Our stay in Quebec City completed, we spent day three driving to Saint John, New Brunswick. It is a much shorter drive than the one we did on our first day, but some sections are fairly boring… It involves travelling on a relatively new four-lane highway through the same sort of scenery you will see in many other parts of Canada.
We overnighted in Saint John awaiting an 8 AM departure on the Saint John to Digby ferry the next morning. The ferry ride itself is about two hours and 15 minutes. We had a lovely breakfast on the ferry and then enjoyed what we could see of the view on a relatively overcast day.
If you were to drive from Saint John to Digby, it would take over 6 hours. From my perspective, it is much better to pay the ferry fee… $286 for four people and a car… than to do yet another tiring drive.
The photos in this post, and others in this series, are best enjoyed on a desktop/laptop or in horizontal view on your iPad. There is an issue looking at them on cellphones which I am trying to get resolved.
Pulling away from Saint John, New Brunswick.
We stayed at one of Canada’s many classic vintage hotels, the Digby Pines Resort.
This is the view from the veranda of the main building looking out across the patio and pool area to the Annapolis basin. I am sure that the view from most of the hotel’s rooms would be spectacular. We opted to stay in a two-bedroom cottage on the property. It had all the required amenities, although a little dated and lacking a view of the water.
The resort has a magnificent, Stanley Thompson-designed golf course on site.
We did have one dinner in the main dining room, which offered us a lovely view out over the water while we were eating.
Digby calls itself the scallop capital of Canada, so of course we had to have at least a few in an appetizer.
Before checking into the hotel, we had lots of time to explore some of the other lovely towns in the area. First up was the town of Annapolis Royal. After touring around this charming little town, we stopped for lunch at the German Bakery.
The meal was inexpensive and we all agreed that it was extremely tasty. We would not hesitate to return or to recommend it.
The other thing we got to watch while wandering around on the town wharf, was this fishing boat being hauled out of the water on a platform rail system.
On our second day in the Digby area, we headed out to the small village of Bear River. One of Bear River’s claims to fame is that many of its businesses are located on these stilted structures that sit out over a tidal basin. As you can see the tide is out here.
We had lunch in one of these buildings, “The Tacocat Taqueria”… in spite of the fact that the sign says “The Den”.
Yep, just what you would expect to find in a small village in the middle of Nova Scotia… A Mexican restaurant. The tacos were great and priced at only three for $10.
When we started eating lunch the tide was out.
When we finished eating the tide was rushing back in.
Bear River is a small community that is a home to many artists and artisans. This appears to be the main outlet in the town for their crafts. Unfortunately, it was closed the day we arrived.
We went over to the historical site of Port-Royal on the north side of the Annapolis Basin.
Port Royal was one of the first European settlements in North America. In 1605, Samuel de Champlain helped establish the settlements on land that is the traditional homeland of the Mi’kmaq.
It is an interesting re-creation. The staff include costumed interpreters who help paint a picture of what life would have been like for these early French settlers. It was here that Champlain suggested the establishment of “the Order of Good Cheer”.
At the end of the second day, we headed into the famous Fundy Restaurant in Digby to chow down on seafood. Yes, we had more scallops in one form or another. 🙂 Good food and good views. We didn’t have a reservation so weren’t able to sit out on the patio. This restaurant now encompasses about five buildings along the waterfront; it is huge.
After two nights in the Digby and Annapolis Royal area we drove up the Fundy coast to our next stop over. If you drive right along the “Shore Road” you pass through all kinds of small, charming fishing villages like Parkers Cove where are you can see sights like this. Fishing boats sitting on the ocean floor 15-20 feet below where they would be normally tied up to the dock during high tide.
Oh, and you can get out of the car and walk out on the ocean floor that will be totally submerged in another six hours.
Our destination on this day was the most charming of the fishing villages on the Fundy coast of Nova Scotia, Halls Harbour.
This is one spot where you can walk right down off the wharf onto the sea floor beside the fishing boats during low tide.
And, it also has one of the most amazing lobster restaurants in the province. It has undergone a major renovation. When I asked, it was reported to me that this new large greyish section was added during the pandemic over 2019 and 2020. It now offers patio dining inside and outside on three different levels.
Our travel companions opted for the full monty lobster lunch while the Love-goddess and I had lobster rolls. These all come from the lobster pound/fishery on site. It does not get any fresher than this.
Not too far from Halls Harbour is the Blomindon Look-Off observation point where, as you can see, you get a spectacular view out over this section of the Annapolis Valley and the Minas Basin.
Fabulous time capsule photo journaling…4 great travelers living the life on the road…any Volvo stories being generated
Cheers
Andrew
The Volvo is performing admirably. Very comfortable, even for the long legged individuals amongst us. 🙂