Nova Scotia - Halifax Area

7/31/25 - We drove about 5 hours to just north of Halifax, the capital of Nova Scotia. After setting up camp, I went food shopping in a large Kroger-like store. I do appreciate when I have the selection on the shelves that I'm used to at home! Nova Scotia, like the other provinces, requires wine, beer, and liquor to be sold in a different store, always requiring a second stop.

We relaxed in our outside tent, which we call "the clamshell", enjoying it even when the rain started.

8/1/25 - Knowing we planned to check out some pubs in the afternoon, we Ubered into Halifax. We spent about 2 hours on a Historic Halifax Walking Tour that took us by the Immigration Museum, the Lieutenant Governor's house (the King's representative in Nova Scotia), and Province House (where the provincial government meets).

We also walked through the beautiful "Public Gardens"...

...and by the Halifax Citadel on the hill overlooking the harbor

We learned one of my favorite singers, Sarah McLachlan, is from Halifax and heard the 12pm canon fire from the Citadel. After the tour, we walked along the Halifax Harbourwalk to have lunch at The Bicycle Thief, which we had heard about a couple of times when we were on Prince Edward Island.

At lunch, we got a great table where we could watch boys practicing their sailing skills in Laser and RS Quest sailboats

Our next stop was the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic. They had some very interesting displays including about the Titanic and the 1917 Halifax Harbor Disaster.

A ship with bombs and chemicals exploded, killing ~2000 people!

We started our pub crawl after this, hoping to hear some more Celtic music. I had Googled pubs with music so we checked three of those out. We heard guitar music at one, but the real musicians began at 8pm or later (too late for us blue-hairs!). We still checked out the beverage offerings at each one.

Sampling some Irish beer and a Nova Scotia cider

We had dinner at the seafood restaurant that our tour guide and Tripadvisor recommended (Pat had lobster again) before taking an Uber back to the RV.

8/2,3/25 - We relaxed around the RV, ran one day, and mountain biked the other.

I checked out a donut at Tim Horton's. This chain is more popular than McDonald's in Canada (Timmies has >4000 stores and McD's has ~1400).

We also watched Peace by Chocolate, which our Halifax tour guide had mentioned. It is the story of a Syrian refugee family that was helped by a small Nova Scotian town north of Halifax. They recreated their chocolate-making business, starting in their kitchen and now, sold across Canada and in a beautiful store on the Halifax Harbourwalk.

8/4/25 - On the way to Peggy's Cove, "Atlantic Canada's most photographed site", we stopped at a retail lobster store (to see if we could repeat our lobster-on-the-grill dinner from Cheticamp).

They didn't have ready-to-grill lobster but the owner was very friendly. He introduced us to this 11-pound (~60 year old) guy that had been on the outside of one of his traps. Since the meat gets tough when lobsters are so old, he planned to put him back in the ocean :)

We also stopped at the memorial for Swissair Flight 111.

In 1998, Swissair 111 crashed into St. Margaret's Bay about 5 miles from Peggy's Cove, killing 229 people.

Peggy's Cove was a zoo! People were parking along the road about 1 mile out in both directions. We stopped at a restaurant/gift store that had parking and bought a drink just so we could use the bathroom. Their back deck turned out to be a peaceful place and we chatted with a nice couple from British Columbia (he rode in rodeos and she is in the Canada Hockey Hall of Fame).

We decided to "drive" through Peggy's Cove and see what the excitement was about and we were lucky enough to find a parking spot right in town!

Despite the number of people, I enjoyed the cute harbor (we saw a lobster walking under the dock) and looking in the art shops.

Pat enjoyed the bagpiper near the lighthouse

The next town down the road had a restaurant right on the water. After a short wait, Pat and I got a table with a great view. Their special was a 2-pound lobster so we split that and a bucket of mussels.

The logo for Shaw's Landing in West Dover, NS

We had decided to watch Prince's Purple Rain after our June visit to Paisley Park so we connected to Prime that evening. The movie was so bad it made us laugh!

8/5/25 - After a quiet morning and a run, we drove into Halifax for the "Wine and Cheese Sunset Cruise" that the British Columbia couple had recommended.

We had a 2-hour cruise from Halifax. We saw a container port, beautiful mansions in a side harbor, and the sunset from the water.

8/6/25 - We drove about an hour to the town of Lunenburg, which was settled in 1753 by Germans, Swiss, and French. It was a cute hillside town with colorful buildings and a continued fishing industry. We walked around the town for a while, before boarding the Bluenose II for a 2-hour cruise into Mahone Bay.

Launched in 1963, it is a recreation of the 1921 boat (which sank in 1946). The original won every Canada vs USA Fisherman's Trophy racing series she entered. 20 crew (mostly young people) spend the season onboard to manage the 8 sails, etc. of the 161-ft ship.

After a brief stop at the rocky beach in Blue Rocks, a tiny fishing village at the end of the peninsula, we headed back towards the RV. We stopped in the town of Chester for dinner at the Fo'c'sle (started in 1764, it is Nova Scotia's oldest pub).

After dinner, we walked around the town of Chester with its cute homes and the Chester Yacht Club

8/7/25 - Another beautiful, but quiet, day. We'll relax and do a few chores before we break camp tomorrow. We head southwest towards the town of Liverpool, NS.