It’s our annual ‘Escape the FNQ Heat’ time of year. And this year our cold destination is Canada and, more specifically, Vancouver. A first time for us, so exciting to see a new country and a city we’ve always wanted to visit. Vancouver is often compared to Sydney (I’ve heard this a lot) – for sure, both are water-surrounded cities known for outdoor living, beautiful scenery and a vibrant multicultural society. It’s day two and so far, I can report that Vancouver’s Downtown confirms all this but feels to me more compact than Sydney’s – which I’m kind of surprised at. Still, it’s extremely walkable and you can get from downtown (where we’re staying) to the wonderous Stanley Park in just half an hour walking. 

For our first night we stayed in the extremely comfortable and elegant Loden Hotel, a quiet oasis in Coal Harbour and just a short walk to bustling Robson Street and the heart of downtown Vancouver. Highly recommended! https://www.theloden.ca

Vancouver’s setting is really quite stunning and is defined by the majestic snow-capped North Shore Mountains of Grouse, Lion, Cypress and Seymour that loom dramatically behind the city. It’s quite amazing to be on a busy downtown intersection and glimpse these towering peaks seemingly at the end of the street. There’s a real sense of being on a peninsula here with water to three sides – English Bay to the west, Burrard Inlet and Coal Harbour to the east and the Strait of Georgia to the northwest, separating the mainland from Vancouver Island. There are seagulls squawking noisily overhead, the buzzy drone of seaplanes taking off and landing and, on fog-bound mornings like today, mournful ships horns reverberating around the city skyscrapers. 

We walked down to Stanley Park – our first foray into this vast urban lung. It’s around 4 sq km of natural West Coast rainforest with extensive trails and the famous seawall loop that runs some 9-10 kilometres with separate paths for walking and cycling. It’s meant to take 2-3 hours but I can see this walk taking much longer with distracting views out into the Strait of Georgia and across to North Vancouver and the imposing peaks behind. We only dipped our toe on our first full day, walking as far as the (impressive, characterful) Totem Poles (more later) then back around past the Yacht and Rowing Clubs and into busy Coal Harbour, packed with prestige yachts and pinned into place by towering luxury glass apartment buildings. The seaplane terminal is here too, arrivals and departures seemingly every few minutes, so Coal Harbour felt a very buzzy place indeed. Needs more exploration – and we will in the coming days, venturing further along the northside of the harbour to Canada Place and it’s iconic sails (Some say, Vancouver’s answer to Sydney Opera House), and the main cruise terminal for Alaska voyages. 

For lunch we happily stumbled upon one of Vancouver’s culinary icons, Joe Fortes Seafood & Chop House. It’s a busy place at lunchtime and no wonder, delicious food and people watching. Reckon we’ll have to come back here a few times more! https://www.joefortes.ca

We’re here for three weeks, so plenty to see and explore in the city and surroundings. Stay tuned. For now, we’re off to Calgary and up to frozen snow-bound Banff for New Years.