“Steeped in English Tradition and Colourful Charm” is how our Port Guide describes this little city that sits on Vancouver Island.
Just a hop, skip and a jump away from Vancouver, I am sure that last night Captain Riky sailed out, found a vacant piece of ocean, turned off the engines, sent everyone home and turned the lights out on the bridge and left us to drift till morning.
The area around the port gave no indication of the beauty Victoria had in store for us. Our tour today had to be cut short by an hour, as the “all on board” time had been brought forward. This was to enable us to arrive in our next port on time. We had been informed that due to generator repairs we were going to spend an extra night in San Fran, miss San Diego, and pick up an extra Hawaiian Port, Kauai.
There were seventeen of us today, so you can imagine our excitement when we were ushered into a 50 seater coach. Lovely, clean and spacious we could all spread out.
We started with a city tour, but unfortunately most of those photo’s ended up in the trash can; photo’s out of a bus window don’t always work, which will be evident in some of the pictures I just didn’t have the heart to delete.
They say Victoria is the most “British” city in all of Canada. Being the Capital of British Columbia I found it to be a mix of New England with a hint of Southern Highlands. If Vancouver is the “City of Glass” then Victoria is the “City of Gardens”, as no matter what the season, Victoria is always in bloom.
Within the city, colourful hanging baskets hung from each lamp post, a tradition that occurs each spring. We drove past the iconic Empress Hotel, famous for its High Tea. We passed the magnificent Legislative Buildings so grand you could be anywhere in Europe.
Craigdarroch Castle was built in the 1890’s by the Dunsmuir Family. Robert Dunsmuir travelled from Scotland to seek his fortune in the coal mines. Like most immigrants he started at the bottom, earning a measly $5 per week. Eventually granted the right to mine independently, he struck it rich when he discovered the largest seam of coal in Vancouver Island.
Wanting to build a home to match his wealth, construction started on this beautiful castle. Tragically he passed away before it was finally completed. His family lived there up until his wife’s death, where after that his daughters moved out as the cost to maintain it was too high.
Since then it had been used as a hospital and a college and now it has been restored to its former glory and is known as the Craigdarrock Castle Historical Museum.
Making our way up four floors, weaving our way in and out of each room admiring the beautiful stain glass windows, and the rich timber panelling that adorn the walls and ceilings. Some of the original furnishings and artwork have been returned and each room has been masterfully decorated to depict how it used to be.
Our driver then drove us around some of Victoria’s more affluent areas, with many homes built with that New England feel with beautifully landscaped yards and cottage gardens.
Speaking of gardens, today’s highlight was Victoria’s famous Butchart Gardens (Butchart pronounced like Butcher). What started out as a worked-out limestone quarry, Jennie Butchart set about beautifying the estate by creating these magnificent gardens.
The sunken garden being the most famous was once a very large pit. On entering, you look down to a stunning view of the masses of colour of the carefully planned garden. Following the zig zag staircase down, you continue along the path and around the pond with a surprise at every turn.
There are gardens to suit every taste including Japanese, Rose, Italian and Mediterranean. Many of the unique and exotic plants were collected by the Butchart’s during their world travels. Robert Butchart loved collecting birds, and was very proud of his pair of Woodland Ducks brought in from Germany. Whilst abroad he received word that both ducks had died after being attacked by an eagle. Since he was in Europe he insisted that they travel to Germany to replace the ducks.
Jennie was not happy as this meant they would miss their steamship back home. They would have to wait another two weeks for the next one. On Robert’s insistence they went to Germany, purchased and arranged for the ducks to be shipped home. Racing back to England, lo and behold they missed the boat by two days…
As I always say, things happen for a reason, and what was this reason?....... The boat they missed was the TITANIC!! ……. Believe it or not!!
Part of our tour of the gardens included a Tea on the knee. A take on a traditional High Tea with a box full of yummy delights, where you could find yourself a lovely spot in the gardens to enjoy it.
One last stop, where we had the choice of winery or butterfly farm!!! After dropping five at the Butterfly farm the other 12 Wino’s enjoyed the winery.
With our day finally over, we headed back to the ship in time for our 3pm sail away. With nearly everyone on board, one poor passenger was left behind. With many different shipboard whispers on what happened, we did hear that the very elderly gentleman did make it back on the ship in San Francisco. The best rumour: he was actually left behind by a Princess Tour!!
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