Prince Edward Island ~ The Maritimes

“There is so much in the world for us all if we only have the eyes to see it, and the heart to love it, and the hand to gather it to ourselves — so much in men and women, so much in art and literature, so much everywhere in which to delight, and for which to be thankful”. - Lucy Maud Montgomery

Prince Edward Island, the smallest of the Canadian Provinces, an island in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, steeped in history. It might be famous in history as the birthplace of the confederation but for little girls of a certain age, is the home of Anne of Green Gables.

Was Anne of Green Gables partly a biography of author Lucy Maud Montgomery.  Yes! there appear to be some similarities, but consensus is that it was modeled partly on her life and partly on what she hoped her life could/should be. 

It is inevitable that visitors play some homage or nod to Lucy and Anne. So, it was. We stopped at the museum which is run by Lucy's cousins and enjoyed walking around the house, gift shop, planting potatoes, and enjoying tea and cookies. 

As we drove around the island our guide pointed out various points of interest related to Lucy's life on the island.  We had watched the movie Anne of Green Gables as we drove through Cape Breton, so our entire group was very familiar with the story and with the beauty of the island well before we made it here. 

Oysters from Prince Edward Island are a prized delicacy all around the world and when a disease infected oysters on the island requiring the Oyster farms to start over, the world was sad about the loss of these oysters. 

As we traversed around the island, we got sight of these oyster cages floating in the rivers and ocean so clearly, we needed to learn more about one of the greatest exports. 

With that in mind we arrived at a local oyster farm for a presentation on cultivating oysters and a taste test. 

Ok! I admit I was chicken. I'm not an oyster fan, I find them slimy and refuse to try them and I kept that attitude here as well though I had no qualms listening and watching the various demonstrations and even took a few photos of some of my newfound friends slurping them down. 

Next stop was the also famous PEI Mussels but that came over lunch and we had to still explore more of the island before we could take a load of our feet and feed our stomachs. 

Charlottetown has been designated as the cultural capital of Canada.  The city's public art collection provides a visual demonstration of this title as we walked around the city admiring the Victorian architecture, the theater and arts district and the pedestrian street full of restaurants, cafes and live entertainment. 

The impressive Charlottetown City Hall, built in 1888 in a Victorian version of Romanesque revival style of naturally occurring stone in the region. It was a testament to the growth and prosperity of the city during the late 19th century.  

In the front of the building is the bell that once graced the bell tower now affectionately known as Big Donald.  Prince Edward Island is where the confederation of the provinces became Canada. 

The city hall anchors the historical center of Charlottetown with its beautiful Victorian architecture, cafes, shops, bays and beaches. 

These little bronze mice are a recognition of and a nod to another famous island author, David Weale.  These bronze mice represent a character in the book, "The True Meaning of Crumbfest". They can be found at various points along the walk through the historical center of town starting with the town hall.  I have to admit though that I did not see the one at the town hall and clear forgot to go back and look for it. 

There is actually a scavenger hunt game that encourages you to locate all the mice scattered around the city.  These mice brought to mind the fanciful gnomes of Wroclaw in Poland that can be found in the historical center of the city.

The main harbor of Charlottetown with its many shops and restaurants is graced with a sculpture of William Henry Pope, a father of the confederation depicted here as he was rowed out to the SS Queen Victoria to greet the delegates arriving to attend the Charlottetown conference in 1864.   

What I found fascinating was how the pavement was fashioned to represent the rolling waves that carried the boat forward. 

Churches of various denominations dominate the landscape all across the Maritimes. This ornate one was hosting a wedding.  We got there to watch the laughing happy bridal party come down the steps.  The bride's aunt was carrying a bag of stuff to her car grumbling about how this is the last time she's going to be so involved in a wedding.  

With its 90 plus beaches and pristine coastline the island more than lives up to its first nation’s name of “land cradled in the waves”. While we did not visit many beaches, we did make our way to Cavendish Beach where we got to enjoy the sun and sand and dip our toes into the Atlantic Ocean. 

Even as Hurricane Debby was hurtling towards the Florida and Carolinas, we talked about the impact of hurricane Fiona and how it reshaped PEI's coastline washing away shorelines in the space of a few hours.

Cows is a Canadian ice-cream institution. With flavors like wowie cowie, gooey mooey, and fluff and udder it was a very hard choice to make.  It's a good thing that we had decided to do ice-cream instead of dinner after our big lunch for the day between tasting and the so very generous scoop. 

The island has 61 lighthouses and range lights making it the highest concentration of lighthouses in North America, it would not be right not to include at least one lighthouse in today's post.  

This lighthouse stands guard and overlooks the Confederation Bridge.  In fact, we stopped here to take pictures of the bridge and use the restrooms before saying goodbye to Prince Edward Island. 

Until 1997 the only way to Prince Edward Island was via ferry. The opening of the confederation bridge changed life as the locals knew it and made the island far more accessible. 

The bridge itself is a 2-lane highway, the longest bridge in Canada and the world's longest bridge over ice covered water.  The bridge connects Prince Edward Island with New Brunswick.