VICTORIA, BC

Many of Victoria's most popular and most photographed sights and attractions are located in and around the Inner Harbour, like The Causeway – a walkway along the harbour in front of the Legislative Buildings - BC's palace-like parliament buildings that light up during nighttime and are beautifully decorated during the winter holiday season and along the castle-like Empress Hotel built by the Canadian Pacific Railway in the early 20th Century, the Robert Bateman Gallery, the Coho Ferry terminal for the ferry ship that takes passengers from Victoria's Inner Harbour to Port Angeles in the United States, a seaplane company's small float planes land and take off, cute little ferry boats that shuttle people to and from different places along the Inner Harbour, a night market, a miniature museum and whale watching company, the world-class history and anthropological museum called the Royal British Columbia Museum with a movie theatre that shows National Geographic-style films on a giant six-storey tall screen located in it, and even horse-drawn carriages to take you along the Inner Harbour.

It's a place with a long fascinating history, that can take you back to the 20th, 19th, or even 18th century when it was home to the Coast Salish Songhees people in the east of the harbour and the Esquimalt people in the west of it. In 1843 James Douglas tried to construct an outpost on Vancouver Island for the Hudson's Bay Company. He rejected Esquimalt Harbour because there were too many trees and chose instead to site Fort Victoria overlooking the Victoria Harbour. In 1858-1862 the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush and the Cariboo Gold Rush took place, which swelled traffic through the harbour because so many people came to Fort Victoria to buy permits and supplies before setting out for the mainland. Victoria was incorporated as a city on 2 August 1862. A shipyard started operating in 1873 at Point Hope on the Upper Harbour. Over the years the shipyard had traded hands several times and by 1938 was known as Point Hope Shipyards Limited. Today the yard continues to operate as Point Hope Maritime. The Victoria Yacht Club was founded on 8 June 1892 by a group of 46 yachtsmen and is the oldest sailing association in Western Canada. During World War II the Victoria Machinery Depot launched 25 ships. On 20 June 1942 the Victoria-built HMCS Quesnel, which was based at Esquimalt, responded to a torpedo attack by the Japanese submarine I-25 upon SS Fort Camosun off of Cape Flattery in Washington, US. Now it's also home to the boarding jetties for the Canadian and US airlines that use the Victoria Inner Harbour Airport.

History:
The historic mansion was built during the reign of Queen Victoria by a coal baron Robert Dunsmuir, who immigrated from Scotland and made his fortune during the industrial age. It was constructed as a family residence overlooking the City of Victoria and announcing to the world that Robert was the richest man in Western Canada.

He moved from Nanaimo to Victoria with his family in 1885 as their fortune grew and started building Craigdarroch in 1887. Sadly, Robert died in April 1889 and his sons finished building the home in 1890. Robert's death brought conflict to the family. He left his entire fortune to his wife Joan, although promised it to his sons, who worked in the family business all their lives. Only after ten years of arguing, they were able to compromise.

After the youngest son Alex died in 1900, a quarrel which triggered a huge lawsuit tragically split the family again - his wife was now against his oldest son James who was Premier of British Columbia. A story in the New York Times announced: "Premier sued by his Mother".

They didn't speak for many years. When Joan died in 1908, James broke down and wept at her funeral. Later, the Craigdarroch estate was sold to land speculator Griffith Hughes who divided it into building lots and made it the subject of a raffle to be won by one of the purchasers of residential parcels. The winner, Solomon Cameron, mortgaged the home and was left broke, so in 1919 ownership of the home passed to one of Cameron's creditors, the Bank of Montreal.

The building later served as a military hospital, college, conservatory, and offices before it was made into a historical museum in 1979. The museum is currently owned by the Craigdarroch Castle Historical Museum Society and is a tourist attraction.

Architecture:
Craigdarroch Castle is believed to have cost as much as $500,000 when it was built and included granite from British Columbia, tile from San Francisco, and an oak staircase prefabricated in Chicago. It has 39 rooms, four-stories, and takes up over 25,000 square feet (2,300 m2).

The influence of the mysterious Romanesque style in the 1880s and '90s can be seen in the Craigdarroch Castle's architecture which includes 11th and 12th century southern French, Spanish and Italian Romanesque characteristics. The building's interior includes oak paneling and close attention to detail in furniture and also incorporates exotic woods in many of the rooms. Craigdarroch Castle has one of North America's finest collections of Victorian residential stained and leaded glass windows, all of which are believed to have been produced by an American studio.

Price:
$14.25 (adult), $9.25 (student), $5 (child 6-12)

The first building in the area used specifically as a governor's residence was Cary Castle, built-in 1860 by George Hunter Cary and purchased five years later by the British Crown for use as a seat for the Governor of Vancouver Island, Arthur Kennedy being the first occupant. Following the 1866 merger of the colonies of British Columbia and Vancouver Island, the mainland colony's Government House in New Westminster was abandoned to other uses and Cary Castle became the official residence of the new united colony's Governor and, from 1871 onwards, that of the provincial Lieutenant Governor.

Cary Castle, British Columbia's first Government House The mansion and its contents were destroyed by fire in May 1899, with a replacement immediately built to designs by Francis Rattenbury and Samuel Maclure. Completed in 1903, this house was used for the first time by the reigning monarch of Canada when King George VI, accompanied by his wife, Queen Elizabeth, arrived in 1939 as part of his cross-Canada tour that year. However, that incarnation of Government House also burnt down when it caught fire on 15 April 1957; the current Government House has begun soon after and completed on 19 May, two years later by John Laing & Sons. The new home was furnished with pieces bought in the United Kingdom by Lieutenant Governor Frank Mackenzie Ross and then donated to the Crown following his departure from office, as well as other items donated by various British Columbians.

By 2002, through the efforts of Lieutenant Governor Iona Campagnolo, Government House and its surrounding gardens were designated as a National Historic Site of Canada and the acknowledging plaque was unveiled by Campagnolo on 2 October of that year.

...all of which have something special about them. The Gardens are beautiful every season of the year: in the spring, countless tulips, daffodils, and hyacinths will give you a buffet of fragrances and colors; the summer will wow you with the beautiful Rose garden, the unique plants of the Mediterranian garden, the Saturday Firework Show and night illuminations as well as different evening entertainments held in the Concert Lawn; in the fall the Japanese garden starts to burn as maples become bright red, russet and yellow and in the winter, the Gardens turn into a magical place with its holiday season decorations, expansive lighting, an outdoor ice skating rink and a chance to meet Santa!

The Butchart Gardens also have a few places to sit down and enjoy a meal, a rose carousel for the little visitors, a wharf and a Seeds & Gift Store to get something that will later remind you of your trip.

History:
Robert Pim Butchart was a Portland cement manufacturer from Ontario, who came to the west coast of Canada with his wife Jennie Butchart because he needed limestone that was necessary for cement production.
In 1904, they built their home at the base of the Saanich Peninsula on Vancouver Island.
In 1907, with the help of a Japanese designer, they built a tea garden for Esquimalt Gorge Park, which then became really popular and attracted many visitors.
In 1909, when there was no more limestone left in the quarry, Jennie decided to turn it into the Sunken Garden, which was completed in 1921. They named their home "Benvenuto" ("welcome" in Italian), and began to receive visitors to their gardens. Later, they replaced their tennis courts with an Italian garden and their kitchen vegetable garden with a large rose garden.

In 1939, the Butcharts gifted the Gardens to their grandson Ian Ross on his 21st birthday.
In 1953 night illumination was installed, to mark the 50th anniversary of The Gardens, and two 30-foot totem poles were carved to mark the 100th anniversary. The Gardens still belong to the Butchart family: the owner and managing director since 2001 is the Butcharts' great-granddaughter Robin-Lee Clarke.
In 2009 the Butchart Gardens opened the Children's Pavilion and the Rose Carousel, which has thirty different animals that mirror the places from which visitors come to see the Gardens. The designs were hand-picked and the carvings were done by some of the few remaining carvers of carousel art. Each animal is carved from basswood and took many months to complete.

...look at real float-planes, water taxis, and kayaks and even try them out. The Fisherman's Wharf offers unique souvenir shops, food kiosks, and restaurants, including Barb's Fish and Chips, where you can try the amazing fish and chips everyone's talking about. Of course, most importantly, tourists get a chance to visit the famous, one and only colorful float-home moorage.

Fisherman's Wharf was built after the Second World War to accommodate commercial fishing vessels, opening in March 1948. The original 120-meter (390 foot) wharf located in Victoria's Middle Harbour could moor 60 fish-packing ships along six finger float piers. The float homes are moored on fingers A, B, and C and are all used as a residence now. All of them have access to potable water and 30 amp power. GVHA provides sewage hookups to prevent the discharge of black water. This is in keeping with federal law and helps keep the surrounding marine environment clean. Owners share their neighborhood with harbor seals, herons, eagles, geese, cormorants, gulls, otters, and raccoons.

gambling dens and brothels many years ago, but now the neighborhood's known for bold colors of lucky red and gold, distinct architecture, and business names written in Chinese on shop windows. It has, hotels, bars, restaurants, theatres, services, and shopping areas nearby as well as many tourist attractions including the old Chinese School, the Tam Kung Buddhist Temple, which is the oldest of its kind in Canada, some historic buildings and Chinese businesses, and of course the famous narrow Fan Tan Alley named after the Chinese gambling game Fan-Tan, once a gambling district with opium dens and today a tourist destination with many small shops, an art gallery, apartments, and offices. Chinese food in Chinatown is a whole other story! If you're looking for noodles, you can find a hand-made variety or get a box to go. You can have a Chinese-style brunch or order cheap lunch combo plates, giant bowls of soup with dumplings and BBQ pork (straight from hanging in the restaurant's window to your bowl).

But today Chinatown is most importantly a cultural community, including community organizations, such as the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association, founded in 1909 to protect the rights and safety of Chinese immigrants, which still gather in second-floor spaces along Fisgard Street.

History:
Victoria's Chinatown was first just a bunch of wooden shacks, built by Chinese immigrants that traveled from California and later from China chasing riches in the Fraser Canyon and beyond to Barkerville during the gold rush. Famine, drought, or war in their homeland also encouraged them to flee and around 15,000 builders came to work on the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway – Victoria became the major entry point for Asian immigration to BC. By 1911, Chinatown had a population of more than 3,158 people almost more than the entire population of downtown Victoria in 2001. From the late nineteenth century to the first decade of the twentieth century, it was the largest Chinese settlement in Canada.
Victoria's Chinatown shrunk dramatically both in size and in population between the 1920s and the 1970s, . In the 1980s it was brought back to life, most notably with the construction of the Gate of Harmonious Interest on Fisgard Street (at Government Street) as well as the introduction of coffee shops, cafes, studios, and workshops, as well as a small condominium development in Dragon Alley.