I was fortunate enough to obtain a grant to attend a conference in Toronto, Canada. Instead of booking direct flights and a hotel, I used that same amount of money (and actually, quite a bit less) to go on a little overland East Canada road trip. I travelled Halifax to Québec City to Montréal to Ottawa to Toronto to Halifax. I have one blog post for each location, plus one about the road trip experience itself.
An Ottawa adventure
Next up on the travel itinerary was Ottawa, the capital city of Canada. The overall feeling or vibe in Ottawa surprised me. I had previously visited Toronto so I (wrongly) assumed with Ottawa being the capital, that it would feel bigger and even more city-like than Toronto. Ottawa actually has the 6th greatest population (after Toronto, Montréal, Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton). Queen Victoria way back in 1857 actually chose Ottawa as Canada's capital because of its defensible location. I actually found Ottawa to be kind of cute and compact. I really liked the Bywater Market area and it was chock full of beautiful Victorian architecture. Many Canadian questioned my visit there and recommended I go elsewhere but I’m glad I stuck to my guns! If only for my amazing accommodation, the Ottawa Jail Hostel, which I can’t recommend enough for people who like a spooky museum.
Some things to do:
I cannot recommend the Ottawa Jail Hostel enough for accommodation- a stay in an actual jail! And included in your overnight stay, you don’t just get free breakfast included, you also get a free tour of the hostel! Spooky ghost stories and the history of Ottawa combined in 1h20.
Bywater market was quite a small but quite a cool market.
One thing I had been recommended to try while on my Canada trip was butter tarts. I got some delicious chocolate coated ones from the chocolatiers Rocky Mountain Chocolate.
Within the market I would also recommend the Moulin de Provence Bakery for some souvenir Canadian biscuits, or “Obama Cookies” as the bakery calls them.
The Ottawa sign is also close to the market, if that’s something you’re into.
I really wanted to see the spider at the National Gallery of Canada, just because I’m into spooky things! I did try and enter the museum but unfortunately I arrived too late. One thing I did notice about Ottawa is that the museums seemed to close early, around 5pm, except for Thursday where they stayed open late and maybe were for free on this day.
Wander around the beautiful different buildings at Parliament Hill. Apparently they have free yoga here every Wednesday too (I’m assuming just during August)! I will note though that there were lots of construction works happening so I didn't get the same views as I had seen online. Apparently road works and construction works are quite common in the city.
Make sure you Google what events are going on because I was told by people in my hostel about a free firework
Something to miss:
I did a free walking tour of the Rideau Canal and I didn’t really find anything interesting to look at. However, during winter it would be so cool (literally!) to skate on the canal!
Things for if I had more time or a car next time:
While watching the fireworks, I saw some kayaks at night lit up with rainbow-coloured lights, paused to watch the fireworks. That looked like a great experience and I would have loved to have got the opportunity to join.
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| Image Credit: Ottawa Valley Air Paddle |
Ice skate on the Rideau Canal.
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| Image Credit: Project Local Love |
Visit Diefenbunker, the Cold War Museum. Unfortunately, this is very difficult to access without a car so I didn’t visit, despite how much I love a bunker.
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| Image Credit: Ottawa Tourism |
Every Saturday and Sunday in the summer (and less frequently but still on weekdays) there is a free bus to Gatineau Park May until the end of October. You will find it if you Google “Gatineau Park shuttle”. I had been planning to take the free bus from town to Camp Fortune. There is a toboggan ride (known as a “mountain coaster” you can do there and included in the price is also a chair lift up the top of the mountain. It looked so cool! Unfortunately there was heavy flooding during my visit so the bus, the park and Camp Fortune were all shut down.
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| Image Credit: Camp Fortune |
