Subtitles section Play video Print subtitles hey guys samuel and audrey here and today we're showing you around the historic port town of lunenburg nova scotia this was the first stop of a road trip along nova scotia south shore and i don't think we could have chosen a more picturesque spot in this video we'll go on a harbour tour for the best views of lunenburg we'll learn about the town's fishing heritage with a visit to the fisheries museum of the atlantic we'll stumble upon a chandlery overflowing with trinkets and treasures we'll sip on maple rum and fruity liqueurs and nova scotia's first micro distillery will admire the buildings in the old town which are painted in the most cheerful of colors and a whole lot more so join us as we share some of the best things to do in lunenburg nova scotia the following is our lunenburg travel guide well good morning good morning guys morning guys welcome to lunenburg canada yeah a place we've wanted to visit in nova scotia for years for a very long time this is probably the most picturesque postcard perfect town maybe even in all of canada i would say so we are very excited to be here yeah first full day we're planning to just wander around on foot check out the museums yeah exactly touring there's some great seafood local seafood as well plenty to do and this is also a great place to obviously hop on a boat and do some a boat tour there's also whale watching available so we're hoping to do it all and we're so pumped to be here of course the first place we visited in lunenburg was the waterfront after all this is a town with a big seafaring pass plus we were kind of drawn in by the sailboats fishing vessels tall ships and everything else in between so we've been having lots of fun wandering along here on the waterfront there's just so many photos to be had everything is so colorful now normally this would be the part where we'd present the iconic blue nose too but she wasn't in port for any non-canadians wondering what i'm talking about the bluenose appears on our 10 cent coin and the bluenose 2 is the replica of this original fishing and racing schooner to give you a bit of history the original bluenose was launched on march 26 1921 in lunenburg she was designed by william ruiz and built by the smith and rueland shipyard she was built with a specific mission to win the international fisherman's race this was a race involving working vessels and fishermen who earned their living on the seas long story short she earned her first trophy in 1921 and over the next 17 years no challenger would overtake her this is how she earned the title of queen of the north atlantic and landed herself on our currency but now back to sightseeing just a random pile of ice here on the road i'm gonna add a few of these rocks to my whiskey tonight oh why not it might taste a little fishy it'll fit in the cup one of the coolest finds during our visit to lunenburg nova scotia was lunenburg chandlery sam and i were randomly walking around snapping photos when we stumbled upon this place selling all manner of nautical items for ships and boats it was really the display of boys or buoys that caught our attention and then we set foot inside what felt like a collector's paradise we got to chatting with the owner john who was super informative and really fun to talk to we've been amazed that people have found this place because it's kind of the end of the road here and but the right people seem to find it people that like to explore and get into the sort of the boat building area which of course is down here our whole complex is then connected to the dory shop and over here is the picton castle you see there's a doll ship victim castle built in 1928 so that's been around around the world yeah many times so you know we have a little of everything uh for hardware um and this sort of divides itself into this is all for sale working making splicing sewing whatever um this is all the pulleys there's no end to pulleys on on vessels so this is every not every type but certainly close to every type you could have over here uh this is sort of an array of turnbuckles and then all sorts of little fasteners i mean everybody has a need for an eyelet you know that kind of thing ah they're blame pins okay is that for the wheel movies every time the ship starts having a little problem with the crew the crew they do a good smash oh my gosh it works but i'm always selling so great as much as i collect it's pretty much keep going and i can't find it yeah i can't find near as much as i used to be able to find so this is a really you know rigging knife because it's got a straight straight edge it's not a fillet it's not for fish and so it's a real cutting knife like this and this is from a tradition of having to stop the sailors from stabbing each other does it always have those fights go there it's going oh yeah sure imagine being a c for two years and that's what they give this blunt affair for because it's really not a stabbing knife and it's remained that way and uh and this one's made in sheffield england and it's by adams jay adams and that's a well-known company yeah well it's going to make the perfect gift thank you so much yeah if you want to find this place it's just at the end of blue nose drive right before you hit the dory shop and the pier well worth the peruse and as you can see they even have items for non-boat owners like ourselves we walked away with some christmas tree boys or buoys and a cool knife so so so it is now a lunch time here in lunenburg and we have come over to the smoke pit barbecue we just finished ordering some brisket mac and cheese with aged cheddar and a mandarin soda i know you're probably wondering where's the seafood and we will be having some seafood for dinner but we've been eating a lot of it this week so when we saw smoked barbecue we were like yeah you know what that sounds good mix it up a little right we are mixing it up so cheers with our soda from mexico carritos which means little jars let's try this it's a mandarin flavor so like the mandarin orange how is it that's good you like that that is better than phantom my friends wow real taste of fruit take that fanta take that say hello to my brisket sandwich check that out thing of beauty this bun just feels so fluffy toasted on the inside got brisket pickles mayo mustard i'm so tender guys the the cameraman always has food envy behind the lens yes she does i just love the meat it's so soft it has a smokiness to him so good i am really happy with what we've ordered seriously i just needed a little break from seafood you know i love lobster crab and fish and chips as much as the next person but we've been having it on a daily basis and this is a nice way to mix it up so for anyone else that's doing a long trip around nova scotia there are other things to try aside from seafood like this wonderful cheddar mac and cheese oh baby why don't you bring that clothes you can see the steam coming off so the bluenose 2 may not have been in port but we did come across the bluenose 2 store so we popped in for some souvenirs my favorite purchase was my bluenose east coast living t-shirt which i proceeded to rock on on almost daily basis for the rest of the trip one of our favorite things to do in lunenburg was to cruise the harbor there are all sorts of tourists to choose from including harbor tours whale tours fishing tours you name it we ended up choosing the one hour tour which was 30 dollars per person the weather was perfect we had blue skies nice light and the views of the town were picture perfect if you want the iconic shot of the brightly painted houses church steeples and boats bobbing in the water this is the tour you want to take or you can also drive out by the golf course but the harbor cruise is an experience in and of itself so we'd highly recommend making time for this one activity do so we just finished the one hour harbor tour what a boat tour honestly i mean you get the postcard perfect shots of lunenburg nova scotia yeah i mean and we had the light shining and then five minutes after our tour it was it's cloudy again so it's like we had everything cooperating for us i mean our guide was fantastic so informative just a fantastic tour and a great way to see lunenburg from i mean when you're walking around the town you see the buildings up close but when you're out in the water like that you get a whole perspective of the town which is just fantastic we lucked out with our visit because during the summer months there's live music at the zvickers wharf it was nice to see lots of people out enjoying the band and there was even a bit of dancing next up we're going to walk over to the fisheries museum of the atlantic which is already open and that's a museum that deals with the fishing heritage here in atlanta canada and what's really cool is that they have a lot of volunteers and retired fishermen on site to share stories answer your questions they also do demonstrations and have different activities during the day so we're gonna walk on over there next and see what's happening at the fisheries museum can't wait to do that the fisheries museum of the atlantic is housed in these brightly painted red heritage buildings which are once the home of national sea products the former fish processing plant now houses different galleries where visitors can explore stories about the town's fishing heritage stormy seas and community life in a fishing town we really enjoyed the displays and it was nice to have the interpreters on site who were able to answer all my questions about blue lobsters because yes those exist if you'd like to visit the museum is open seasonally from mid-may through mid-october after our museum visit we decided to grab some ice cream at sweet treasures confectionary they also sell homemade fudge just in case you're craving a little something sweet so we saw people eating ice cream and we just had to stop and get a cone of our own this is the smallest size by the way single unbelievable what flavors did you get i got the homemade strawberry and pistachio and you got maple walnut and peanut butter i think it was eureka or something oh yeah oh let me blow the hair out of my face and take a bite tell me how that is is it good oh homemade too by the way in a waffle cone oh my god i love that good stuff all right hurry up so i can have mine how's that ice cream it was so next level good flavors are just fantastic we at least i ordered from the homemade selection me too oh you did too some of the best ice cream i've had in years to be honest i was like argentina italy good that's not good we then decided to go on a little diy walking tour of lunenburg's old town we came across the lunenburg opera house which is fashioned after an old european music hall we saw some cool street art featuring this lovely blue whale and then we just kept walking uphill past the town hall and some really pretty houses so we are now taking a quick break sitting on a lovely little bench here in front of st john's anglican church and this is actually the second oldest protestant church still remaining in all of canada it looks like a work of art yeah we tried going in but the door is locked but yeah if you visit come on up here check it out we're gonna continue our little walking tour and actually just take a little stroll through the neighborhood admire the different homes because they're all so colorful and so beautiful and they have these lovely manicured gardens so yeah it's been a really fun afternoon so far it has i just want to quickly add that as you basically head up the hill each street becomes a little bit less touristy and the further you go you just get right into residential areas and very colorful homes so we can't wait to check them out one of our favorite things to do in a new place is to just walk up and down the streets without much of a plan in lunenburg this was a real pleasure because all the houses were painted in such cheerful colors contrasted by white trim the windows dawn flower boxes and the porches looked so inviting if you're the type who likes to do imaginary house shopping and wonder what it would be like to live in the places you visit well this is a really fun town to do so so today has kind of been the prime example of chatting with locals asking for advice tips where to go and just discovering some real gems thanks to them sharing some of their favorite spots in the city so right now we've come to both the cemetery and this academy atop a hill yeah two places that we hadn't even read about in guidebooks or anywhere else this isn't near this isn't near the tourist area at all no you gotta walk in the residential zone and just beautiful beautiful places especially the architecture of this place stunning and there's a man practicing opera right now yes like we're sitting here on a bench admiring a beautiful building and listening to opera i mean like cannon get any better we've even got shade look at that yeah it's good it's a little bit too perfect it's good this building is the lunenburg academy national historic site of canada and it is set on a hilltop at the edge of the old town in 19th century nova scotia academies were regarded as the most prestigious publicly funded secondary institutions in the county this academy was designed in the second empire style with mansard style roofs and it's quite ornate