Category: Countries

A discerning guide to traveling close to home: Seeing Nova Scotia through new eyes

The iconic Peggy’s Cove lighthouse – with the Sou’wester Restaurant to the left.

How far away from home do you have to go before it counts as ‘traveling’?  Indeed, what are a couple of discerning (and inveterate) travelers to do when stuck in their offices, chained to their desks  for a few months with only the smallest of travel lights at the end of a seemingly endless tunnel?  We think that if they are true travelers, they can hop into the car, crank up the satellite radio and set out on a day trip that would make even the most jaded armchair traveler green with envy.  So, that’s what we did last week.

Striking out on the east coast of Canada is a no-brainer ; there are so many things to see and experience.

Sometimes we book a room at our favorite waterfront hotel downtown and spend a Saturday night pretending we’re tourists in our home town.  We have dinner, walk along the beautifully restored Halifax boardwalk and relish sleeping in and having breakfast served to us in the dining room with a front-row seat on the harbor.  Well, that’s for next week on Art’s birthday.  Last week, we set out around St. Margaret’s Bay, the home of Peggy’s Cove, and then around to Mahone Bay.

An iconic fishing village, Peggy’s Cove seems to be a tourist must-see in this part of the world.  The truth is that there are many just as charming fishing villages dotted along the Atlantic shoreline of Nova Scotia.  But Peggy’s Cove, at the entrance to St. Margaret’s Bay is synonymous with Maritime culture it seems.  It’s actually only a ten-minute drive from where we live, so we like to take a Sunday noon-hour drive there to sit at the Sou’wester Restaurant to indulge in fish and chips about twice a year.

The actual cove that put the ‘cove’ in Peggy’s Cove!

(We can’t justify following this lunch with their gingerbread – but you should try it!)In the fall, this part of Canada is subject to the ravages of hurricanes that make their way up the eastern seaboard of the United States.  This means that the day after a hurricane is the best time to sit and watch the grandeur of Mother Nature as she pounds the waves against the shoreline making mountains of foaming surf.

The other direction out our driveway takes us to Mahone Bay.  Larger than St. Margaret’s Bay, Mahone Bay is home to dozens of little islands, making it a haven for sail boats and small yachts.  We love to drive along, finding wonderful little places to lunch; and although we’re not ‘antiquers’ (as we’ve taken pains to mention before), we can still tell you that if you are, then you’re in luck because antique shops are dotted along the shoreline in many of the villages we pass through.

Where the Discerning Travelers day-trip.

Last weekend we were delighted to find a favorite restaurant had reopened.  Closed for some three or so years, The Galley, located at South Shore Marine, has reopened for business.  We did a U-turn in the middle of the road when we spied the ‘open’ sign so that we could once again sit in a window seat over the marina and watch the sailboats rocking in the breeze.  It’s a good thing that we didn’t have any hard and fast plans or we would have missed the best lobster rolls ever.  After lunch we continued on to our destination: the local nursery that stocks the best annuals and perennials in the area.  After a bit of shopping, we made our way home, happy in the knowledge that in spite of our currently busy schedules, we could find a short trip to take us away from our own yard.

A beautiful summer day on Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia

So, if you can only venture out for a day, here are our favorite tips for discerning travel in your own neck of the woods:

  • Don’t plan or at least don’t over-plan.  Although this is counter-intuitive to the discerning travel mantra, these kinds of trips are better left a bit loose.  We would have missed eating at The Galley last weekend if we had followed through on our loose plan to eat at the Seaside Shanty and Chowder House (which is kitschy and quaint).
  • Try something new.  This is your chance to turn down a road less traveled, a road that you’ve always wondered about.  Just go.
  • Take photos.   We’ve mentioned before that seeing the world through the lens of your camera might not make for the best experience of a place.  The truth is, though, that we often don’t take photos close to home.  This is a chance to turn this on its head: take photos of the things that you thought you knew.  Later, when you look at them, you just might see more-or-less familiar places from a different point of view.

Oh…and if you are actually planning a trip to the east coast of Canada (or will stop in on a cruise of New England and eastern Canada) we have a few suggestions for discerning travelers.  Here are a few of our favorites in and around the city.

Part of the Halifax weterfront

Favorite Restaurants: Il Mercato for chicken-filled ravioli and the best pizza anywhere, Da Maurizio for fine Northern Italian, The Five Fishermen for Nova Scotia seafood, The Bicycle Thief because it has the best harbor-front location.

Favorite Photo Ops: The Halifax Public Gardens, Citadel Hill, the Halifax-Dartmouth ferry from the middle of the harbor, Historic Properties, the Peggy’s Cove lighthouse (45 minutes from downtown)

Favorite Shopping Spots: Park Lane on Spring Garden Road (best shoe store in the city, ladies), Spring Garden Road in general (just stroll along).

But please remember: if you rent a car and take that day trip to Peggy’s Cove, remember that many of us live there and like to get where we’re going.  If you want to take in the views, please pull over!

Photo credit:

Halifax waterfront:  http://www.ecslcanada.com/UserFiles/Image/Halifax%20Images/Ship.jpg

Return to San Juan: Vintage jewelry shopping

The view from our room at the La Concha Renaissance in San Juan, Puerto Rico

It’s been a very long time since we bought anything that could be remotely associated with the term  “souvenir” when we’re traveling.  In the early years we’d bring home the odd T-shirt, or even a mug.  We usually eschewed all those bits of knick-knacks that are always on offer no matter where you’re traveling.  Even in cities like New York, look hard enough and you’ll find city memorabilia.  Just take a walk down Yonge Street in Toronto and you’ll be assailed with all manner of flags, sweatshirts and crystal reproductions of the CN Tower.

But not for us.  Travel shopping has taken on a whole new meaning.

The pleasures of consignment shopping on vacation are legion.  And although we’re not vintage people (the only antiques you’ll find in our home are a gramophone Art inherited from his parents and an antique organ left to our son Ian by his grand-father that we’re housing until he puts down permanent roots or we sell it: whichever comes first).  We like to be surrounded by new.  But that doesn’t necessarily extend to everything in our lives.  Case in point: our recent trip to Puerto Rico.

Ramón López – the unassuming store front

It all started two years ago when we spent a few days in San Juan en route to a southern Caribbean cruise.  We had been in San Juan only once before – and only for one day.  We had not been impressed.  This time, however, we decided to give it a try.  We discovered a city and an island that has the best of the old and the new.  With miles of pristine beaches to walk, rain forests to explore and shops to discover, we were in heaven.  On our last day in old San Juan as we wandered among the cobble-stoned streets lined with restored 400-year-old Spanish style buildings, we stumbled upon a small shop whose windows were filled with the most extraordinary jewelry we’d ever seen.  Although we had already done our requisite vacation shopping (and had reached our customs limit which we will never exceed since we value our Nexus cards), we knew that we were window shopping only.  We entered.

We chatted with the proprietor who knew that we were not buying, but that didn’t matter to him.  He was delighted to show us anything and everything.  Every necklace he put around Patty’s neck, every pair of shirt studs he showed Art all had a story.  And these were stories we vowed we would return to hear more about.  So, last month we were true to our word, and the shop was our first stop in old San Juan.

Patty examines the pieces with proprietor, Ramón López

With an unassuming exterior, Ramón López’s shop on calle Fortaleza is a treasure trove of history and beauty.  And the proprietor himself, who next year will celebrate 50 years in business in this exact location, is a true gentleman, proud of his work and clearly possessed of an extraordinary eye for quality pieces.

Sr. López is a well-known figure in the vintage jewelry business, having been featured in magazine articles over the course of his storied career.  His pieces are acquired mostly from direct purchases from Puerto Rican estates.  As we tried on piece after piece, we were swept back to a time in San Juan’s history when the grand ladies would alight from carriages and make their way to the Teatro Tapia, built in 1832, now one of the oldest theaters in the western hemisphere.  Their ball gowns would be exquisitely complemented by the necklaces adorning their throats and the bracelets dripping from their wrists.  And now those pieces are in the cases at Ramón López Vintage and Estate Jeweler.

As Sr. López offered piece after piece of jewelry for us to try, Art commented that he had remarkable sales skills.

The display cases were filled with thousands of pieces of jewelry from Puerto Rican estates.

“No,” he said shaking his head, “There is no need when you have the merchandise.”  With that he clasped another bracelet onto Patty’s wrist.  So right he is!

Before we left, he shared with us several photos of his children – one a lawyer, the other a medical student – and introduced us to his wife, a lawyer, who looks after the business end of things now.  We waved good-bye as we assured him we’d be back – then we emerged back into the brilliant sunshine of old San Juan.

Oh, did we buy anything?  But of course!

Ramón López featured several years ago in a magazine spread

Ramón López is located in old San Juan at 256 Fortaleza. 

Return to Èze: Revisiting memories in the south of France

Champagne on the terrace at Le Château de la chèvre d’or, Èze, France

It was our twentieth wedding anniversary and our Mediterranean cruise was set to take us along the French Rivièra.  Art had been there before, but it was Patty’s first visit, and he wanted to make it special by taking her to a magical place he knew that she’d enjoy.  His destination: Èze, a medieval hilltop town overlooking the azure waters of the Mediterranean, and more specifically Le Château de la chèvre d’or, a Relais and Chateaux property with a spectacular terrace boasting two Michelin stars.

Our young driver Caroline dropped us at the cobble-stoned entrance to the city where we’d begin our climb, on foot, to the top.  We often walk through these destinations where the history oozes from the walls and ponder what life might have been like in the fourteenth century in a village that actually dates to 2000 BC!  Sometimes it’s hard to summon the feeling, but not in Èze.  Every step took us back another century to the fourteenth century when the first buildings that are still there today were built.  At just over 1400 feet elevation, the hilltop village is crowned by an exotic garden that we visited before our lunch at the chateau.

That lunch began with the waiter asking us if we’d like to begin with champagne.  But of course!  So he wheeled over the champagne trolley and asked us which would be our pleasure.  We chose, we drank (in their bespoke crystal champagne glasses with stems shaped like goats – in case you missed it, the French word chèvre means goat, and chèvre d’or means golden goat), we enjoyed, and we nearly swallowed our tongues when we realized at the end of our lunch that the two glasses of champagne had cost more than the rest of the lunch – including wine – all together.  But we laughed.  It was worth it for the experience.

Then it was wonderful to share Eze with son, Ian.

So we savored every moment, thinking that we’d never return.  We lived in the moment taking in all the sights, sounds and tastes.  Then, our son moved to France at the age of 21.  He moved to southern France.  He moved to Beausoliel so he could work in Monaco.  And we visited him.  And we took him to Èze to experience the village.  And to lunch.

Our experience the second and third times were just as magical, but we learned one very important lesson through this: make every travel moment count.  Feel the experiences in the present moment and just really be there.  Step away from looking at everything through your camera lens for a while and really make a point of remembering.  It might just be the only time that you’ll have that experience.  And it will stay with you to take out and think about any time you like in the future.

If you have five mnutes, come to Èze with us…

Halifax, Nova Scotia: Remembering the lost Titanic souls

Titanic Deck Chair by Laurie Mireau.

Our little hometown city of Halifax Nova Scotia is marking the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic this weekend because Halifax, Nova Scotia is home to the graves of more Titanic victims than any other site in the world.

We love our city for the little gem that it is — and promise to write a guide to visiting it some time before the summer tourist season starts.  there is much to lure the discerning traveler and we do so love to play tourist in our own city from time to time.  Today, however, we thought we’d share with you a remembrance.

On our office wall just to the left of the desk hangs a beautiful watercolor that captured Patty one day when she saw it in a brochure for a local artist.  Finding Laurie Mireau in her Halifax studio, Patty was delighted to find that she still had the original of her painting of a deck chair from the Titanic, one of which is housed in the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic.

For us, the image is evocative of so many wonderful hours spent on ships at sea.  Hope you enjoy it as much as we do.  Laurie still has prints!