The Villages of Victoria

The Villages of Victoria

Many visitors are not aware that the City of Victoria is comprised of several neighbourhoods, which have come to be known as local villages. This is not to be confused with the various municipalities, such as Oak Bay, Esquimalt, Saanich that make up the area known as Greater Victoria.

Each of these Victoria neighbourhoods has it’s own distinct character and it’s own vibrant community associations, which fiercely protect the heritage and future of the community.

While you’re visiting Victoria, it’s worth getting away from the usual downtown tourist sites to visit these special little places, tucked away in various corners of the City.

Fernwood, which is the oldest neighbourhood in Victoria, was once the main source of water for the City. The fresh water was pumped up from a series of underground aquifers. Today the Fernwood village square is filled with activities, local markets and festivals and is surrounded by coffee shops, restaurants and a local pub. Probably the best-known landmark in Fernwood is the internationally renowned Belfry Theatre. For more information click on the following link.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fernwood_(Greater_Victoria)

Another neighbourhood, which has recently “risen from the ashes” is the Quadra Street Village, once a forgotten cluster of small retail shops, it is now a thriving retail area with shops, restaurants, a movie theatre and its very own supermarket. Visit the Quadra Street village by clicking on the following link.

http://www.darrenduncan.net/archived_web_work/voices/voices_v1_n3/cultural_corners.html

The Cook Street Village might be described as the Grand Dame of Victoria neighbourhoods, having always maintained a strong presence in the community. Cook Street, which runs through the village, is lined with beautiful heritage trees and there’s always a feeling that “something’s happening” when you walk past the coffee shops, markets, local wine store and the local pub. Find our more about the Cook Street Village by clicking on the following link.

http://cookstreetvillage.ca/photos.php

James Bay might be known as “the seaside village” of Victoria. Nestled adjacent to the nautical gateway into Victoria’s Inner Harbour and tucked away behind the Provincial Legislative Buildings, James Bay feels more like a fishing village, with its well-known Fisherman’s Wharf and proximity to the ocean. More information about James Bay can be found by clicking on the following link

http://www.jbna.org/aboutjb.htm

So when you visit Victoria be sure to spend a day roaming around our villages and experience what most visitors miss, a true feeling of “community” and a shared sense of the heritage of The City of Gardens.

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Swiftsure 2009 Sets Sail

Swiftsure 2009 Sets Sail May 22 and  here’s what’s being said on the Swiftsure web site about this years race.

Rugged, exacting, colourful and international in competition. Or a boring "Driftsure", sometimes accompanied by fog and drizzle. Every year, the Swiftsure International Yacht Race is a major community event – the premiere long distance sailing race in the B.C. and US Pacific Northwest area and a festival on shore. It is a race in which cruising yachts capable of adventure in exposed waters are encouraged to compete and crews to test their skills.
Swiftsure has drawn boats and sailors from California, Hawaii, New Zealand and even Russia. The nature of the course and the potential variety of sailing conditions provide an exacting review of good seamanship. Swiftsure is now actually six different races over four separate courses, plus the unofficial "Sookesure" start. Therefore, it offers wide appeal to the experienced amateur sailor who takes pride in his or her boat, big or small. The skipper and crew must be willing to test their collective knowledge and sailing experience to maximize their overall performance.
The races may look glamorous, especially if there is a downwind spinnaker start, but the Swiftsure International Yacht Race demands a combination of a great deal of hard work, and a bit of luck. One needs endurance but strategy is also a major factor. Yacht racing is not only about going as fast as possible; it also requires much thought about how to take the most advantageous course, given the wind and the tides, and lots of concentration, especially in light airs and at night. The winners in each race are often the skippers who guessed best where to sail in order to pick up the most useful winds.
Size is not always the most important factor. In theory, the longer the boat, the faster it can go. The biggest boats may often be the first to finish (and are awarded "line honours" trophies to recognize this accomplishment).
The overall winners, however, are based on corrected time, after applying a handicap system. In this way, the races are really contests between teams of competing skippers and crews.
Swiftsure has and will continue to evolve, in response to changes in yacht design, technology and the preferences of the sailing community. Backed by area municipalities, businesses, residents and a strong volunteer team, theSwiftsure International Yacht Race will be a Victoria-based festival and celebration of sailing for years to come.

For more information you can visit their web site http://www.swiftsure.org/

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Royal BC Museum Hosts a World of History

It’s been years in the making. (About 1.5 million, in fact.) But it’s finally on its way: from May 1 to September 30, 2009, the Royal BC Museum is proud to present the North American premiere of Treasures: The World’s Cultures from the British Museum.

Spanning the globe across hundreds of thousands of years of cultural evolution, Treasures brings to the viewing public more than 300 distinctive artifacts from the collection of the British Museum. 
 
“This exhibition explores nations and civilizations that have shaped our world for almost 1.5 million years,” says Royal BC Museum CEO Pauline Rafferty. From million-year-old handaxes found in Africa’s Olduvai Gorge, to a 3,000-year-old mummy, to a throne built of decommissioned weapons from Mozambique’s late-20th century civil war, the British Museum has brought together in Treasures some of the most poignant artifacts of material culture to share with visitors to the Royal BC Museum.

Treasures: The World’s Cultures from the British Museum is the second collaborative project between the Royal BC Museum and the British Museum. In 2004, the Royal BC Museum attracted international audiences with Eternal Egypt, which to this day remains one of the museum’s most popular exhibitions.

For more information click on the link below:

Royal BC Museum web site

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Victoria Garden Tours

Travel BC has recently come up with a wonderful web site that allows visitors to plan out their own tours of Victoria’s beautiful gardens.

Simply by visiting their web site

you will find a wealth of information about our gardens and you can plan your visits so that you can make the best of your time and resources while you’re there.

There are many gardens in Victoria and, in fact, all over Vancouver Island that many visitors, even ardent garden enthusiasts, often miss or do not even know of, so this site is  an excellent tool to assist garden fans.

High Tea at the White Heather Tea Room

High tea is one of those traditions that is often pursued by those who visit Victoria, BC and we’ve discovered one tea room that, in our opinion, excels in offering what we believe to be the best traditional English High Tea in the city.

The White Heather Tea Room, located at 1885 Oak Bay Avenue is a charmingingly authentic tea room operated by genial proprietor Agnes Campbell. It may seem a bit "odd" that the proprietor, the name of the tea room and many of the menu items are distinctly Scottish in nature, but I can assure you that the high tea is as good as any I’ve had when visiting England.

Agnes has chosen to offer three options for tea lovers, one being the "Wee Tea", the next being the "Not So Wee Tea" and the final on being the "Big Muckle Giant Tea" (you’ll have to visit their web site
in order to find out where the Big Muckle name comes from).

We had the Big Muckle Giant Tea when we dined out there and it was a sumptious affair, served up on a three level serving platter complete with scones, clotted cream, jam, sandwiches and savoury and sweet tarts. Each of us were able to select a pot of our own favourite tea, I chose the black Assam while Trish chose a delicious house blend.

All in all we thoroughly enjoyed our afternoon repast and left the tea room feeling well "sufonsified". The price was easy on our pocketbook too, just $40 for the two of us (plus tip).

A final tip, be sure to phone ahead for reservations 250-595-8020 as this is a highly popular, and busy, place.

Cole Island-A Jewel In Victoria’s Crown

A little-known island, located in Esquimalt Harbour, Cole Island holds the potential for fast becoming one of the Capital Region’s best-loved tourism sites. But first, much work has to be done to protect this valuable part of Victoria’s history.

Cole Island is a short sail, paddle or motorboat ride from Esquimalt Harbour and can be reached very easily within a matter of minutes. Once there, visitors will discover a small, but beautiful jewel where Arbutus and Fir trees shade historic buildings that date back to the 1880’s.

When the Royal Navy first repositioned their Pacific Fleet from Valpariso, Chile to Victoria they began construction of an ammunition storage depot on Cole Island, which eventually grew to 17 buildings and a docking facility.

Unfortunately, over the years, the island has fallen into decline as there has been no definitive government or other oversight organization to monitor and protect the safety and well-being of the island.

Now, a group known as “The Friends of Cole Island” is working hard to protect this valuable tourist resource from the ravages of vandals and time and finally achieving something that can only be done when visitors, residents and various levels of government all pull together in the interests of rehabilitating this historically significant island.

For more information about Cole Island visit the web site at  http://www.members.shaw.ca/cole_island/index.htm or read more about the island in an article contained on the Colonial History of Vancouver Island web site http://www.maureenduffus.com/cole-island.html

Victoria Harbour Ferry Gorge Tour

             

One of my favourite cruises is to tak the 45-minute tour along the Gorge Waterway on board on of Victoria’s Harbour Ferries.

It’s a relaxing experience that takes you past historic homes, shipyards, and a variety of sea life. Step

Their Gorge Waterway Tour is a 45-minute marine adventure that takes you past the Selkirk Waterfront and deep into the Gorge Waterway. This is a part of Victoria that many visitors overlook.

The tour sets sail from Victoria’s Inner Harbour and takes you past stately, historical buildings, a working shipyard, while cruising under bridges and railway trestles and past tranquil residential areas, to the world-famous "Reversing Falls" before returning to the Harbour.

It’s a worthwhile experience that many visitors (and local area residents) never experience but, in my opinion, it’s a great way to see a part of Victoria that can never be seen from a land-based perspective.

If you’d like more information on the Victoria Harbour Ferries and the tours they offer you can visit the Victoria Harbour Ferry Web Site

 

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Conde Nast Traveller Picks Victoria

I knew that it was only a matter of time before this happened. In the 2008 "Reader’s Choice Awards" Conde Nast Traveller magazine has named Victoria as the third best city to visit in the Americas (tied with Quebec City). In the same poll

Vancouver Island has been named as the top island to visit in the Americas.

If you haven’t been here before now’s the time to come and find out why people just love our part of the world.

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Vancouver Island Blues Bash

 

August 29- Sept 1, the Canadian Labour Day weekend festival brings a celebration of blues and R & B music  to Victoria with free afternoon and ticketed evening performances featuring over 14l bands over the three afternoons and three evenings.

 

The main outdoor stage is located at  Ships Point on Victoria’s Inner Harbour with a variety of other venues used for late night entertainment.

For more Information contact: (250) 388-4423 or visit http://www.jazzvictoria.ca

 

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Goldstream Park

One of my favourite spots to visit at almost any time of the year is Goldstream Park, a 388 hectare area located 16 km northwest of Victoria.

The area of the park was given to the people of British Columbia by the Greater Victoria Water Board in 1958. Additional lands were designated in 1994 and 1996 through the Commonwealth Nature Legacy and Crown Land additions.

The flora and fauna diversity within the area makes Goldstream Provincial Park a marvel of nature. With two distinct vegetation zones, the park offers views of 600-year-old Douglas-fir and western red cedar as well the arbutus tree, found exclusively on Vancouver Island and the southwest coast of BC. Goldstream River, site of an annual Chum salmon spawning run, also adds to the park’s natural values. Flowers, trees and shrubs are part of the park’s natural heritage, please don’t damage or remove them.

From late October through December of each year, the Goldstream River is the scene of one of nature’s spectacles as chum, coho and chinook salmon enter the river via Finlayson Arm from the Pacific Ocean. Three to four years previously, these same salmon were born here before traveling to the sea to grow and mature. Their return to spawn and die in their ancestral spawning beds is fascinating and the Freeman King Visitor Centre features special programs to help visitors appreciate this miraculous event.

The Goldstream River estuary is closed to the public (including all boaters). This closure has resulted in a resurgence of wildlife using the estuary throughout the year. Due to the closure, once rarely seen bald eagles now abound during the salmon run and nest during the summer. Park users should always be aware of bears and other wildlife in our park environment. Never feed or approach bears or other wildlife.


Goldstream is located on traditional fishing grounds of local First Nations. Old mining shafts and tunnels are all that remains of the gold rush that Goldstream River experienced during the mid-19th century.

To reach the park, follow the Trans Canada Highway #1 northwest, about 16 km from Victoria. Just before the highway winds down the hill into the park area look for the Ice Cream Mountain take-out restaurant on the right hand side of the highway. Keep going on down the hill about another 2 km and you will see the entrance to the park on the right hand side of the highway at the junction of Hwy 1 and Finlayson Arm Road.

Please note: Take extreme care when exiting the park as the highway can be busy and you need to cross over it to get into the south-bound lane. There is usually a constant stream of traffic so you will have to wait for a break and then make a quick exit across the road.

 

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