Prince Edward Island - 31 Aug - 1 Sep

We had a leisurely start before catching 10am cab to Quebec airport. A short flight (45 mins) in a small prop-jet took us to Montreal. After a 90 minute wait, we boarded the same plane for the 90 minute flight to Prince Edward Island (universally written as PEI). Even though the Quebec to Montreal flight is so short, by the time you add the time for a cab to the airport and the inevitable waiting that comes with airports, the three hour train ride between the centres of the two cities is about equivalent. Of course, given the weirdness of airline prices, it’s actually cheaper to fly Quebec to PEI, via Montreal, than simply paying for the second leg (Montreal to PEI) alone.

We arrived In Charlottetown at 5:30pm. Our hotel is the Rodd Charlestown. This is a lovely old hotel, opened in 1931. It was opened by The Canadian National Railway, who developed luxury hotels across the country.

PEI is the smallest province, with the lowest population, but the two combined mean that it has the highest population density of any province. Nonetheless, it is by no means crowded.

We wandered downtown and found the Old Dublin Pub. There we had cold lobster with salad. This involved a 1 lb lobster - all for $19.95 - which seemed a bargain.

The next day (Sunday) was our tour day. We had booked an "Everything Anne" tour for the four of us from 10 am to 2 pm. As it was just us, Kevin, our guide, made it into an island tour with about an hour of Anne, which worked well.

Green Gables farm

For the uninitiated, Anne is Anne of Green Gables, the novel by Lucy Maud Montgomery. This popular series of novels was written in the early 1900's and set on PEI, the home of Lucy Maud. Most tourists come here because of Anne of Green Gables, which is a work of fiction, though the green-gabled house and the wood and walks that Lucy Maud included are real and still exist.

We drove to various parts of the island, on the south and north coasts. Key industries include agriculture (it's the biggest source of potatoes in Canada), fishing (lobster, mussels, oysters mainly, with some other catch, including tuna) and tourism. The land is very green, but by November, the days are short and the weather very cold. December brings snow and by January all the sea around is frozen. So, the only time that much of the island's industry can work is the summer!

Lobster Pots outside fisherman's shack

We saw mussel farms and lobster pots, along with fishermen's shacks. Much of the countryside is idyllic; so that numbers of people have summer shacks on the island. "Shack" is a term, not a description - these are very substantial houses, often with great views of inlets or other water. The owners seem to come from Canada, the US and even from overseas. As it happens, houses on the island are not expensive - for example beautiful two-story heritage timber homes in Charlottetown might cost less than $300,000.

We came to the Green Gables farm at Cavendish. which is now a National Cultural Place. It's what draws the tourists, including

Lovers' Lane

cruise boats (and particularly Japanese). In fact, it is the farm that Lucy Maud knew and imagined into her story, though some of the furnishings have now been altered to better match the book!

It's a pretty farm in an very beautiful environment. It does give some sense of how PEI farmer of 1900 lived. There are attractive short walks in the surrounding forests.

Back to town for a stroll around the town. We had lunch at the Brits Fish and Chip place. The seafood is excellent here (avoid anything deep-fried in batter though), though the chips aren't great.

We the strolled around the town. In particular, we saw the PEI Assembly Building. PEI is small, but is a province and has all the political aspects, inkling and elected assembly and a premier. PEI has about the same population as Glen Eira or Cairns.

PEI Assembly Building

The PEI Assembly building has an important place in Canadian history. In 1864, representatives of the provinces and territories met here and put in train the processes that led to the creation of the Dominion of Canada in 1867. The room where they met is still there - with the same furniture.

There is a strong sense here of the end of the season. The summer season seems to end on Labor Day (tomorrow) and most tourist attractions begin to wind back or even close. You get the sense for the islanders that you talk to that "winter is coming". This is probably reinforced here as visitors close up there summer homes and leave. Islanders clearly see themselves as different - anyone not born here s seen as CFA - coming from away.

We had dinner at the Water Prince, a local restaurant specialising in fish. We all had the scallops, which were delicious.