the clutch of Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese and Thai cafes and restaurants dotted around the harbour-side streets. The food and choice is excellent and reasonably priced.
For a taste of Victorian elegance, try afternoon tea in the grand lounge of Canadian Pacific’s Empress Hotel – an accompanying glass of champagne adds to the occasion.
VICTORIA, on Vancouver Island, off Canada’s west coast, is a perfect city for walking.
The downtown area is neatly packaged within about 10 blocks, and this former British trading outpost shows off its heritage lines to good effect. A walk-up Government Street sets the scene, with rows of former 19th-century trading houses showing off their elegant 20th-century wares.
And among the art galleries, fashion houses and crafts boutiques, the British have left their mark. There’s the British Importers store standing proudly like a mini Harrods, and the Edinburgh Tartan Shop selling the weave in various forms.
Stop by Munro’s Books – even if you’re not buying. The store, originally built for the Royal Bank of Scotland in 1909, is now a designated heritage site. Inside, are tall pillars, stained-glass windows and highly polished, creaking timbers hoarding shelves of fascinating volumes – from Canadiana to the latest best sellers.
But main street shops leave other reminders of Victoria’s earlier times, such as the James Bay Trading Company and Adventure Outfitters of Bear River, offering such items as crafted furniture and traditional but fashionable clothing.
It is just one pleasing aspect of Victoria’s small town atmosphere that has been carefully retained in this now cosmopolitan city, where few buildings in the old quarter are no more than seven stories tall.
Founded by the Hudson’s Bay Fur Trading Company in 1843 and named after Queen Victoria, it is now the capital city of British Columbia and the seat of provincial government.
Law and order was previously ordained at Bastion Square, where Fort Victoria was situated and held the courthouse, jail and gallows. Many of its old buildings have been carefully restored and are now restaurants, galleries and pubs.
The view from the top of Government Street reaches out to the sweeping, snow-capped Olympic Mountains and the San Juan Islands of Washington State – a reminder that Vancouver Island is closer to the US than mainland Canada.
But you can be in the downtown area of either Seattle or Vancouver within 30-45mins by floatplane from Victoria Harbour or in an hour or two by ferry.
With Vancouver Island being the largest island in the Pacific, Victoria was also established as a crossroads between East and West, with the Chinese arriving from the Orient and British steamship companies using it as a port of entry.
Evidence of this is Victoria’s Chinatown, once the largest in Canada but now confined to several blocks around Market Square in the Old Town. Walk through the narrow winding streets, like Fan Tan Alley, which housed Chinese opium dens and saloons, and you can almost sense the bustle of the mid-1800s when visiting merchants, miners and sailors crowded the square.
Today, Market Square is a carefully preserved honeycomb of small ethnic bakeries, eateries, bookstores and craft shops that have avoided the temptation to offer tacky tourist souvenirs.
Historical displays around the bricked, galleried walkways depict the earlier eras of Chinatown, the Goldrush, the Seaport and Market Street. Another legacy of the square is the clutch of Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese and Thai cafes and restaurants dotted around the harbour-side streets. The food and choice is excellent and reasonably priced.
For a taste of Victorian elegance, try afternoon tea in the grand lounge of Canadian Pacific’s Empress Hotel – an accompanying glass of champagne adds to the occasion.