dancing and hear a Celtic musical group from Newfoundland.  The best part of this is the food -- Joe and I used to call it the Victoria Food Festival -- you can get Indian, Italian, Greek, Native Canadian, Ukrainian and more!  This is on Douglas Street, the main street in town.  If you head back to Government Street, there are lots of tourist shops (how many Christmas stores does one city need?) and great ice-cream too.   If you are coming from anywhere else in the world, Vancouver and Victoria are some of the cheapest places to buy CD's -- stop into A&B Sound on Yates for a deal.  Also in this area are the Eaton's Centre (which caused quite a controversy when it was proposed) and below Fort Street there are lots of interesting shops and streets.  Trounce Alley is one between Broad Street and Government Street with some lovely shops.

Government Street near Johnson.

Munro's Books

Along Government Street you will find Munro's Books, across the street from the Eaton's Centre and the Elephant & Castle Pub, and beside another Victoria treasure, Murchie's Coffee and Tea.  This is a good place to stop and watch a busker (the School of Music at UVic. usually means talented buskers on a sunny summer day) while enjoying a terrific cup of coffee or tea and some yummy bakery items as well.  After your coffee, take a look inside Munro's.  This is a terrific bookstore housed in what used to be a bank!  There is interesting art on the walls and a great selection of local books.  Jim Munro is the owner of this great independent bookstore.  It's a gorgeous building too.

Enjoy a coffee at Murchies!

Continuing along Government Street you will end up back in the touristy area of town.  There used to be some great galleries, including one for Roy Henry Vickers, but most of them are gone and have been replaced by T-shirt shops.  I was really disappointed by this when I was there in Aug. 98, but there are still a few galleries hanging on (one in Bastion Square called the Art Bank still has some nice works -- Keith Hiscock's work is especially beautiful and evocative of the island).  Roger's Chocolate's is also here, and has the most scrumptious "Victoria Creams": cream centres with a chocolate coating.  They are wonderfully decadent and one is usually more than enough.  Another good eatery here is Sam's Deli.

Once you get back to the Inner Harbour, the Information Centre is at the corner of Government and Humboldt.  Below this is the causeway which in the summertime is a centre of activity and buskers.  You can get your portrait done, listen to music, watch painters and pick up a latte.  Also Milestone's restaurant is located at the top of the stairs leading to the lower causeway and has some excellent food and views.

The Venerable Empress Hotel At the top of the causeway is the Empress Hotel.  Long a landmark in Victoria, it was designed by Francis Rattenbury (architect of the Legislative Buildings, the Royal London Wax Museum and the Crystal Garden -- there is a restaurant named after him at the Crystal Gardens) and is one of the CP hotels in Canada. Here you can indulge yourself in "high tea" if you like.  Because the Empress tea is so popular with the tourists, it is expensive and there are several seatings.  For a more realistic tea you might like to go to the Oak Bay Tea Room on Oak Bay Avenue. Oak Bay itself is worth a visit, and you can get there easily by bus.  The Empress Hotel is very old and interesting to explore.  There are some lovely shops with expensive merchandise and the Bengal Room s a great place to go for a drink and a view of the harbour. The hotel also offers a pub and other dining facilities and is attached to the Victoria Conference Centre.  It is here that in the Christmas season you can see Christmas trees decorated by different companies and media entities.  They are there to raise money for charity and incidentally mane a lovely Christmas-time day out.  The Conference Centre is a new building attached to the back of the hotel and contains many shops along Douglas Street.

One Last Thing...

There are many places that I haven't had a chance to mention.  One is the Cook Street village.  It's a very pleasant walk to Beacon Hill Park from downtown and there are wonderful, intriguing homes in this area of town, Fairfield.  On the far side of the park (a really nice day out on it's own) is the Cook Street Village and another great pub.  You can get delicious food here and wander in some of the quaint shops.  Make sure that you go down to the water at the foot of Cook Street -- it's beautiful.

If you get a chance to have Sunday Brunch, try the one at the Laurel Point Inn -- it's the most amazing spread you've seen.

John's Place on Pandora has excellent breakfasts.

Pagliacci's Restaurant on Broad Street serves great food in a crowded and fun atmosphere.  Very trendy, great cheesecake!

Il Terrazzo is the restaurant where Joe and I ate when he proposed (and other times too!).  Great food and a neat patio -- this place can be very romantic...

The George and Dragon pub in Fernwood is a lovely little neighbourhood pub and has Karaoke if you like that, located at Fernwood and Gladstone.  The Belfry Theatre is also in this neighbourhood and produces some quality theatre.  There are a few funky stores in this area, not far from downtown and currently getting revived.

If you get a chance, pick up the latest copy of Monday Magazine.  It always has interesting articles and the latest scoop on what's going on in town.  The Monday Magazine Voice Personals are responsible for at least two happy marriages -- I know the couples personally!

The Inner Harbour and Legislature.  Harbour Ferries will take you from here around the harbour and entertain you summer Sundays.

Victoria Links:
Things to Do and See: Orca Spirit Whale Watching Ocean Explorations Whale Watching Restaurant Reviews Boots 'n' All Victoria Guide Emily Carr House Helmcken House Point Ellice House A Swift Visit to Victoria Alan Walker's Do-It-Yourself Victoria Art Gallery of Greater Victoria The Royal British Columbia Museum Miniature World The Royal London Wax Museum Crystal Gardens Munro's Books Victoria Tourism Mall Bird's Eye View Walking Tours Buchart Gardens Free Activities in Greater Victoria Esquimalt Walk Victoria Salsa Hockey	Victoria Events: Full Listing of Victoria Events Victoria International Blossom Walk Swiftsure Yacht Race JazzFest Harbour Festival
	Miscellaneous Links: Victoria BC CHEK TV -- local TV station Monday Magazine Photos of Victoria Jan's Journey to Victoria The Runker's Victoria Page Capital Regional District Greater Victoria Public Library 1994 Victoria Commonwealth Games       (just because it's such fun to look at        amazingly outdated pages!)

 
 

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