Saint John

 

New brunswick’s largest city, Saint John, still retains the charm of a small town. In 1785, 14,000 loyalists escaping the turmoil of the American Revolution built Saint John in under a year.

More recently, restoration has made Saint John’s historic center a delightful place to explore. The Old City Market is a working public market, with colorful produce stacked high, fresh seafood vendors, cafés, and an excellent traditional fish restaurant.

In nearby Market Square, an airy atrium links buildings that were once the city’s center of commerce. Here visitors will find upscale restaurants and stores. Market Square is also the home of the lively New Brunswick Museum. Three floors offer clever and entertaining exhibits on New Brunswick’s geological, cultural, and natural history. Children particularly enjoy the Hall of Whales and the three-level Tidal Tube in which water rises and falls, re-creating the height of the tides roaring away just outside.

Nearby, the Loyalist House Museum is located in an impressive Georgian house built by Loyalist David Merritt in around 1810.

Inside, the house has been renovated to reflect the lifestyle of a wealthy family of that time, with authentic period furnishings.

Attractions:

New Brunswick Museum

Market Square.

(506) 643 2300.

Truro

A prosperous town at the hub of Nova Scotia’s major transportation routes, Truro is also the site of a unique geographical phenomenon, the tidal bore. As the Great Fundy tides return landward, sweeping into the Minas Basin, they generate a wave or “bore” that is driven for several kilometers up the rivers that empty into the back of the basin. An information display next to the Salmon River explains each process and posts the tidal times. On the nearby Shubenacadie River, visitors can ride the bore in rafts. The waves generated can reach 2 m (7 ft) in height, particularly on the new and full moons, creating a churn of whitewater that the rafts race through as they follow it for miles upstream.