There is another Victoria...in Canada
The capital of British Columbia offers city sophistication on nature’s doorstep.
The capital of British Columbia offers city sophistication on nature’s doorstep and is worth a visit. Here is a guide on where to eat, stay, shop and attractions to see.
1. Take the ferry
It’s winter when I visit the city of Victoria on Vancouver Island and the ferries aren’t operating so I lament the lost whale-spotting potential offered on a ferry commute from Vancouver across the Strait of Georgia. I instead take a 25-minute flight from the mainland, and am rewarded with views of the Salish Sea, treetops reaching up as though to touch me, peaks traced graphite black and snow white against a clear blue sky. Victoria is a 20-minute drive from the airport, through farms and forests admitting brief glimpses of the lakes and inlets for which the island is famed. The city nestles within this verdure, an urban streetscape amid the wild sensibility of the enfolding environment.
2. An historical city by the harbour
“ If you filter out the more modern buildings, you get an idea of what Victoria looked like in the 1860s,” says Michael Conde, captain of the daffodil-yellow “pickle boat” ferrying me on an exploration of the harbour. This is Lekwungen territory, home to the Songhees and Esquimalt Nations (in warmer seasons their stories are told on canoe tours). After European settlement, the shores were linked by bridges and the skyline filled with warehouses, sawmills, shipyards and stately homes – many of which still stand. Today, float planes buzz in and out of what is North America’s oldest water-based airport (passengers can connect from here to the mainland). Seals play in the shallows and seabirds find their own safe landing. “Very occasionally, when the salmon are running,” Conde says, “you’ll see orcas here in the outer harbour.”
3. Where to eat
Victoria is the capital of British Columbia, has Canada’s highest number of restaurants and bars per capita, and its charming harbour provides an appropriate backdrop to brunch at Aura Waterfront Restaurant + Patio. Here, executive chef Ken Nakano Ito subverts the eggs benedict (Aura Benny) with marine elements from distant shores: kimchi hollandaise for the poached eggs, a garnish of seaweed salad and a side of prawn and smoked salmon okonomiyaki. Wash the platter down with the “seamist mermaid’s potion” – mint and sweet lemongrass tea finished with a note of seaweed.
4. Get around on a bike
More residents cycle to work here than in any other Canadian city. It’s also a pleasant way to sightsee. From the seat of my e-bike I admire British Columbia’s parliament building with its crown of verdigris, the bright float homes on the bay at Fisherman’s Wharf, and one of the world’s tallest totem poles – measuring around 40m – in Beacon Hill Park. From the park’s hilltop I can see container ships off Holland Point Park; they’ll be joined by flotillas of cruise ships in the high season. A stop at the Mile Zero Monument recalls the poignant story of young Canadian Terry Fox, who set out to run the length of the Trans-Canada Highway in 1980 to raise money for cancer research after losing a leg to the disease. Fitted with a prosthetic leg, he departed from St Johns, Newfoundland, but was felled by his illness 5373km into the journey. The monument marks the spot where he’d hoped to complete his epic trip, and where others have since paid tribute by succeeding in their own attempts.
5. Where to get a cocktail
The mauve gin cocktail with grapefruit pearls complements the decor at the Fairmont Empress hotel’s Q bar, with its purple-splashed armchairs, vast quartzite bar and cumulus lamps. But how to eat these fruity gems? “It’s a matter of opinion,” says the waiter. “I’m not one to tell people how to drink their cocktails.” Queen Victoria, however, looks unimpressed; she scowls down from her pop-art portraits as I swirl the pearls into my beverage and slurp oysters served with champagne mignonette and Fresno-Chile carrot hot sauce. Ah, Vicky, if only you knew what you were missing.
6. Where to get the best views
The Malahat Skywalk, a 30-minute drive north of Victoria, is a spiral watchtower in a forest of old Douglas firs, arbutus trees and Garry oak saplings planted as part of a reforestation program. Constructed from steel plates and fir columns, the 10-storey fully accessible structure offers stunning views of traditional lands of the Malahat First Nation. A curtain of mist is drawn across the Salish Sea as I ascend the circular walkway. Birdsong floats through the canopies, but the other wild inhabitants are hidden among the foliage. At the summit, the scene finally comes into view: the pewter splash of Saanich Inlet and the Coast Mountain range demarcating the mainland. The return journey is a breeze: a few seconds whizzing down the enclosed spiral slide and I’m back where I started.
7. Art galleries
A vast collection of Asian, European and North American art is exhibited at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria. But it’s the local art that offers insight into the region’s deep well of creativity. The gallery itself tells an innovative story: originally housed in a gas station, it was moved to a 19th-century mansion donated by a patron and expanded in a series of midcentury extensions.
8. The cool suburbs
Local art is also on display in the neighbourhood of Oak Bay, which is close to Victoria’s downtown. Painter Emily Carr had a cottage here, and contemporary artists exhibit their work in galleries lining the picturesque streets. Dinner is earned on a walk along a foreshore lined with old oaks and buzzing with friendly joggers and dog-walkers. The warmth follows me into Vis-a-Vis Wine & Charcuterie Bar, which hums with chatter and scents from the kitchen. “In the pandemic, people were saying, ‘Buy local!’” a diner tells me. “And we were like, ‘We’ve been doing that for years’.” The food is delicious: a bouillabaisse is stuffed with local rockfish, mussels, clams and shrimp, the ales are from nearby breweries, and the black cherry ice cream is infused with island ingredients.
9. Best day spa
It’s not the season for an ocean swim, but the Salish Sea is in my view as I sink into the outdoor mineral pools at the Boathouse Spa and Baths at Oak Bay Beach Hotel. Reluctant to leave the warm waters, I’m finally tempted out by the roaring fire pit, a glass of Okanagan merlot from the Boathouse Kitchen & Bar and a massage in the spa.
10. Where to stay
I can see all the way to the US from my room at the Oak Bay Beach Hotel. Windows frame the sea and Washington State’s Mt Baker in the distance. The amenities are warm and muted, with Barbour products from the spa scenting the spacious bathroom. A highlight is the wine-paired Table d’hote (served Fridays and Saturdays) at The Dining Room, one of three onsite restaurants. The soup is made with wild mushrooms and the steak Oscar dish concocted from a 1970s recipe reprised from the hotel archives; rooms from C$276 ($311) a night..
Catherine Marshall was a guest of Destination British Columbia and Destination Canada.
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