Halifax Nova Scotia and Peggy's Cove

We got off the ship and explored a little bit of Halifax early in the day.  We mostly walked around the town near where our ship was docked.

We really didn't have any specific plans for the first part of the day.

We walked around and found that the area had a bit of a college town vibe.  We discovered a cool local bookshop with lots of local and specialized magazines.  We also found a nice gift and candy shop called "Sweet Jane's"!  Lou Reed was going through my head for the rest of the day.

Halifax does have a nice, bigger city feel, but it still feels comfortable.  We walked around and felt that the locals were friendly and pleasant.

We did have an excursion booked through Norwegian to take us out to Peggy's Cove and to the cemetery in town where many people who died in the sinking of the Titanic were buried.

So, we went back and got on a bus for this excursion!

They actually had 3 busses ready to handle all of the cruisers who had signed up and bought tickets for this one.  It kind of seems like a hectic process at first, but it really wasn't.  It only takes a few minutes to get on the bus and get moving.

Our bus first went out to Peggy's Cove and it was a nice drive out there.  When we finally got to Peggy's Cove, we were given an hour to explore.

I would call Peggy's Cove a colorful little fishing village right out of casting.  If you wanted a very idealized little spot, complete with a nice old lighthouse...  well, this would be it.

Check out the photos...  Google it.  It is nearly perfect.  EXCEPT for the tourists.... and the tour busses... and the fairly large gift shop.  When we arrived, our large excursion bus squeezed into a parking spot right next to several others.  Even with the tourists and vehicles....  it is still a very pretty place.  BUT I kept thinking about how special it must have been before.

AND, it got me thinking.  I know there are other great, similar spots all over the place that are just as nice, and not overrun.


Still, this is a cool place that should probably be on everyone's bucket list.

One very cool touristy thing they do here that felt very retro (and I would love to see other legendary roadside attractions do this) is they have a custom postcard booth.  There is a guy in a shack, and he will take a photo of you with the light house in the background, and then put the photo on a postcard!  For $7 each (there is a volume discount for 3 or more) you can have a nice, thick, mailable postcard from Peggy's Cove with you and your pals pictured on the card!


As we left the area, our guide told us about Swissair Flight 111 that crashed into the bay nearby, resulting in the death of everyone on the airplane.  The guide told the story of the father of one of the passengers.  He came to the area to see where his daughter died, and then he could not leave.  He started a restaurant in Peggy's Cove.  He ran the place for about a decade but then sold it to go back home.  Maybe he had some closure at that point.

Our guide asked us to be back to the bus by 2:30, but many people lingered well after that.  Some people casually walked back to the bus around 2:45, with most everyone else waiting.  This was something that I thought was a big negative on doing the excursions....  One or two people straggling can affect time spent at other sites- like our next one on this excursion- Fairfax Cemetery.