My romance with the city of Victoria has lasted for twenty years. As in most love-affairs where distance lends enchantment, every visit brings a flutter of anticipation; the thrill of re-exploring the familiar and the pleasure of discovering the new.
Tourist brochures describe Victoria as "quaint" and "charming". True. But in addition to cliche prettiness, Victoria also has an aura of old-world elegance. It is a city and yet it is not. The layout of the downtown core pays lip service to the North American grid system, but a five minute walk can take you into tranquil residential areas, with wayward roads meandering uphill and around corners—and dappled sidewalks flanked by laurel hedges, spreading trees and ivy-covered heritage homes.
Part of the joy of visiting this, my favourite B.C. city, is getting there. As the ferry, "The Spirit of Vancouver Island" approaches Active Pass, I go out on deck, breathe the salt-tanged air, watch gulls swooping past the ship, and take in the spectacular scenery of the gulf islands: wooded hills with cottages half-hidden between the trees, marinas with spanking boats moored alongside, and the occasional bald eagle perched majestically on a high branch, its feathers ruffled by the wind. The sky is milky with thin clouds and the water grey-blue rippled.
Despite the city’s wealth of sight-seeing attractions, the Royal B.C. Museum lies at the heart of my fascination with Victoria. It is a museum like no other. Where else but here can you linger in an astonishingly realistic rain-forest, stand a few feet away from liquid-eyed seals, or gaze at a cross-section of a clod of earth, magnified hundreds of thousands of times over, to reveal the miracle of insect and small animal life that exists within it. Or wander along a turn-of-the- century cobbled street, drop in to watch a Charlie Chaplin movie, stand in a little railway station while a train thunders past the windows, and just a short walk away, peer down an alleyway in old Chinatown, to hear the clack of mah-jong dice in a gambling den.
My visit, this time, carries an extra tingle of expectation. The Museum’s newest exhibit: "Out of the Mist." displays the treasures of the Nuu-chah-nulth Chiefs and provides an insight into the art and the 5000 year old traditions and way of life of the First Peoples of Vancouver Island’s West Coast. It encompasses 241 artifacts and 75 images drawn from museums and private collections, many of which have never been displayed before. It is also unique in that it is the result of a partnership between the Museum and a first Nations group presenting their own story, in their own voice.
Within the first ten minutes, I am drawn into the soul of a people whose legends, rituals, art and traditions honour the land, the wind, the sky, the Thunderbird, the whale and the wolf all represented in symbolic stylized designs on sacred ceremonial curtains, masks, head-dresses, rattles and woven hats. The exhibition is powerful in its simplicity; poignant in its message of universal harmony with the natural world. They, the Nuu-chah-nulth people, are strands in the weft of nature, not its weaver.
The spectacular film, "Wolves" showing at the IMAX theatre, portrays the mystical brotherhood that the Native People of this continent have shared with wolves for centuries.
Exhilarated but footsore, I return to my haven of comfort for the night. Abigail’s Hotel is a gracious country-style bed and breakfast Inn a classic 1930’s Tudor mansion. My room, furnished in elegant Victorian style, boasts a four poster bed, antique furniture and a fire-place and makes no concession to something as contemporary as a TV! I luxuriate in the jacuzzi, before descending to the library/sitting room to chat to other guests, sip sherry and nibble a selection of hors d’oeuvres. Back in my room, replete with a marvelous meal of East Indian food at Da Tandoor on Fort Street, I collapse into a cloud of eiderdown pillows and quilts and sink into blissful oblivion.
Explore Victoria from Abigail's Hotel.
Deefholts photo |
There is one more delight to be savoured (literally) before I depart for home. Breakfast. A gourmet’s delight fruit compote, freshly-squeezed orange juice, coffee fit for the gods, a selection of breads (including croissants that even the French would drool over) and an omelette that inspires poetry! Abigail’s has a five-star rating; its breakfast is worth six!
And Victoria? Well...who can measure the heart-beat of a love affair?
Getting There:
B.C. Ferries have regular daily sailings.
Phone (toll-free) 1-888-223-3779 or check www.bcferries.bc.ca
Staying There:
Abigail’s Hotel,
906 McLure Street.
Reservations recommended
Tel: 1-800-561-6565; Fax (250)388-7787
e-mail innkeeper@abigailshotel.com
Website: www.abigailshotel.com.
Royal B.C. Museum:
Tel: (250)387-3701.
Website: http://rbcml.rbcm.gov.bc.ca
Margaret Deefholts is a freelance travel writer and author. Follow her other adventures on this Travelwise website.
