Here are some thoughts and highlights from day number three on our vacation:
Victoria charms with it's stunning location
On the southern tip of Vancouver Island, Victoria's location is simply stunning. This British Columbia city of 350,000 sits on a bustling harbor and across the water the snow-covered Olympic Mountains loom in the distance. On a clear day, the range pops off blue sky background and looks so close that you almost feel as if you can reach out and grab the mountain peaks. The city itself is filled with magnificent architecture and blooming gardens.
As the capital of British Columbia, Victoria is most often recognized as North America's most English city with the grand-old Empress Hotel still standing at the foot of the harbor and drawing hundreds every day for a proper tea with crumpets. But this picture-perfect city is far more sparkling, colorful and magical than any city in Great Britain. What's more, many of the touristy pubs and trinket shops selling Union Jack key chains have been replaced by inventive restaurants and hip boutiques. Victoria has grown up and is moving beyond its English roots.
We arrived in Victoria on a bus that dropped us at the Depot in the center of town. Our hotel, the Best Western Plus Inner Harbour, was only a couple blocks away and on our walk we passed the spectacular parliament building (above). Free 30-minute tours of the building are offered daily.
Red Fish Blue Fish dishes up the best food in Victoria
After checking into our hotel, we walked a few blocks to the Visitor Center, right on the harbor, which is a great first stop to learn about popular attractions and sign up for tours. We asked for an affordable, family-friendly restaurant recommendation and the 20-something behind the counter directed us to Red Fish Blue Fish.
Red Fish Blue Fish is an outdoor waterfront eatery dishing up sustainable seafood from a cargo container on a wooden pier that sits on the Inner Harbour. It's a fresh take on the old fish 'n' chips shop. People line up for this food and we waited at least 30 minutes to place our order, and then the food quickly arrived in 15 minutes. A local told me that the line gets far longer when a cruise ship is at the dock.
Here's a look at what we ordered: Grilled local salmon on a bed of salad greens, fish and chips made with halibut, coconut milk clam chowder and tomato gazpacho topped with baby shrimp. Everything was fresh and delicious and honestly it was one of the best meals I've ever had. The sea food was so sweet and juicy and my kids devoured the halibut.
My kids love hotels with swimming pools
After lunch my husband and I wanted to explore the city, but all my kids wanted to do was jump into our hotel swimming pool. Our family likes to stay at Best Western Hotels because 90 percent of the properties have a pool and the Inner Harbour has one of the prettiest pools I've ever seen at a Best Western. The tile mosaic pool sits next too a grassy lawn encircled by blooming flowers.
The lawn of the Empress Hotel is a nice place to hang out
Built in 1908, the Empress Hotel is a Victoria landmark sitting, perfectly centered, on the harbor. Tourists gather on its large grassy lawn and watch the water taxis buzz about the harbor, the sea planes land and the horse-drawn carriages pass by. Our family plunked ourselves down in the well-groomed grass and enjoyed the Canadian sunshine.
Traveling with a baby, we've found that it's important to slow down. We've realized that in order to experience a new city, we don't have to move around from place to place, from attraction to attraction. We also see a lot when we just stay put and watch the city go by. On this afternoon, the Empress was hosting a high school prom so we had fun picking out our favorite dresses.
We also had a lot of fun watching baby Julia crawl around around and make adorable faces.
The Royal BC Museum is worth visiting
The Royal BC Museum is recognized as the best museum in British Columbia and presents the natural and human history of the area through three different galleries, natural history, first peoples, and modern history. The exhibits are outstanding and my son especially enjoying the modern history portion where you can walk through a re-creation of a Gold Rush town. You can enter into the homes, the livery, the hotel and all the little shops and even walk up and down the stairs. It's easy to get lost and my son was fascinated by these exhibits showing how people lived in the 1800s.
We were also lucky to visit during the Vikings exhibit, a special traveling show featuring artifacts leaving Sweden for the first time ever. My son had the most fun in the gift shop where he could dress up like a viking and hold a sword and shield.
Pig BBQ Joint serves juicy pulled pork and crispy fried chicken
This Southern-style restaurant offers comfort food such as crispy fried chicken, ribs slathered in sweet and tangy barbecue sauce and thick slices of cornbread. The prices are affordable; a family of four can easily eat for under $30. We placed a to-go order and had a picnic back at our hotel room.
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