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Part of my Olympic experience when I worked at the park included trips to Victoria, British Columbia. After looking over to the Canadian coast from Neah Bay we knew we had to go for a visit. So bright and early on a Saturday morning we drove to Port Angeles, parked the car, and boarded the ferry for Victoria. There are two ferries that both depart multiple times a day for Victoria, for our morning trip we chose the faster of the two, the Victoria Express. It was a gorgeous morning in Port Angeles, though we were a bit concerned about the thick layer of fog obscuring our destination from us. Ah well, we packed rain jackets, so we were prepared.

Looking back as Port Angeles receded in the distance we had a good view of the Olympic Mountains that rise steeply behind the town. Though the mountaintops were shrouded in clouds it was still quite scenic. The harbor of Port Angeles was first named in 1791 by Spanish naval officer and explorer, Francisco de Eliza y Reventa. As has happened to so many places originally given Spanish names, the town’s name has thankfully been shortened — Puerto de Nuestra Señora de los Angeles (Port of Our Lady of the Angels) is quite a mouthful.

Our ferry ride took just about an hour during which time we spotted a small group of harbor seals, two bald eagles, and the highlight of our trip: an Orca. We were crossing the Strait of Juan de Fuca at one of its narrowest points and the water was calm, surprisingly so. The Strait which connects Puget Sound and the Georgia Strait with the Pacific Ocean was named for Juan de Fuca, a Greek navigator who sailed the area with the Spanish in 1592. The Spanish, like so many who came after them, were searching for the Strait of Anián which led to the fabled Northwest Passage. For centuries, multiple countries sought the Northwest Passage in vain. The country that controlled the direct waterway connecting the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans would have been incredibly powerful.

A lower latitude Northwest Passage never materialized, but there is a passage through the ice-clogged Arctic Ocean. Not surprisingly, as the pack ice shrinks and the waterway becomes more navigable, old conflicts over ownership have arisen anew. Canada—who owns most of the land the water touches—claims the waterway falls under their jurisdiction, but many other countries consider it to be international water, which entitles them to free passage. Look for this disagreement to heat up as the waterway continues to thaw.

In the 18th century the ice was too thick for any country to seriously explore that far north by ship. Instead countries focused on the lower coast of North America. Even though it was discovered two hundred years earlier, the Strait of Juan de Fuca wasn’t fully explored until the Spanish came through again in 1789. Food and supply shortages forced the Spanish to leave in 1791. Where the Spanish left off, George Vancouver, an English captain, and his crew took over, exploring and mapping Puget Sound and its many islands.

Poor Vancouver. Though the island that the town of Victoria sits on was named after him and history credits him for many discoveries, Vancouver died in poverty. Upon their return to England in 1795 several members of Vancouver’s crew, dissatisfied with their pay and treatment, pursued legal actions and other forms of harassment against their Captain. Had it just been a monetary dispute Vancouver could have resurrected his career, but the Captain was up against a much larger foe. Unbeknown to Vancouver at the time, the unruly 16 year-old Thomas Pitt, who joined Vancouver’s voyage as a seaman, was actually a member of the House of Lords. Pitt earned several disciplinary actions for his misconduct during the voyage, including being sent home early. The young noble resented his treatment and he set about ruining Vancouver’s reputation. I hate unfair endings so I was somewhat relieved to hear that the ill-tempered Pitt was later shot to death after challenging his friend to a duel.

Back to the ferry. Just before entering the sheltered harbor of Victoria our ferry slowed down to allow a small flotilla of hand-carved canoes to pass. The canoes were participating in the Canoe Journey that led up to the opening day of the 2008 North American Indigenous Games. We felt fortunate to see a few of the 100-plus canoes that came from various tribes across western North America, even as far away as Alaska. We were amazed by the diverse array of canoes: some long, some short, but all were brightly painted and looked seaworthy.

The Victoria harbor is a busy one: cruise ships were lined up at the outer harbor while seaplanes, local ferries, private yachts, and our ferry vied for space in the small inner harbor. Disembarking, the first thing we noticed was the quaint, old-world-village feel the city exudes. It was just as I remembered it! The streets were still colorfully adorned with hanging baskets of beautiful flowers, horse-drawn carriages shared the streets with motor vehicles, grand historic architecture dominated the skyline, and public art and green space was liberally sprinkled throughout the city.

After a brief look around to get our bearings we headed into the Royal BC Museum to steep ourselves in the history of the area. The world-renowned museum deals with three main aspects of Vancouver Island and surrounds: the natural world and its inhabitants, the people of the First Nations (both ancient and modern), and the area’s settlement period. Far and away our favorite section was the First Peoples Gallery, which houses an astounding array of artifacts dating from 8,000 years ago to recent handicrafts. While at times I was left craving more information, overall the introduction to the local native cultures was thorough with special emphasis on the fact that the First Nations are not historic relics–there are still vital, extant bands. In Canada alone there are over 600 officially recognized First Nations bands.

Armed with our new cultural perspective we ventured out to tour the city. As we hiked to the top in Beacon Hill Park it was easy to to see why this vantage point was once the site of an ancient village. The original residents were long gone by the time the first European explorers arrived. In their place were several groups of Coast Salish peoples who had an extensive culture based on the wealth of the sea. Some of the early contact was peaceful, though predictably, some of it was not. It must have been very confusing for the First Nations people to be told that their homeland was now owned by a foreign country, not just once but four different times. For roughly two centuries ownership of the land was contested by Russia, France, Spain, and England.

Ultimately, England won out and in 1843 a fur trading post was established by the Hudson’s Bay Company on Vancouver Island. In 1846 the name of the small fort was changed to honor Queen Victoria. A few notes about Her Highness. She ruled the United Kingdom from 1837 till her death in 1901, an impressive number of years. It was a remarkable time period, often referred to as the Victorian Era, in reference to the ruling Queen. I must mention one more of the Queen’s influences, the wedding gown. When she married Prince Albert (her first cousin) in 1840, she did so in a white gown, starting a tradition that is still followed by many to this day. Somehow, though, marrying your first cousin never caught on.

The small outpost of Fort Victoria wasn’t destined to remain so for long. In 1858 gold was discovered in Fraser Canyon, British Columbia and Fort Victoria became a major supply base. Helped in part by its protected port Fort Victoria was soon a bustling town of 5,000 people. As one of the largest cities in the area the Fort was dropped from Victoria’s name and it was chosen as the capital of the fledgling province of British Columbia. In 1871, when British Columbia became a part of the Canadian Confederation, Victoria remained the capital, a distinction the city still retains.

Any self-respecting provincial capital needs a special place for the all-important people to meet, so Victoria held a competition in 1893 to find an architect to design and build the new parliament building. Francis Mawson Rattenbury, a young architect recently immigrated from England, was 25 years old when his Neo-Baroque design won the contest. His design was lofty and ambitious with a tall central dome and a long facade. As might be expected, Rattenbury’s project went way over budget and embroiled him in the first of many public controversies. In 1898 the Parliament Building was finally completed and the structure still reigns over Victoria’s inner harbor.

The grand old building was the first one that caught our eye as we exited the ferry that morning. All around the complex is a large park-like lawn that invites visitors in for a stroll. Glinting in the sun at the top of the dome stands the gold-covered statue of George Vancouver and in front is a statue of the town’s namesake Queen. My favorite part about the Parliament Building is that the entire building is outlined in strands of thousands of lights that are turned on every evening. At night Victoria seems like a fairy land.

Across the way, the other commanding presence facing the inner harbor is yet another Rattenbury creation, The Empress Hotel. After completion of the Parliament Building Rattenbury was a very sought-after architect and he was soon hired by the Canadian Pacific Railway. The rapidly expanding company needed a grand hotel to accommodate their guests disembarking from CPR’s new steamship route. Rattenbury designed and presided over the construction of an impressive Chateau-style hotel which was finished in 1908.

Despite Rattenbury’s promising start he ended up most famous for scandal. Already considered by many to be a mean, penny pinching man, Rattenbury officially became an outcast when he took up with a mistress, left his wife, and turned off the utilities at the home where his wife and his children still lived. He was forced to leave Victoria and in 1927 he returned to England with his new wife, Alma. In a way perhaps Rattenbury got what he deserved: in 1935 he was murdered by Alma’s lover. The lover was found guilty and sentenced to prison, Alma committed suicide, and the whole tragedy was made famous over one hundred years later as the basis of Cause Célèbre, a 1977 play by Terence Rattigan.

Through the ensuing years the Empress fell into disrepair and at one point in the 1960s it was in danger of being razed. Thankfully, public outcry led to the refurbishment of the Empress and it remains an important Victoria landmark. In keeping with its very British feel the Empress serves afternoon tea daily. While it sounded lovely we felt the $50 per person price tag was a bit outrageous for a cup of tea and a couple tiny sandwiches. Besides, we still had more exploring to do.

“Old Town” Victoria is easily walkable with several distinct sections, each with a colorful past. We most enjoyed wandering the streets of the Chinatown district, the second oldest one in North America after the one in San Francisco. Stepping into the narrow Fan Tan Alley was like entering another world; it was easy to imagine the narrow street crowded with people as they headed to gambling rooms, opium dens, brothels, restaurants, and shops. The name is appropriate for the street since “Fan Tan” is a Chinese gambling game.

I told Lance I would only be a few minutes as I ducked into one of the souvenir shops on Fan Tan Alley just to look around. The shop consisted of a series of small rooms each packed from floor to ceiling with imported knick-knacks, toys, decorations, everyday necessities, and assorted junk. Tucked in the corners of two rooms were small dioramas depicting life in the early days of Chinatown. In the first one a Chinese man was presiding over gambling bets, in the second a man was mixing a concoction to cure an ailment from one of the many small vials on the wall. Finally I saw sunlight streaming through a door and I exited the shopping maze. In order to meet Lance where I had left him, I had to walk all the way around the block. Later I was not surprised to learn that the shop was called the “Neverending Store.”

By that point in the day the sun had burned off all the clouds and was shining warmly on us. The relatively quiet streets that met us when we first arrived that morning were now crowded with throngs of tourists. Victoria’s mild climate, old world feel, and ease of accessibility from the States has made it a popular tourist destination. There is an old saying that Victoria is for “the newly wed and nearly dead.” While we didn’t fit in either of those categories, we still had a lovely time. Before we knew it our day was over and we boarded the last outbound ferry heading back to Port Angeles.

Photos: View our photographs from Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.

Dates: We visited Victoria, British Columbia on 07/26/08.