The ferry from Tsawwassen to Swartz Bay on Vancouver Island was uneventful – which is what you want on a ferry crossing. The weather was cool and it was breezy on the open deck but the sea was calm and our large ferry glided across fine. Rita stayed indoors but I spent some time on the top, open deck looking for orca or killer whales with no luck. I did see a bald eagle as we came through a narrow channel with forests on both sides.
We made the decision to stop for a quick lunch (falafel pita) and to tour Butchart Gardens before driving into Victoria and our hotel. A light rain fell while we had lunch and that seemed to refresh the gardens perfectly. We walked around the beautiful gardens for a couple of hours or more through the sunken garden, Japanese garden, rose garden (too early), and Italian garden. There are plenty of water fountains and benches to sit and contemplate the beauty of it all.
We drove on into Victoria and quickly found our hotel overlooking the Inner Harbor area. Soon we were walking through the scenic city center. Victoria is compact with most of the tourist attractions within the Inner Harbor area such as the British Columbia Parliament Building and Fairmont Empress Hotel which line the water. After hours of sightseeing we walked up Government Street to View Street to Quadra Street where we had a delicious, huge meal at the German Rathskeller Restaurant. German beer on tap along with schnitzel made a nice change from recent meals. The long walk back to the hotel helped digest the meal.
Thursday morning we set out on foot again after breakfast. This time we did a fairly long walk through the James Bay suburb to the Strait of Juan de Fuca where we could see the snow-capped mountains of Olympia National Park. We walked a loop along the sea that led back into Victoria with views of the cruise ships at their terminal. After walking around Chinatown and central Victoria for a long while we walked down to Wharf Street for lunch.
And what a lunch! The hottest place to eat fish and chips in Victoria is a place called Red Fish, Blue Fish which is highly recommended by Yelp, Fodor, and Zagat. They must be making a fortune because they cook in a freight container, use paper plates, wooden knives and forks, and do not have waiter service. Their food is delicious and mostly consists of different fish dishes. We split a halibut and chips plus a small shrimp cocktail. We waited in a line for about 30 minutes and the line never shortened while we ate.
We walked around more letting lunch settle and found an ice cream shop for dessert. After a while we walked back to our hotel to rest our feet. Later we walked to J & J Noodle House for a nice Chinese dinner before returning once more to our hotel.
Victoria will forever rank high in our list of favorite cities.
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