q is for quandie

Lately one topic that has been getting a lot of press is over-tourism.  So many of the most popular tourist destinations have become overrun with visitors; places like Venice, Barcelona or Amsterdam.

Perhaps you’ve seen news footage of locals spraying tourists with water pistols in Barcelona.

There is so much to unpack in any conversation about this situation and I don’t want to get into that here other than to say that I’m not keen on the idea of going somewhere where I’m not welcomed.  Although that being said, I have been to all three of those cities and had a perfectly wonderful time.

But today’s post is about a little known place that has precisely the opposite attitude towards tourists called Saint Pierre and Miquelon.

Saint Pierre and Miquelon is an archipelago of eight islands off the coast of Newfoundland.  However, it’s not part of Canada.  While France gave up most of its territories in North America after the French and Indian war, it held onto this one because its fishing industry was so important for keeping French citizens fed.  To this day, Saint Pierre and Miquelon is still a French territory, or more correctly, a ‘French overseas collectivity’.  The official language is French, and the official currency is the Euro.

In other words, it’s a little bit of France in North America.

Unfortunately, the economy of this small collectivity suffered greatly with the decline of the fishing industry and the 1992 Canadian cod moratorium.  As a result, there is now an ongoing push to promote tourism in an effort to boost their economy.

We took a guided walking tour on our visit, and although there wasn’t a whole lot to see, it was very interesting and informative.

We learned about the fishing industry that remains, and the Saint Pierre working dory.

These are flat-bottomed fishing boats that are unique to Saint Pierre.

We also learned quite a bit about what it means to be a French overseas collectivity.  They are semi-autonomous, having their own local government, while the French government retains authority over areas such as justice, defense, and university education.  Our guide told us that many of the college age residents go to university in France.

What I really wanted to know more about though was the Île aux Marins, or Sailor’s Island.

Doesn’t that look like the perfect spot to film a murder mystery?

Actually, there is a Canadian crime drama called Saint-Pierre, and it is filmed on location, but I’m not sure if any of it has been filmed on Sailor’s Island.  It airs on the Canadian network CBC.  I may have to figure out if I can stream it somewhere online.

But back to Sailor’s Island itself, it is a small island just a few hundred yards off the coast of St. Pierre that was once a fishing village.  However, it was abandoned completely in 1963.  It has now been turned into an open air museum (and you know I love a good open air museum).

Unfortunately, as I mentioned when I returned from this trip, I came down with Covid about mid-trip and this particular day was when I first started feeling unwell.  So I just didn’t have it in me to get up early, figure out how to get over there, and visit it, all before our previously scheduled 1 pm walking tour.

I have to say, I really regret not making more of an effort to visit it.  Although I’m not entirely sure it would have even been possible.  I never saw any boats heading over that way, so I do wonder if it was closed for the season.

We sailed away from Saint Pierre at 3 pm, so once our walking tour concluded we had to get right back to the ship and weren’t able to do any additional exploring.

It was a beautiful afternoon, perfect for heading back out to sea.

Have any of you been to Saint Pierre and Miquelon?  Did you even know that there was a little bit of France still located just off the coast of Canada (I didn’t)?  Leave a comment and let me know.

If you’ve followed me for long, you know that I love a good living history museum.

Probably my all-time favorite is The Beamish in Newcastle upon Tyne, England.

Another favorite is the Norsk Folkemuseum in Oslo.

But when Mr. Q suggested we visit the Fortress of Louisbourg on our recent trip to Canada, I wasn’t terribly excited.  I figured it would be another military history/battlefield sort of place.  As I may have mentioned in the past, Mr. Q is a war game fan, and he had played a game that featured a battle that took place here.  Thus, his wish to see it.

The Fortress of Louisbourg is a partial reconstruction of an 18th-century French fortress on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia.  And as it turns out, I was pretty delighted to discover that it is also a fantastic living history museum staffed with costumed interpreters.

The original settlement in the area dates back to 1713, but the fortress itself was built by the French in the mid-1700’s to defend against the British.  Unfortunately, it was built in a poor location for defense and it was captured by British forces twice.  The British then demolished the fort beginning in 1760 to prevent the French from recapturing it again.  The site was then abandoned by 1785.  So, considering it was the largest and most expensive European fortification in North America, it didn’t last very long.

The reconstruction was begun in 1961 and is the largest reconstruction project in North America.

We were able to catch a demonstration about hot chocolate in one building.

This costumed enactor was a wealthy merchant who imported chocolate.  He explained how expensive the chocolate was, and how they used it to make a hot chocolate drink.  It was slightly more complicated than adding 4 tablespoons of Swiss Miss to a mug of hot water.  Next we all got to try a cup.  Delicious, and educational.

We also saw a demonstration of how to fire a musket …

along with an explanation of what life in the fortress was like for the common soldier, which was not great.  Apparently many promises were made when they were recruited in France, but they didn’t really come to fruition once they got to Louisbourg.  Then they were stuck there thousands of miles from home.

We also enjoyed a demonstration of the entertainment of the time at the Inn.

The fortress had four gates that led inside including the Frederic Gate that was on the waterfront.

I thought that was an unusual design.

There are over 50 buildings to explore over 6 acres.

You are able to wander around through fully furnished buildings at your own pace, or you can opt for a guided tour.

Many of the buildings were manned by costumed interpreters.  We spoke with the housekeeper in this kitchen for quite some time as she explained what her day to day life was like.

My only complaint about visiting the Fortress of Louisbourg is that we didn’t have enough time there.  This is definitely one of the downsides of traveling on a cruise ship, you have limited time in each port of call.  There was so much more to see here if we’d only been able to spend all day, we really just skimmed the surface of what was available.  I’d love to return some day to see more, but I’m not optimistic about the chances that I’ll ever make it back to Cape Breton Island.

How about you?  Have you been to this part of Nova Scotia?  Or would you like to add it to your bucket list?  Leave a comment and let me know.

Every time I publish one of these travel blog posts I feel like I’m that family member who forces everyone to sit through a slide show from their summer vacation.

You know, like back in the 60’s when slides were the thing, and everyone had to sit in a dark room and watch as Dad clicked through slide after slide.

And most of those slides weren’t terribly good either.

Probably half of the audience fell asleep, and the other half desperately needed that cocktail in their hands.

So I apologize if that’s how you feel about these travel posts, but to be perfectly honest, I do these posts for myself.

I used to scrapbook all of my trips.

But I don’t scrapbook anymore.  I still miss it sometimes, but I also don’t necessarily want to continue to add to the 40 or so scrapbooks that will definitely end up in the landfill one day.

So, yeah, now I do these blog posts mainly so that I can go back and look at them later and reminisce about a trip we took.

Feel free to just skip over them if they just make you want to take a nap (or drink a cocktail), I fully understand.

And that brings me to the 2nd port of call on our recent cruise on the St. Lawrence seaway, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.

As you can see, it was another absolutely beautiful day.  We had glorious weather on this trip.

I have to say that there wasn’t a whole lot to see here though.  We could have taken a shore excursion to visit the Anne of Green Gables house, but I never read those books as a child so that didn’t really interest me.  We also could have done a guided tour in a horse drawn wagon, but instead we pretty much did the same tour on foot on our own.

We walked through town admiring some of the historic homes along the way.

There were definitely some lovely old homes.

But here’s what stood out to me the most in Charlottetown, the locals were the friendliest, most helpful people I’ve ever encountered as a tourist.

We had grabbed a ‘self-guided walking tour’ map from the ship before disembarking, so as we walked along we had to stop a few times to refer to the rather unwieldy map.  Nearly every time we stood on a street corner with that map unfolded, a local would stop and ask if they could help us find something.  One guy was even just stopped at a stoplight in his vehicle when he rolled down his window and asked if we needed directions somewhere.

We could not possibly have felt any more welcomed by the locals.  It was truly remarkable.  Especially these days when tourists are definitely not welcomed everywhere.

We did eventually make our way to the Beaconsfield Historic House.  The house was built in 1877 as the residence of a wealthy shipbuilder.

And we happened to be just in time for a guided tour of the inside.

When the tour guide asked us to name the oldest thing in the dining room, I correctly guessed that it was the Christmas cactus in the window.  I knew those things could live for decades.  She said it was over 100 years old, although I don’t know exactly how they have a record of that.

The house was built with the most modern features of the time including central heating, gas lighting and running water.  Cold water, that is.  If you wanted hot water they still had to heat it on the stove and then carry it upstairs to the bath room.

I always enjoy seeing the kitchens in these old homes, not sure why that is since I don’t spend a lot of time in my own kitchen.

I’m not entirely sure whether or not those cabinets are original, but aren’t they gorgeous?

After touring the Beaconsfield House we moved on to walk around Victoria Park and the Prince Edward Battery, and then back through town towards our ship.

We had plenty of time left before we sailed though, so we then headed over to Lobster on the Wharf.

It’s the restaurant above with all of the red awnings.

Prince Edward Island is known for its lobster, so we figured we had to try some.  We ordered a lobster dip appetizer that was absolutely delicious.  We also ordered a lobster roll to share, and after one bite I decided that was not for me.  But Mr. Q polished it off and thought it was pretty good.  To be fair, I don’t particularly like fish or most seafood.

With that, it was time to sail away from Charlottetown and head towards our next port of call, Sydney, Nova Scotia.  If I haven’t put you to sleep with my travel posts, be sure to check back next week to read about Sydney!