Posts From Prince Edward island

An early start, a quick visit to a local Staples store to print some documents, and then a visit to the Halifax Citadel. As mentioned in the previous entry this is a large stone fort that sits atop the prominent hill around which Halifax is situated. Construction started in 1820 and it was completed in 1860, the fort's primary purpose was to protect against a land attack. The citadel was passed from the Canadian Army to the Canadian National Parks in the early 1950s to prevent the local Halifax citizens demolishing it so that the hilltop could be turned into car parking. The structure is in very good condition and today is garrisoned by volunteers who dress and act the role of the British Highland Regiment that originally garrisoned the fort. We took a short tour with one of the "soldiers". He explained the purpose of the sally port (a narrow door through which soldiers could exit the citadel center to enter the musket gallery) and loopholes (narrow vertical slits in the walls of the musket gallery through which soldiers could fire their weapons at the attacking enemy)

A glorious sunny day saw us driving through picturesque country side and small villages toward the north coast of PEI and St Peters Bay. On the east shore of the bay is the Greenwich section of PEI National Park which boast beaches, parabolic sand dunes and a floating board walk. Our initiation into this section of the park was a trip to the very large visitors center building where we learned about the action of the wind that formed the sand dunes and ended with a 10 minute novel video that was viewed from a gallery and projected onto the floor. A visit to the beaches and dunes entailed a 3 mile stroll through a lovely mix of grass lands, forests and over that floating board walk. The board walk crossed a large fresh water pond that is formed behind the first rank of dunes. All in all a pleasant walk.