All Ashore for Sydney!

I bet you don’t know a lot about Sydney, Nova Scotia just like me!  I didn’t know that Alexander Graham Bell lived here and that there is a museum here dedicated to his work! The city was built shortly after the American Revolution and grew significantly due to the steel industry.  Now it is recognized as the largest urban hub on the island and boasts a booming tourism industry.  Most tourists like us, come during the summer months to avoid our unpleasant hot and often smoke filled summers in the states.  There are lots of hiking trails like the Cabot Trail which loops around and takes you along the perimeter of Cape Breton Island.  You might want to relax at some of their beaches like Dominion Beach Provincial Park or Mira Gut Beach.  

We arrived in port around * ok and enjoyed beautiful weather around 82 degrees! At this port we booked again with Charlene who arranged several small vans to take folks around the area to places you might not get to in larger vehicles.  

This giant violin is at the port where we docked.  The actually played music through the sound system that you could enjoy from many violin selections. 

Small shops at the port...

View points from Cabot Trail...

The entrance to Smokey Trail....the trails were heavily covered with vegetation and warned of 

The Coywolk which is half wolf and half coyote.  Our guide said they were very aggressive but Dan says that is not accurate information ....

 


Our trip in the van mostly consisted of a few viewpoint stops....for the most part it was a long van ride and didn’t rank high on our list for excursion experiences.  Some folks paid $28 for a Lobster Roll lunch which didn’t look worth it to us.  We opted for our Kind bars and some almonds :). 

We were anxious to end this tour and get back on board the ship.  Even our tour organizer said she wasn’t happy with this small tour company.  Our guide said he moved to Sydney 9 years ago with his family to be closer to his family.  He runs this small tour company and also does restoration carpentry during the winter remodeling older historic homes back to their original condition .  Sounded like he would be lucky to get work in the winter because the economy didn’t seem to be doing all that well.  But he loves it there and says the way of life is worth living simply and economically.  

Our entertainment onboard was Akos Laki, an extremely talented sax virtuouso with a flair for Latin jazz!  He was worthy staying up for :).