Our twelfth-floor hotel room provided a glimpse of today’s first destination, the Halifax Citadel National Historic Site. Constructed by the British in the 1800s and officially called St. George, the impressive star-shaped facility was about a ten minute walk away.
The Citadel could be seen from our hotel room window.
One section of the building took us through the history of Halifax and uses of the fort, all the way through World War II. Another exhibit was dedicated to a look at trench warfare in the first World War. The barracks gave a glimpse of life living at the fort.
The girls, before walking downstairs to the trench warfare exhibit.
Bagpipes and drums were played in the courtyard. North and south observation points provided views of the citadel and downtown Halifax. Demonstration rooms allowed Emmie to try out an old-fashioned ink pen and me dress in a kilt portraying a member of the Scotland-based 78th Highland Regiment, who was stationed at the Citadel between 1869 and 1871.
Noah points to our hotel, which not surprisingly could be seen from the fort.
Emmie started the paperwork to join the British army.
We made a slight modification in our itinerary to eat lunch before going to the well-rated Halifax Public Garden. Our burgers at Krave were merely average; not bad, but we’d eat somewhere else the next time we’re in downtown Halifax.
Krave’s best feature may have been its location, less than a block from the Public Gardens. The gardens featured numerous flower beds accessible by pathways and built around an elegant central bandstand. The kids loved our time at the gardens, smelling and observing the various greenery.
After the gardens, Amanda retreated to our hotel with Eilidh while Joy, Noah, Emmie, and I did a little more exploring in downtown Halifax. We started at Woozles Children’s Bookstore, where the kids mostly spent time playing with the trinket toys near the checkout. I grabbed an iced green pure vida tea at Canadian-based DAVIDsTEA before one final stop at a letterpress store.
Following a brief stop at the hotel, Emmie and I made a grocery store run to pickup diapers, snacks, and most notably, Canadian OREOs, something we’d been looking forward to since our visit to Toronto a year ago. Of course, I wasn’t satisfied stopping at just one grocery store, so after Sobeys, we went to the Atlantic Superstore.
With our grocery checklist complete, Emmie and I moved on to Starbucks, where she had a Vanilla Bean Frappuccino and I ordered my usual iced green tea. The quaint neighborhood also featured a butcher shop, two local gift shops, and a bakery, where we shared a canele and apple clafoutis.
Our apple clafoutis, from Julian’s Patisserie.
A trip to the local shopping mall was the final evening activity, so we loaded up the van and visited the Mic Mac Mall in nearby Dartmouth. The mall was unassuming from the outside but had a decent array of stores including favorites like H&M and The Children’s Place. With Canada Day coming up on July 1, we picked up themed shirts for the older kiddos while we were at the mall.
On the menu for supper was Salvatore Pizzaiolo Trattoria, a cozy restaurant located in the same neighborhood as the aforementioned Starbucks and bakery. We split three pizzas and loved them all. The crust was delightfully flavorful and topped with high quality meats, vegetables, and cheeses.
The Pizza Tutto Carne was topped with pepperoni, salami, and homemade meatballs.
Noah couldn’t get enough of the cheese pizza, pummeling through three pieces before losing hunger into his fourth. His valiant attempt fell short of his five-piece record from Kaffi Krus in Iceland but he nonetheless raved about the pizza during the whole meal. We’ll definitely visit again our next time in Halifax.
Noah was nearing the end of his second piece at the time of this photo.
Noah began his fourth and final piece with oomph.
We attempted to close the night with ice cream from COWS in downtown Halifax, but the inability to find a parking spot caused us to arrive just moments after their 9:00 p.m. closing time. I attempted to offset my ice cream disappointment with a maple “chill” treat (blended milk, ice, and maple flavor) from Tim Horton’s but it didn’t fill the void.
Tomorrow we make a mini road trip to Peggy’s Cove, perhaps Canada’s most famous lighthouse.
Looks like a great day! Love all the pictures.