Day 1: June 26, 2025 Halifax, NS

June 26, 2025 Halifax, NS 27,141 Steps!

First of all, Halifax is one of the most stunning places I’ve ever seen. The pictures aren’t doing it justice. It is a port town, land on both sides, kind of like San Francisco, but much narrower. There are aren’t mountains, but there is enough terrain to give it character, and the Halifax waterfront has a boardwalk that extends pretty much the length of downtown. I walked from the train station to the ferry terminal, and it was a nice boardwalk area the whole way. It has a ton of restaurants and shops, mostly geared towards tourists, but still wonderful. It doesn’t matter, because the scenery is looking at over the water. My trip started at home with a inauspicious start. I was eager to go, and completed packed up by 1pm. One of my goals on trips like this is to limit public transportation, so I wanted to take the bus to the BART station. My flight left at six, but I hate rushing to get to the airport, so I decided to catch the 1:50 bus to Castro Valley Bart. A minute before the bus comes, I realize I’m wearing my older tennis shoes, that have worn down soles. Right now, they are like old slippers, that are super comfortable, but can’t stand up to lots of walking. Fortunately, I was close to home, and could quickly change the shoes. However, that meant that I would miss the bus I planned to take. The next bus was the opposite way, to Hayward Bart, in 15 minutes. It should have been much of a debate, because I would be stuck with shoes that couldn’t stand up to test, and it would cost me less than 30 minutes time getting to the airport. In the end, connections hit, and I think it was one train. My first time flying West Jet, and it is acceptable. Maybe it was a bad day, or just a cranky attendant, but my flight attendant from San Francisco to Calgary had the pleasant demeanor of veteran teacher after the substitute left an unpleasant note about their classes behavior. In here defense, I watched passengers in her section, and it was probably deserved. No IFE, so the only option was downloaded, and noise cancelling headphones are a godsend for solo travellers. I was concerned about the connection in Calgary. AI had warned thatat going from international to domestic in CGY meant clearing customs, including checked bags, leave the airport, and then rescreen at the domestic terminal. Clearing Canadian immigration was a level-7 on hassle, but it was quick. The automated passport control was easy, but then I was interviewed by a screener, who then sent me to be interviewed by a second, and finally there was third who took my declaration and scanned my boarding pass. Three people, but there were all Canadians, and exhibited typical Canadian politeness. The flight from Calgary to Halifax was shorter than I would expect. It was only four hours, and we arrived at 6:30 (30 minutes early). The biggest issue was that my phone couldn’t access wifi, so all I had was the airport wifi. I had a day pass on HFX transit, so I took the bus from the airport into Halifax. The problem came when the bus didn’t have public wifi, and I couldn’t remember which bus that I needed to connect to. Fortunately, the connection was about a mile from my hotel. I ended up getting help to find the correct bus, found the right bus port, and it ended up taking me more time than it would take to walk. I got to my hotel far too early to check-in, and spent about 25 minutes on the phone trying to get the wifi situation sorted out. I found a nice place for breakfast, which was light (two eggs, bacon, and toast), which along with coffee came to $7! The best value tour package in any city is a day pass on the public transportation system. It’s always good, and in Halifax that includes the ferry. From downtown there are two ferries, Woodside and Alderny, and there is a 3K hike along the shore that connects the two.

The walk was perfect for what I wanted, and looked back on Halifax from the east side. I originally was going to take the ferry back to Halifax, get lunch and then check back at my hotel, but a lovely tourist information lady in Alderny told me where I could get a donair in Dartmouth. It was early, I wasn’t that hungry, but it felt rude to ignore her, so I went to the pizza that she recommended, with the caveat that she had no favorite for donair because she couldn’t eat them. Let’s just say, I tried a donair. It you don’t know, it’s a version of doner kebab, which is a popular German street food. In this case, the beef was over cooked, and it had a super sweet sauce that made my hands sticky. Nonetheless, it was next to a bar with a lovely outside terrace and I had a wonderful conversation with two locals while drinking a beer overlooking the waterfront. After getting to my hotel and recharging (phone and body), I went for my next outing, which was a park south of the train station. It was a long walk, or a bus ride, but waiting took as much time as it took to walk there.

It was a nice urban park with trails, and the old fort that protected the Halifax harbor in the 1700’s. The trail is a nice walk. The fort is a berm built into a hill, and from inside it looks like a berm on top of a hill. If you climb it, you look out over the entrance to the harbor. The highlight was look at the shipping port, and realizing that Halifax has an active shipping port. It was time for dinner after I got home and showered, and that was at a lovely pub restuarant, which had my next food bucket list. That was much nicer than the Donair!. I finished my night with a walk along the boardwalk in early twilight.

PS- if I ever comeback as a dog, I want it to be in Halifax!