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| Percé Rock, Gaspé |
After Charlottetown, we decided to drive up New Brunswick's Acadian coast. Both Nova Scotia and PEI (and, indeed, Québec) have historical and current connections to
L'Acadie, but nowhere as strong as in New Brunswick. New Brunswick is the only
officially bilingual province in Canada.
French language (specifically, the Acadian dialect, and sometimes the hybrid
chiac) and the Acadian Flag (often flown together with the Canadian flag) were predominant along the Acadian coast. Views on the drive were lovely, towns/villages very tidy. (We found it interesting that we never saw fences between houses in Acadia.) Lobster seemed king along this coast (Shediac calls itself the lobster capital of the world). We're glad to finally visit this vibrant community.
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| Flag of Acadia (adopted in 1884) |
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| Shediac's "Largest lobster in the world" Left to right: Flags of Canada, New Brunswick, L'Acadie, and Shediac. |
After Acadia, we decided to continue around Québec's Gaspé peninsula. It was Québec's "Fête National" (or St. Jean Baptiste day) and Québec's blue and white fleur-de-lis provincial flag was everywhere (usually without a nearby Canadian flag). Gaspé's most famous site is the Rocher Percé (Percé Rock), out near the end of the peninsula. The rock is indeed beautiful, though the village, while quaint, was rather overtouristed. For us, the whole Gaspé coastline, south and north, was stunning. Beautiful villages, tiny harbours, dramatic vistas, this 800+ km "detour" was worth it!
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| South coast of Gaspé |
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| Percé Rock, from a different angle |
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| Village on Gaspé north coast |
After Gaspé, we headed West, stopping again in Québec city for one night, then off to Ontario (Kingston).
That photo of the village on the Gaspe peninsula reminds me of paintings I've seen of this area. Lovely!
ReplyDeleteAfter this patriotic tour of the country, will you spend Canada Day in Ottawa?! I'll never forget going there with you David 25 or so years ago. With little Niall in the backpack vigorously waving his Canadian flags. A nice memory.
I hope you've made some great memories too.
A memorable Canada Day 24 yrs ago!
ReplyDeleteNo, we won't be spending July 1st in Ottawa... discussed it at length but the crowds (!) and new security on Parliament Hill (there will be only 1 entry/exit gate for Canada Day!) dissuaded us. We'll be on our way somewhere in Northern Ontario.
Niagara Falls tomorrow!
Tons of memories... it's a HUGE (and diverse) country!