Hints Archives ⋆ Page 4 of 240 ⋆ The Passenger

July 3, 2024August 4, 2024

Inner harbour

The main attractions of Victoria on Vancouver Island are all grouped around the inner harbour of the city. Once you’ve found your way you can observe aeroplanes and get on water taxis exploring the bay of the capital city of the province British Columbia. Next to the harbor you can find some pretty impressive buildings like the ancient house of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia or the Hotel Empress. Close-by you can also discover the Royal BC Museum with its historic collection.

July 3, 2024August 4, 2024

Otherworldly

If you arrive on Vancouver Island via Swartz Bay, plan a stop at the Butchart Gardens while being on your way to Victoria. When I imagine the inside of the rabbit hole in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland this is the place that comes most close to it. The private garden was created by Jennie Butchart in 1904 in a quarry that her husbands business had caused. You can stroll the sunken garden, a beautiful Japanese garden, a rose garden and sections focused on Italy and the Mediterranean flora.

July 3, 2024August 3, 2024

Capilano

I’m just a tiny little bit afraid of heights, but the Capilano suspension bridge is a place to challenge me. It is located in North Vancouver and spans the Capilano river at a height of 70 meters while being 136 meters long. Dependent on who is joining you on the bridge, this can be fun or nightmare. What you might not suspect is that this bridge has a history and was first built in 1888 to access a hut on the other side.

July 2, 2024August 3, 2024

VanDusen

Since 1975 the city of Vancouver has a nice botanical garden in Shaughnessy, south of downtown. It is a beautiful garden with fantastic flowers, rivers, lakes and an Elizabethan maze to get lost in. The garden doesn’t do scientific research, it just exhibits plants in differently themed areas. There is a stone garden, a vegetable garden, giant sequoias, sino-himalayan plants and areas for the flora of Chile, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. In one section you’ll find collections of azaleas, rhododendrons and camellias; in another firs, maples, conifers, lindens, cypresses and cedars can be found.

July 2, 2024August 4, 2024

Civic museum

Welcome to the oldest museum of Canada, dating back to 1894. The current building was designed in New Formalism style by architect Gerald Hamilton and I quite like this special architecture that looks like a crossover of an UFO and a circus tent. The museum itself focusses on the past, present and future of the city of Vancouver and the selection of topics is pretty broad: for example they connect the topic of empty publicly owned residential buildings at Taiwan with Vancouver, asking where the residents see vacancy in their city.

July 2, 2024August 3, 2024

First Nations

The city of Vancouver is located on the traditional land of the First Nations called xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh). Getting onto their unceded land is a very good reason to learn more about their traditions and the best place for that is the Museum of Anthropology quite a bit afar from downtown. It is part of the University of British Columbia (UBC) and located at their campus just a 20 minutes ride by car west along the coast.

July 2, 2024August 3, 2024

Stanley Park

North of Downtown Vancouver you’ll find Stanley Park which is a recreational zone on a half-peninsula named after conservative politician Frederick Arthur Stanley who was Governor General of Canada when it opened as a park in 1888. Stanley Park today has a large forest, contains the Vancouver Aquarium and offers long bicycle routes along the shore (‘seawall‘) giving you great views on the city center and the aeroboat harbor.

July 2, 2024August 3, 2024

Coral paradise

Vancouver is a city at the Pacific Ocean and for sure you would want to know a bit about sea life. For that reason there’s the amazing Vancouver Aquarium located within Stanley Park. The Vanaqua is the largest marine science center at Canada and was opened in 1956. Today there are 300 species of fish that you can admire, but to me the real stars are the local corals on display that have been beautifully set in scene.

July 1, 2024August 3, 2024

Granville Island

Underneath the Granville Bridge you’ll find Granville Island, a half-peninsula within the False Creek. It is an artificial island created to host industry and it was converted in the 1970s and attracts many visitors these days. Highlight is the Granville Island Public Market that sells gourmet food which gives you the chance to try a lot of different local produce. It is surrounded by bars and restaurants and you can conveniently sit at the shore of the False Creek and enjoy views on the sea arm.

July 1, 2024August 3, 2024

Aquabus

Public transport at Vancouver relies on the fantastic automated SkyTrain flying through the city as well as busses. But the most lovely means of transport is for sure the Aquabus: little boats operated by just one person each touring clockwise on the False Creek. Just jump on board, tell the operator how far you want to go and buy a ticket from them via credit card directly while floating on the water. Perfect for a round course with beautiful views or to access some nice places across the city.