Come and Visit Nova Scotia

This small and beautiful province is my family’s home at the moment. It is almost an island — connected to the mainland of Canada by a small, low piece of land called the Chignecto Ithsmus.

The biggest city is Halifax, built along one side of a natural harbour with the city of Dartmouth sprawling along the other side. The harbour stays ice-free right through the winter for all those big ocean-going vessels.

The north part of the province is the island of Cape Breton, connected to the rest of Nova Scotia by a man-made causeway. It is called “the highlands” for good reason as it is part of the Apalachian Mountain range — worn down and covered with forest. The highest point is Barren Mountain at 532 metres. It is a breathtaking place to visit in the fall.

Travelling along the coastline of the mainland brings you close to many fishing villages, colourful and haphazard, some big like Lunenberg and some small like Peggy’s Cove. The coastline changes randomly from steep cliffs to rocky beaches, pebbly beaches, sandy beaches, muddy beaches, etc.

The western coast which faces New Brunswick is unique in that it is home to the highest tides in the world — the Bay of Fundy. Depending on the tide, the boats may be floating alongside the dock, or resting on the bottom of the ocean far below the dock. A recent innovation to celebrate this is the “Not Since Moses” Run, where the running takes place on the muddy bottom of the sea.