scotia canada this summer we had the chance to  visit halifax in partnership with tourism nova  

scotia and over the course of our visit we went on  some fun and unusual tours and also hit up some of  

the city's must visit attractions in this video  we'll tour the recently opened george's island  

and venture deep into the tunnels we'll go on  a spooky after-hours ghost tour of the citadel  

we'll sail aboard tall ship silva as we sample  local nova scotia wines we'll explore the maritime  

museum of the atlantic where we'll learn more  about the titanic and the halifax explosion  

we'll ride a colorful amphibious vessel known  as the harbour hopper and a whole lot more  

the following is our halifax travel guide  in nova scotia canada so join us as we share  

some of the best things to do in halifax  on your visit let's go explore shall we

we're going to kick things off with halifax's  newest attraction george's island set in the  

middle of halifax harbor this island has  been a parks canada historic site since 1965  

but it only opened to the public this  summer to reach the island we traveled  

aboard the harbor queen 1 which is  operated by ambassador's greyline

all right guys so this morning we are  on a little bit of an excursion we have  

come to george's island which is the newest  attraction here in halifax nova scotia it was  

just a 15-minute ride to get here by boat  we got beautiful views of the waterfront  

and yeah this is a really cool place we've got  a guide who's going to be showing us around  

sharing a bit of the history of this  place and yeah let's go check it out

okay so we've got our handy little map here and  we're basically going to be exploring the island  

on foot there's lots of places of interest along  here once we reached george's island we got to  

see the lighthouse walk along the fortifications  and take a guided tour of the historic tunnels  

there is a lot of history to unpack here so  doing the guided tours highly recommended  

in order to learn more about the roles the  micmac acadians and british forces played here

that was a great tour yeah we just got out of the  tunnels just so fascinating to hear the importance  

of this island as a strategic fort also to learn  about its history and the fact that we're some  

of the very first people getting to visit here  yeah that feels special it feels very special  

also guys you can see a bit of wildlife here  on the island i have counted three snakes so  

far and some cute little mice keep an  eye open for those little step on them  

but don't worry the snakes are small and as you  can see the mice are super cute so nothing to fear

one place we revisited time and time again over  the course of our trip to halifax canada was the  

harbor front the boardwalk runs almost four  kilometers in length and it's where many of  

the restaurants museums boutique shops and tour  operators are located there are also plenty of  

hammocks benches and chairs where you can stop and  enjoy the view and you can't miss the drunken lamp

posts  

but now it's time for a little day trip across the  water dartmouth is located on the eastern shore  

of halifax harbor and it's just a 10 minute  ferry ride over they have an awesome foodie  

scene with restaurants cafes plenty of craft  breweries plus lots of really cool street art

okay guys so we just took the ferry over to  dartmouth it is 275 per person to get over to  

the other side and it's only a 10 minute ride like  it is so close by so if you're gonna be visiting  

halifax nova scotia you may as well cross over  and see what's on the other side of the harbor  

also you get some amazing views of the  halifax skyline so we were on the deck  

snapping photos like crazy filming a little  bit for you guys today's a bit of a windy day  

but we have beautiful blue skies it's sunny so i  think we're really going to enjoy our time here  

our plan is to maybe grab a meal on this side and  also walk along the harbor front trail which looks  

really nice and we'll see what we find along the  way so let's get to it so this is kind of cool  

walking along the trail here we came across the  dartmouth cove mural project and basically there's  

this area with old warehouses and buildings where  they've given access to different artists to come  

and create their works of art so you  can actually see some of them here  

over my shoulder there's a bit of everything  like some of it is stencils graffiti you've  

got like some really elaborate pieces so it's  kind of a cool area to check out if you do enjoy  

street art plus you get some beautiful views  of the cove dartmouth cove right over here  

during our visit to dartmouth we also tried  a delicious crop stir roll at the canteen on  

portland that's crab and lobster and one delicious  toasted buttery bun now this is a lobster roll  

i am proud look at that thing of beauty look at  the size it is overflowing with lobster and crab  

it's a cromster so let's just bite  on it look at that i love that i know  

you're gonna be sharing that perfectly toasted  i'm insisting you share it looks so good

oh my gosh is that the lobster  roll that dreams are made of  

most definitely the bun is so buttery and it's  just loaded loaded look at that it's jacked um  

this is one of those instances where i  don't want to share but you're going to

my

you hungry oh yeah me too now let me just  briefly mention the food halifax is a foodie  

destination and one of the highlights of our  visit was getting to eat our way around town  

that one was a little stuck if you watched the  previous video you already know we feasted on  

seafood over the course of our visit from  seafood towers and crab and lobster rolls  

to risotto with scallops and lobster  linguini we couldn't get enough of the  

food scene we filmed a dedicated food video  showcasing all the places we ate at and all  

the dishes we tried so if you're a fellow food  enthusiast you'll want to check that out later  

and since we're on the topic of food we  can't fail to mention the halifax seaport  

farmers market which is the oldest continuously  operating farmers market in all of north america

well good morning it is a saturday here in halifax  canada so today we've come down to the farmers  

market it's a really cool place to come and  have breakfast because you have different shops  

selling like bagels smoothies sandwiches  there's just a lot to choose from  

plus you can also come for  your fresh produce we saw  

blueberry smoothies at one spot and they looked  so good so that's what we're having right now

it's a local nova scotia product that's so good  

the blueberries are actually from gore and we  drove through there yeah on the way here so it's  

really cool it makes it a little more it makes it  a little more special doesn't it that's very nice  

we got the one with almond milk and they also do  like strawberry blackberry smoothies you can get a  

triple blend so yeah very tasty and just a really  cool place to be hanging out on a weekend morning  

yeah totally agree yeah there's also seating  upstairs on the second floor and they've got  

lots of nice chairs along the waterfront so you  can just come relax enjoy the view it's a nice

place  

well guys we have come to the halifax public  gardens in search of a bit of greenery  

the lungs of the city here it's a nice little  slice of tranquility isn't it it sure is and  

apparently this is one of the finest examples of  a victorian garden here in north america yeah so  

there you go it's incredible and i mean we just  kind of came through the bustling area of the city  

center to come here and just have just an escape  like this loving it yeah you can hear the birds  

chirping it's so calm the sun's going down as we  walk through the halifax public gardens we came  

across a bandstand fountains ponds statues wrought  iron gates and plenty of flowers in bloom we  

really enjoy this spot and it's super close to the  citadel so you can easily visit these two places

together

all right guys so we have come to the  halifax citadel because today we are doing a  

spirit tasting and ghost tour and we are  going to be listening to some spooky stories  

and drinking some spirits of our own i hear  there's going to be some gin some rum we'll see  

what else but it sounds like a really fun way to  visit the main attraction in the city so why not  

do something a little different right we arrived  at the citadel just as the sun was starting to set  

right on time to take part in two back-to-back  tours first up a spirits tasting with compass  

distillers who age their spirits inside the  citadel how cool is that we joined the raise  

your spirits tour first up we were welcomed by  a highlander at the entrance who shared some  

history about this fortification the role that  alcohol played in rallying the british troops  

and some fun trivia like the fact that the  southern part of brunswick street was infamously  

known as knock em down street due to the number  of taverns and fights that broke out there

yes it's pretty awesome we also got  to see where the barrels are kept and  

learn how the various spirits are aged  and then it was time for the tasting  

we tried a total of three spirits the noongan gin  the fort george jennifer and the daily ration rum  

this was paired with a tasty charcuterie board  featuring an assortment of meats artisanal  

cheeses and bread it was a fun way to kick off  the evening before moving on to the ghost tour

we are starting the ghost tour anyone who does  come into the citadel at night is always surprised  

to find that the place is not unoccupied the first  weird story i ever heard about the citadel i heard  

when i was just a little kid they used to tell  us look out for that woman in the white dress  

that walks around the citadel and we'd say why and  they'd say well we don't know what she's all about  

we've been kicking her out for years and nobody  knows where she comes from or how she gets into  

the fort well wherever we travel sam loves to  support the local team yeah the new outfit so i  

am supporting the halifax mooseheads yeah i mean  one of the most iconic junior franchises in all  

of canada they have a very impressive alumni of  hockey players the most famous recently probably  

being the local boy nathan mckinnon who happens to  be my dad's favorite player and arguably the best  

player in the world at the moment so really  happy to pick up a team hat and a shirt now  

compared to other sports teams in the world i  think they have one of the most iconic logos  

and i'd eventually love to come to a game  someday right now is not hockey season but  

if you're visiting from like october until early  spring you should definitely go check out a game  

great experience if you want to see what hockey  is like in canada if you're visiting canada  

for the first time should definitely check  out a hockey game here in halifax and i  

forget to mention these are presents for both  of our fathers so go lose it go loose that's

next up we visited the maritime museum of  the atlantic this is the oldest and largest  

maritime museum in canada with a collection  of more than 30 000 artifacts including 70  

small crafts and one steamship there are many  permanent exhibits to visit here with two of the  

most famous being titanic the unsinkable ship  and the halifax explosion the titanic exhibit  

looks at what travel aboard this vessel would  have been like from third class to first class  

the personal stories of some of the workers aboard  the ship and artifacts that were recovered after  

the sinking the exhibit also explores the  role halifax played following the tragedy  

because while the surviving passengers continued  on to new york those who perished came to halifax  

the halifax explosion is another important exhibit  to learn about the disaster that devastated the  

city on the morning of december 6 1917. this  occurred when the ss montblanc a french cargo  

ship carrying explosives collided with the  norwegian vessel ssemo a fire on board the  

friendship ignited the cargo causing the  largest human-made explosion at the time  

pieces of debris and photographs from  that day can be viewed in the museum

so that was our visit to the maritime  museum of the atlantic thoughts  

very impressive museum two stories i mean it's the  most fascinating maritime museum i've ever been to  

just so interactive so many fascinating displays i  love the model ships far more than just a titanic  

although there's some great information about the  titanic too like i'm not a huge museum person but  

i can honestly give this a very generous two  thumbs up as a place to visit when you're in  

halifax and as a tip once you're on the second  floor of the museum there's an observation deck  

you can come out to that's where we are right  now and also something really interesting too  

is on tuesday afternoons it's free and uh  we're visiting on a tuesday afternoon so we  

paid no admission yeah it's free between 1 and  4 pm yeah definitely check it out we mentioned  

earlier that the maritime museum of the atlantic  has a steamship on display and that's the acadia  

she was the first vessel specifically designed and  built to survey canada's northern waters and her  

career took her from the icy waters of hudson's  bay to nova scotia's south shore at the end of  

her career she was used to chart the coast of  newfoundland and she also holds the distinction  

of being the only surviving ship to have served  the royal canadian navy during both world wars

while we were exploring the harbor front we came  across the hmcs sackville this is a corvette or  

small warship that served in the royal canadian  navy and later as a civilian research vessel  

the sackville was designated a national  historic site of canada due to her status  

as the last flower class corvette known to exist  the flower class corvette was a british class  

of 294 corvettes used during world war ii she is  now parked on the harbour front as a museum ship

alexander keith's is an institution in halifax  and it's one of the first places that gets  

recommended to anyone visiting the city this  is the oldest brewery in halifax having been  

founded in 1820 by alexander keith himself who  had immigrated from scotland three years prior