The journey over to Victoria is quite picturesque.  We took the ferry over and soaked up the views of the mountains in the distance.  It rained a little on the way over, but it didn’t keep us from being out on the deck.  The calm of the water, the rugged rocky coastline, the deep green treeline, and the fresh cool breeze.  Truly serene.

 A short stop in beautiful Victoria, British Columbia with enough time to have a couple of meals and take in some familiar sites.  We found a quaint Scottish pub for lunch, and an Irish pub for dinner.  We both enjoy the atmosphere and relaxing setting of a local pub (no matter where we are in the world).  Plus these pubs scream charm, take a look for yourself…

We visited the Parliament buildings during the day.  However, I would recommend to visit the building at night as well since it is lit up.  There are approximately 3,500 lights on the building.

Statue of Queen Victoria, perfectly centered in front the Parliament building:

The Fairmont Empress Hotel is a beautiful old building to admire, overlooking the inner harbour of Victoria.  If you have the opportunity, you may want to stop in to enjoy afternoon tea.

If you are stopping through Victoria, I would recommend more than one night.  There are many sites and museums to visit.  As an idea for a day trip, one afternoon we decided to make a short trip outside Victoria to Hatley Castle (https://drifterschronicles.com/2013/11/02/visiting-hatley-castle-near-victoria-british-columbia/).

From Victoria, we continued up Vancouver Island – destination, Tofino (https://drifterschronicles.com/2013/09/17/clayoquot-sound-a-kayak-trip-to-remember/).