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NOVA Scotia Bound

Bruce

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I'm travelling to Nova Scotia including Cape Breton for a few weeks. Plan to see the Sherman Hines Museum Of Photography in Liverpool while on this trip.

Any recommendations on locations that are a "MUST" see. I'll have plenty of time along the coast line - north and south to do exploring.

Thanks!

Bruce
 
Please make time to see the Cabot Trail in Cape Breton - an absolute delight!
 
Gary

Thanks for the recommendation.

I'll have about 4 days in the Cabot Trail area. Going to both east and west coast. Plan to spend some time at Cheticamp, Meat Cove, Cabot's Landing, Ingonish and other places. Looking forward to this area it based on what I have heard and read.

Bruce
 
If you are interested in culture and music at all, you should definitely check out a dance in Cape Breton. Mabou on Saturday night is a famous one with a lot of locals, there's one in East Margaree (I think so anyway) at the Fire Hall, not sure what night it is but it's also really popular.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/paulmcevoy/2656156132/
That's in West Mabou, for the record.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/paulmcevoy/sets/72157606088502647/with/2656156132/
Pictures from my last trip to the Maritimes, if you are interested.
 
Please let us know your own thoughts when you get back. I have to attend meetings in mid-June 2011 in Halifax and I plan to spend a couple of weeks there right after the meetings are over.
 
Check out a trail on the Ingonish side of Cape Breton Highlands Park called Franey Mountain. From the top you have a great view of the ocean and the surrounding hills.

If you go east of Halifax you can find some beautiful beaches (Martinique and Taylor Head). West of Halifax on the South Shore are some picturesque small towns like Lunenburg, Mahone Bay, and Chester. If the Bluenose II is in port in Lunenburg you can take a cruise (you can really move if there is any sort of wind!)

The Annapolis Valley is also pretty special. It's very lush agricultural land. If you go a ways north of Wolfville there is a hike out at the coast that takes you out to a place called Cape Split. The hike is mostly through woods, however the end of the cape is impressive with tall cliffs that you can walk out a ways on. The ocean is always tumultuous there because the tides are so large, but if the weather is nice the view is impressive.

Paul
 
All

Thanks for the recommendations. We do plan on check out the music scene in Mabou and the surronding area.

Jim - I'll let you know how we like Halifax as well as other places to see.

Paul- I see your in Halifax. What is your favorite local site? We are going to many of the locations you mentioned including Wolfville so I 'll check out the trails/beaches you mentioned.

All- Thanks for the info.

Bruce
 
I've spent a month, in two tranches, photographing in Nova Scotia. My views don't seem to coincide with others here.

First the area I enjoyed best photographically and otherwise is the coast south and west of Halifax. Particularly Prospect, Terence Bay, the Aspotogan peninsula, Mahone Bay, and the Blue Rocks/ Stonehurst area near Lunenburg. Within this I also like Peggy's Cove and the villages around, despite the fact that Peggy's is overrun. If you can get there at dawn ( I stayed in Peggy's only b&b with a balcony overlooking the harbour) you can get a lot done before the hordes arrive, go elsewhere for the day and get back at dusk when It quietens down. All told I think that rather more than half of the usable photographs I have from Nova Scotia emanate from this area, which is directly en route to Liverpool. The area round Shelburne, west of Liverpool is pretty good too.

I also quite like the area from Digby to Wolfville, which includes the Annapolis Valley and the Blomidon peninsula.

Now, Cape Breton. I'm not a huge fan i'm afraid and the only time I enjoyed it was travelling along the eastern side at peak fall colour in mid October, despite the fact that much of the accommodation and eaeries were closing up around us. Basically I just don't think there's enough opportunity to get close to the sea and the landscapes seem bland to me. Certainly if you've been to truly spectacular coastlines like western Scotland, Western Ireland, Oregon, I don't think you'll like Cape Breton as much unless you happen to be there in October. Clearly not everyone shares that view, so maybe taking a look on Flickr might make some sense, as i do before every tripto a new destination. I do like the Margaree valley and the Bras d'Or Lake round Baddeck much more.

Finally Halifax. Its a perfectly decent sort of place, but for me not photogenic or particularly characterful. It's close to a lot of nice places though.
 
Just two small suggestions about Nova Scotia: Take your time and stay off the highways- they are deathly boring, while the back roads and villages are wonderful! Have fun. The places mentioned are all worth a week at least.
 
The Red Shoe, a great pub in Mabou. Dead Link Removed

Check this: Dead Link Removed

and: http://oran.ca/

There is a nightly ceilidh at St Michael's hall in Baddeck. Well worth a visit.

The thing about Cape Breton is that it is not Disneyland. You go there to meet folks,
and slow down enough to see the rural beauty and share their island. Ask folks when you get there what to see, and how to get there.

We keep a good deal of fantastically wonderful scenery in reserve just so the English don't get to see it. Don't tell anybody, it's a wonderful joke.

Seriously, it isn't the Grand Canyon or the Alps. But a fellow Midwesterner would probably get it.

.
 
df cardwell said:
We keep a good deal of fantastically wonderful scenery in reserve just so the English don't get to see it.
Click to expand...

That's o.k. We have some of our own!


Steve.
 

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Never mind, I'm going to mention him to the Queen when we have tea this afternoon
 
I have to agree with those who gave Cape Breton Island an "okay but not great". Halifax is a very nice town. you can catch the free bus along the waterfront and get a mini tour of the city. If you have the chance to head toward New Brunswick the tidal exchange at Hopewell Cape should not be missed -- it can be over forty feet. Plan for both high and low tides with excellent photographic opportunities. There is a small college in the Sackville - Amherst area that has an excellent arts program that is headed by a very fine photographer. The name escapes me but I have it recorded at home. Probably some internet searching will tell you. Further south is Saint John and St. Andrews where I found better photography than Cape Breton.
 
To followup on my post above. It is Mount Allison University in Sackville and the professor is Thaddeus Holowina.
 
For the record, Robert Frank lives in Cape Breton.

People who say Cape Breton is so-so photographically, I think are speaking one sort of language, which is the language of perfect vistas and Ansel Adams type pictures. I think Cape Breton definitely offers that, but mostly I think what it offers is an entire world that's different from the ones most of us live with, with different traditions, problems and hopes. I guess I find it really problematic to dismiss a place photographically based on the lack of scenic overlooks. Particularly when that place has spectacular scenic overlooks.

Or in the words of Alexander Graham Bell
"I have travelled the globe. I have seen the Canadian and American Rockies, the Andes and the Alps and the highlands of Scotland, but for simple beauty, Cape Breton outrivals them all."

 
Seems I should have stayed at Finbar's a little longer till you guys get this sorted out. Anyway there's Canada Day pancakes on the Bedford waterfront tomorrow morning. Nobody's mentioned the man eating coyotes yet. And then there's the woman at the Pleasant Bay lookoff who had run back to the car for her camera because her husband had found a bear den. I didn't hang around long enough to point out the whales.
Bruce I'm in the Halifax phone book if you're around the city anytime
 
Hey Bruce, I live right in downtown Halifax so if you're looking for a pint and a bit of local photo talk, let me know. If you have any specific questions about the city, I can probably answer those too. It's been wild around here the last couple of weeks with the Queen, Naval Centennial including Fleet Week (damn those aircraft carriers are huge!), festivals and all sorts of gatherings. I really enjoy Halifax in the summer. The winter, uhhh, well, I don't mind fog

Looks like others have weighed in on their experiences with the province. Mine have been quite positive, I did choose to move here after all, and I enjoy my time photographing here. The distances here are quite short compared to when I was living out west

Enjoy your trip, I think you'll like it here. Also, the provincial tourism folks have a nice website: http://www.novascotia.com

c.
 
Hi Chris

I'll be in Halifax late August and early September and my wife will be with me. She is taking a workshop (Japanese Shibori -dyeing) at Peters Valley in upstate New Jersey before we come to Nova Scotia.

I looks like we will be in Halifax during part of the Fringe festival- that should provide some good street photogarphy.



Are there any good photography galleries in Halifax or St John? I know there are several art galleries in both cities.



Bruce
 
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