We’ve spent the last 3 days in Halifax, Nova Scotia, the most easterly point of our Canadian trip. We had a pretty long 4 hour drive from our previous stop in Saint John to get here, but we had 3 full days to look around the area while we were here.

On the way we made a brief stop at Rockwood State Park on the way out of Saint John which was a lovely park with a large lake and some nice spots to walk around. When we arrived at our destination in Halifax we went for a very short wander to a couple of local breweries for a much-needed drink.

Halifax Day 1

The day started quite misty and grey but it was still warm so we walked in to the main downtown area which is about 30 minutes from where we are staying. There’s a long 4km boardwalk which goes right along the harbour, past loads of bars, restaurants, tourist sites and food trucks.

We caught the short 13 minute ferry across the river to the town area of Dartmouth opposite Halifax, which had a small highstreet area and a pretty decent brewery. We mostly got the ferry to have a short trip on the water and to get views of the city as we went there and back.

After we’d finished walking along the harbour we found a nice Irish Pub in town called Durty Nelly’s which had some live Irish music on in the late afternoon.

On the walk back towards home we went through the Halifax Public Gardens which was a nice area in the city with various paths around it, and things to stop and see.

Day 2 Trip to Lunenburg and Oak Island

On our second day we drove about 1 hour to the nearby town of Lunenburg, a picturesque seaside town with coloured buildings and houses and a popular place to visit in the area. It had a small town area to walk around and some nice views across the water.

We then drove to the nearby fishing village of Mahone Bay, another nice little town by the water

From here we had booked to do a boat tour around Mahone Bay to do a tour of Oak Island. You may or may not have heard of this place, but it’s the subject of a long-standing TV show called the Curse of Oak Island. Here’s a very brief summary of the place from Google AI:

Oak Island, located in Nova Scotia, Canada, is famous for its two-century-old mystery surrounding a “Money Pit” rumored to contain buried treasure. Numerous expeditions, including the popular History Channel show “The Curse of Oak Island,” have attempted to uncover the secrets of the island and find the treasure, with theories ranging from pirate gold to Knights Templar artifacts.

Anyway, we had a nice 1.5 hour boat trip around the area, with the guide telling us all about the island (for those who haven’t watched the show or followed the story), and talking about what’s going on there at the moment. It was a nice trip out and I really enjoyed it as a fan of the show/mystery.

Day 3 – Peggy’s Cove and Drinks in the Sun

On our last day in Halifax we drove a short 45 minutes to a very poplar spot called Peggy’s Cove, home of a very famous lighthouse which is the symbol of Nova Scotia. You could walk out to the lighthouse and surrounding coastline on the rocks, and the very small village there offered some very scenic views too

When we got back to Halifax we wandered in to town again, stopping via the Halifax Citadel which is perched on top of the hill overlooking the city. They were offering free entry and guided tours around the site which was interesting, telling us about the history of the area and the various forts and military bases which were built in the area in the 1800’s.

It was a nice sunny and hot day so after this we walked down in to town to try out a couple of the breweries we’d seen earlier in the week, but hadn’t sampled.

We went to Garrison Brewing Co which was down in town by the harbour and had a really good selection of beer, including lots of unusual fruit flavoured IPA’s and interesting options to try. Nearer to home was Good Robot Brewing which had a really nice outdoor beer garden overlooking the park, with loads of seating and an outdoor bar, just what we needed on a hot day!

We are moving on today to our next stop which is in Moncton, New Brunswick. Heading back North a bit now towards Quebec.

Si