Take your time on the trip to Lunenburg. While you can move quickly down highway 103, you might wish to leave a little early and explore what we call the Lighthouse Route. This will take you down the charming, winding roads of yesterday where you can still catch glimpses of life as it used to be in rural Nova Scotia. Villages like Chester and Mahone Bay have a character all their own, and small artisans’ shops offer excellent handcrafted items. You could easily spend a day in either of these places.

Lunenburg itself stands uniquely among all the fishing communities of the North American seaboard. Proclaimed a world heritage site by the United Nations, it is especially interesting from an architectural and an historical point of view. This is a favorite destination of a number of the Oceanstone staff.

Walking the streets is the best way to see this town. Laid out on a steep hillside, the town presented unusual problems for its architects. There is much to see and do here, mainly in the centre of town where one can walk the hilly streets, and peer in windows of stores that offer a unique assortment of goods and historical artifacts for sale or just contemplation. Unique little restaurants and galleries abound. This are is known for its folk art as well.

The Fisheries Museum features several older ships that you can tour and an assortment of items of interest drawn from the people’s hard years at sea. Just down the road, again on the waterfront, is the shipyard where Canada’s famed racing schooner The Bluenose was built. (That’s the one that is on the back of the Canadian ten cent piece.)

Blue Rocks, a small but very old settlement on the rocky coast near Lunenburg, is stunning in its beauty and character, and well worth the ten minute drive.

Don’t forget to check our Front Desk Travel Information Station for information specific to your taste before you go!

And try to time your trip so you catch our magical sunsets on the Bay on your way home.

Day Four »