A One Day Tour of Victoria, British Columbia

A pretty garbage container in Victoria

Beautiful gardens with colorful flowers in bloom; retired people leisurely strolling the streets; old fashioned historic buildings stand proudly in the city....
These are the images I have whenever the city of Victoria is mentioned
 We visited Vancouver thirty years ago but did not have time for Victoria. This time we made time for this beautiful city!

We took a day tour with a travel company and were picked up at around 7 a.m. at a downtown location.

Our tour bus went on Highway 99 - nicknamed the Highway to Heaven

The tour bus drove along Highway 99 - nicknamed Highway to Heaven because of all the different churches, temples and worship places sprung up in the area serving worshipers of various faiths and getting along peacefully with one another.

No matter what one's faith is, one can come here to worship and choose the church/ temple/ mosque one wishes, with the goal of getting to heaven after one passes away from this earth.

We enjoyed the spectacular scenery on board the ferry to Victoria

The ferry ride was about an hour and half from Vancouver to Victoria

B.C. Provincial Legislature Building

One of the first stops was the B.C. Provincial Legislature where politicians table and debates their policies and eventually pass them into laws. 

The B.C. Legislature Building is a magnificent building with arches, stained glass windows and much detail and fine decorative work throughout.

People who are interested in architecture like me would appreciate and enjoy touring this place.

The interior of the B.C. Provincial  Legislature Building

This is where the provincial government debates take place 

Victoria - home to the oldest Chinatown settled in 1858

Victoria is also where the oldest Chinatown is located.

Settled in 1858, it is the oldest and the most intact of its counterpart in Canada representing an important chapter of the heritage of Chinese Canadians in Canada.

Interesting shops in the alley way in Chinatown

It is a distinct self contained district with its commercial, residential and banking institutions.

As we  were there only for a few minutes, we did not have time to visit the shops in the alley way.













I loved the trees in the Victoria Chinatown as each tree lining the street in the area was trimmed in the shape of a Bonsai tree. It was beautiful and unique!

Terry Fox - started the Marathon of Hope 

After lunch, we went to the Beacon Hill Park where a statue was erected in honour of the most famous British Colombian.

Terry Fox was a young man when he was diagnosed with bone cancer and had his right leg amputated. Instead of feeling sorry for himself, Terry started his Marathon of Hope - running across Canada raise money for cancer research.

He dipped his leg in the water of east coast and started running each day on his one good leg and an artificial limb.  Unfortunately, his cancer reoccurred after his ran half way of Canada.  Outside of Thunder Bay, he had to call off the run and shortly afterwards he succumbed to the illness.   Since his death, the Marathon of Hope has continued every year across Canada and his spirit of hope passed on to generations to come!

The beach below Beacon Hill Park, Victoria

Some of the tourists took the time to descend the stairs and went to the beach close by.










It was a nice sunny afternoon, with mild temperature and mild breezes caressing our faces gently.

I could not believe that we were enjoying such mild weather in February in Canada!

Only in Vancouver and Victoria can Canadians enjoy such fine warm weather in the middle of winter!

Milo 0  Monument - the official starting point of Trans Canada Highway 

Another monument we saw in Beacon Hill Park was the Mile 0 Monument - this monument marks the official starting point of the Trans Canada Highway which links Canada from west to east.

It is the longest highway in the world!

Butchant Garden, Victoria

We arrived at the garden at around 2:00p.m. and toured the different themed gardens till 3:45p.m.













The Butchant Garden is a huge park made out of an abandoned limestone quarry by the Butchant family. There were a lot to see!

( I will write about the garden in a separate entry.)

We enjoyed the 1 day tour in Victoria !

We took the 5:00p.m. ferry and got back to Vancouver at around 6:30p.m

Annie, a lady from Vancouver took us to Robson Street and introduced us to this lively vibrant street. We did more walking in this great neighbourhood.

By the time we got back to the hotel, it was well past 9:00p.m.  A long, exhausting day, but we saw a great and learned a lot about Victoria, B.C. .



R.T.
One Day Tour of Victoria
British Columbia