Canada's famed east coast is in stark comparison to the rugged majestic beauty of the Canadian Rockies or the lush nature preserves of the west coast. Rather, the east coast is famous for its small towns, warm hospitality and friendly people, some unique experiences through the magical Maritime provinces, and sublime out of this world sea food.
Having revisited the Rockies this year, we also took some extended vacation to cover the East Coast in the same year. You can see the amount of kilometres we put on the car on the trip! The East Coast, particularly if you are starting from Toronto, requires a bit of planning and time. Hotels must be booked well ahead of time (especially on the Cabot Trail where choices are limited).
We also had a National Park Pass, which we had bought on our trip to Banff earlier in the year. You should do the Maths to see if it's worth it to buy a pass, but given our travels, it was definitely worth it.
You also need to factor days just for the drive alone. We drove for nearly 6000 km, which is more than halfway around the moon, or twice the distance from Dubai to New Delhi!
You have to get from Toronto to Moncton, which is where most people really "start" their sightseeing, and that's a long haul. We decided to take two days to do it, and our first day was simply a drive from Toronto to Quebec City, where we stayed the night. Of course, when you start early, you can reach early (a theme that is great for any sightseeing road trip), and that gives you more time to tour the place.
The famous Fairmont Le Château Frontenac hotel,
which highlights the Old Quebec skyline
Quebec City is not that far away, and we had visited the city before, so we didn't allot any additional days for it on this trip. Many people include a couple of days for Quebec City on their trip as well. Quebec City is roughly 8-9 hours drive away from Toronto, factoring in breaks on the drive.
Old Quebec City is lovely to walk around at night, and we were blessed with glorious weather. There were lots of street performances, especially near the hotel.
The next morning we were up and about for another 8-9 hour drive, this time from Quebec City to Moncton. The drive through northern Quebec is very scenic, especially the rolling hills around the side. You have to go around the US state of Maine, so around Rivière-du-Loup, your direction changes from North to South. Soon we crossed into the province of New Brunswick.
Our first stop was the small town of Grand Falls, NB. This town is known for two things.
1) be a pit stop on the way to Moncton
2) Grand Falls.
So we saw the Grand Falls.
It wasn't so ... grand. What happened is that there is a dam, and in the summer the falls are only a trickle due to that dam. When they release all that water, which is what the people there told us happens in the Spring, it can be quite a sight, almost rivalling Niagara Falls.
Now why would you deliberately sabotage your only attraction during summer, the peak tourist season, I have no idea, but this was Grand Falls. Anyways, onward to Moncton.
We passed Fredericton, about a couple of hours to go, and decided to stop for a late lunch. It's a small city, despite being the capital of the province, and had a couple of halal places. The university was very nice to drive through, and had some beautifully kept gardens.
It was late evening when we reached our hotel in Moncton. Exploring the city, and the unique experiences of the Bay of Fundy, was going to be Day 3.
No comments:
Post a Comment