Canada 2006 Part I - Nova Scotia
We spent four days in Nova Scotia, beginning in Halifax and moving on to the South Shore around Mahone Bay and Lunenburg.
The highlights were:
Peggy’s Cove
A small rocky harbour and a very photogenic lighthouse set on top of rounded organic-shaped granite outcrops. The lighthouse is the “most photographed in Canada” and is a real tourist trap, but the surroundings are truly lovely.
Mahone Bay/Lunenburg area
Beautiful coastal area. Mahone Bay has three churches on a row on the seafront.
Blue Rocks is another beautiful rocky harbour, but with blue schists rather than granite.
Lunenburg is an old fishing port, originally settled in the mid-18th century by German and Dutch Lutherans, and has a lot of old wooden houses sloping down the hill to the harbour. The harbour is home to the Bluenose II, a famous replica of an iconic Canadian racing schooner.
Food
Great lobsters, particularly in Lunenburg’s Old Fish Factory, where the highlights were the seafood chowder and biscuit (i.e. scone) and the boiled lobster with drawn butter. Mmm.
Jo-Anne’s deli in Mahone Bay serves the most wonderful sandwiches (in particular their lobster sandwiches) and cakes.
Aren’t east Nova Scotia and west Scotland of the same geological stock?
Hard to take a bad photo then? Looks fantastic. Idyllic.
Yep, all part of the major Norway-Caledonides-Appalachian mountain chain formed by the closure of the Iapetus Ocean.
The southern continent (Avalonia) contained what is now England, Wales and Ireland south of Dublin - the Iapetus Suture runs through Lusk, Co. Dublin), and part of southern Nova Scotia.
The northern continent (Laurentia) contained what is now Scotland, Ireland north of Dublin, and northern Nova Scotia.
The closure of Iapetus resulted in the major mountain chain stretching from Norway through Scotland, Ireland, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, New England and the Appalachians. This was only broken apart by the opening of the Atlantic Ocean 65-ish mya.
Did you only go there for the geology John?!
No, there were other distractions, such as lobster and cake. Come to think of it, they are geology field trip essentials…