The sun was shining brightly when we woke up this morning and grabbed our Starbucks for the road trip to Lunenburg. The bellhops and valets (who all wear kilts here, by the way!) all smiled and commented on what a superb day we had for the tour. They were not wrong. The winding lighthouse trail is a coastal roadway from Halifax to Lunenburg and passing through such other pretty cove towns such as Margaret's Bay, Chester, Mahone's Bay to name a few. The road is dotted with small fish shacks, diners, antique stores and (it was Saturday) random and plentiful garage sales. I immediately thought of my friend Marjorie who would have been delighted to find that almost every parking lot was cluttered with stuff that spilled out of people's cars and trucks onto makeshift stands. It looked like they were doing a brisk business, too.
Lunenburg is the type of town I have always envisioned in a novel about the seaside. The homes and buildings in the village are colourful and rustic as well as perfectly and beautifully decked out with flowers and cheerful flags and other adornments. We stopped for lunch at the Dockside and ate on the back deck. The place was packed. The deck overlooked the pier (one of several) in Lunenburg where charters were taking passengers out for whale watching and other tours. The visibility was perfect and you could see for miles across the glimmering water to islands and boats and the ocean. Like a postcard. Our lunch was traditional fare: seafood chowder (more like soup since it wasn't too creamy) and fried scallops. With a couple of Keith's to wash it down of course. We followed our lunch with a stroll through the village where we were told where the Bluenose was being refurbished. We headed back to Halifax via the regular highway so as not to be late for our dinner reservations.
We were very lucky to get reservations at The Five Fisherman Restaurant on Argyle. This is one of the most popular places in town. There are three dining areas in the restaurant: the patio, the grill and the upper floor which is the main dining room. We were seated in the upper floor at a cozy table in the interior of the building (note: when we come back again, I would choose the grill or the upper dining room at a window table .... the views are amazing). Our waiter was a charming young lad who had completed his degree at SFX (wearing the ring proudly as a sign) and was working at the restaurant while biding his time for a teaching position. He recommended wines from the region (didn't know there was a wine region here!) and we chose a sparkling wine. We were still quite satisfied from lunch, so we ordered lighter fare for dinner: starting with the happy hour special: Oysters! then lobster caesar salad for me and a seafood chowder for my partner (this was the creamy kind and rated better for that reason than the lunch variety) and then we shared a seafood sampler which consisted of a remarkable presentation of three-tiered plates each with a variety of seafood such as lobster, crab, clams, mussels, (more) oysters, smoked salmon and salmon pate. This was a feast to behold. Somehow I saved room for the creme brulee with wild blueberries. The walk back to the hotel was definitely a blessing after the feast of the east! Tomorrow .... Cape Breton and the Keltic Lodge!
No comments:
Post a Comment