5/30/22

Victoria, BC

It was a real treat to be able to visit Victoria, BC Canada on this cruise.  When we went to Alaska in October the Canadian borders were not allowing in visitors.  We were lucky enough to cruise again so soon that we could once again get into Victoria.  It was 12 years ago that Kenyon and I visited during or very first cruise…Alaska.

 


Much like Ketchikan, the plan was to set out on foot exploring with a few planned stops.  The first item on the list was getting a Canada Starbucks mug for my collection.

 


Once we had that we were on the hunt for Diet Dr. Pepper for Kenyon.  That proved to be a much harder task but eventually we found some.  With a happy Kenyon in toe, we continued to the Bon Macaron Patisserie for some fresh made macrons.  It was so hard to pick one or two flavors that I settled for a 12-variety pack.  I had no idea there were both sweet and savory macrons.  Each one was delicious.

 


Next stop was The Sticky Wicket Bar & Restaurant for a local pint.  I had hoped to get a beer flight, but they didn’t have flights.  I wished I had stopped at another brewery as we spotted several in town.  Next time for sure.

 


We walked by the Parliament Building were we saw some deer on the lawn and then down by the waterfront in front of the historic Empress Hotel.  We spotted the water taxi which I had planned to take to Fisherman’s Warf if we ended up not taking the hop on/hop off bus.  The water taxi was so fun.

 



I couldn’t wait to visit Fisherman’s Warf, a community of float houses.  Wouldn’t it be amazing to live in one of these houses?  Post-COVID, they no longer allow you to walk in/around the homes which is a bummer as I’d love to get up close.  Don’t worry, I wouldn’t peek in windows…although tempting.

 


We were able to enjoy a special treat when we walked to the end of the dock and found some of our cruise passengers, I’d met a dinner the night before feeling the harbor seals.  We were chatting with the fisherman that dock there and said the seals have been coming around for years.  It ended up there were three of them.  What a neat experience.

 



We had some time to kill and had hoped to see some float planes take off/land so I grabbed another local beer at Pirate Pizza where we could sit out on the patio and people watch.  We had THE BEST weather and even got sunburned!

 



After spending enough time people watching, we hailed the water taxi back to the other side of the water and continued on foot to Old Spaghetti Factory.  We don’t have one in Boise anymore and enjoy having a bite to eat when we find one.  This particular establishment was not the same as the others we have come to know and love.  Don’t worry, I still got my spumoni ice cream!

 


We made the long trek back to the ship ending our day with 7.5 miles walked.  Victoria is a very large city and we only saw a fraction of it.  I would love to go back as there is just so much to do and see.  We were also lucky to have all day in port.  When we were at dinner, two Carnival ships pulled into dock around 8pm and stayed until midnight.  I would have been so bummed to be there for only a few hours and in the dark and cold.  We really did get the best experience.

 

If you’d like to read about our other adventures:

Read about NCL Sun here ß

Read about Ketchikan, Alaska here ß

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