Vancouver
By Jaimy de Vries
Vancouver is a city well located on the west coast, with on the other side a beautiful mountain range. It’s a city of variety in nature but also in culture. There are many cultures living in Vancouver and it has a history of Aboriginal natives. But we weren’t very fond of the city itself. It was a nice stay, but once was enough. After our visit we cruised off to our next destination: Alaska!
Reunited!
Finally after half a year waiting we saw each other again! We met just a couple of months before I left for my world trip and fell in love. But I couldn’t stay home, I need to make this trip…I was preparing this for such a long time and it’s something I need and really want to do in life. But being separate for 2,5 years (that’s how long I want to travel) was too long. So Jaron decided to follow me and join me on my world trip. But first he needed to save some money. After 6 months he had enough savings to travel with me. Woehoe, and now finally the moment was there. We arrived both at the airport of Vancouver. I arrived a bit earlier. So I tried to hide behind a big pole. When I saw Jaron coming in I stealthy walked away from the pole and surprised him. It was so nice to see each other again,
and also a bit strange. It took us both 2 days to get used to the idea we are back together. “Is this real?” 6 months is a long time… But we are so happy being reunited again. We are ready for our upcoming adventures!
City center
Vancouver is a big city. It is similar in term of size comparing it to Calgary, but Vancouver is way denser populated. You see many skyscrapers in different areas of the city. Besides the skyscrapers, a nice part of the city has some beautiful English colonial buildings, like in Gast town. There are some nice big parks close to downtown, one and the most popular one is Stanley park. The city is surrounded by beautiful nature: the sea on the other side.
On our first day we wanted to explore downtown a bit. We took public transport, that is super easy btw, to the center. We liked walking through Gast town, but soon after we walked between many home-less people and the area smelled, pee and wheat. It gave us an uncomfortable
feeling, it took is more than 10 minutes walking out of this area. We were asking ourselves: “Why are there are so many homeless people here in Vancouver? And how did they got homeless”. We asked a local. He said there is a big group of homeless people here, because Vancouver has a better and warmer climate than other parts in Canada and that’s why they all come here. Most of the homeless people have mental problems or got financial problems after a divorce.
Another thing that got our attention while exploring the city, is that probably half of the residents here in Vancouver are emigrants, mostly from Asia. Too summarize it: Vancouver is a multicultural Urban metropolis located on a top location, surrounded by sea on one side and mountains on the other side. We didn’t made a lot of nice pictures of Vancouver, because we thought the city center was not worth making a picture of.
Stanley park
Biking through Stanley park is one of the top things to do in Vancouver, and us Dutchies like biking so of course we took a visit to Stanley park. You don’t have to look for a bike rental downtown, just walk to Stanley park and you will see lots and lots of bike rental shops.
We had good weather, it was sunny and warm (25 degrees Celsius (Fahrenheit)) and just a small breeze. Perfect for a day cycling. Stanley park is a big peninsula with some nice site seeing, beaches, hiking trails and a cycle path around the whole Peninsula. First we stopped at a cultural center with totempoles. We learned that Aboriginal people have lived in Vancouver area at least 8000 years. This area was perfect for harvesting plants, gathering selfish and crabs and hunting for fish in nearby waters. This region had the most important native salmon fishery in Canada.
We made several stops at some nice viewpoints at the lighthouse, the Lionsgate bridge, the beach and our favorite stop: Siwash viewpoint. It was a chill and active trip. We loved it. It made us feel better about our stay in Vancouver, because the day before when we were exploring downtown we weren’t so found of Vancouver.
Capilano Suspension bridge
On our third day we went to Capilano Suspension Bridge Park, one of the top things to do if you’re in British Colombia. It looked really cool all the pictures from the internet. And it is a nice place. But it’s not as big as we expected and in just two hours you’ve seen everything. Besides that it could be quite overcrowded, so taking a picture by yourself on the suspension bridge is almost impossible. Unless you go very early! And that is what we did. We bought a ticket in advance and took a free shuttle from downtown to the park. We started walking to the suspension bridge, because that’s the main attraction. We actually got a very nice picture with view people on it. I was afraid I would be a bit scared walking on the bridge because of my fear of heights, but actually I didn’t felt a thing. After walking across the bridge we walked towards the treetop bridges from where you have a squirl view over the west-coast rainforest. The tree’s were very pretty. These Douglas tree’s aren’t like the ones back home. They’re so big and have a warm color. Besides the big tree’s there were a lot of big ferns too. It felt like we were walking in Jurassic park, luckily without Dinosaurs.
Speaking of dangerous animals… we went to a bird of prey display where we learnt more about their stealthy skills. We learnt that they have amazing eye sight. They can spot a little mice from 5 kilometers (3 miles) away! And their hearing is even better! 58% of the prey they catch is because of their hearing. Afterwards we had a long conversation with the tour guy about all kind of subjects. We talked about beautiful animals, like seals haha…a total different animals than the birds of prey. And we talked about traveling and the Netherlands. It was so interesting talking with him, he is so passionate about his work, his way of living. It was a great conversation.
We had a fun morning at the park and took some nice photo’s. But Jaron and I both degreed that the ticket price of 63 CAD is too much and not worth it. There are nice suspension bridges all over Canada that are free accessible. So if you want to spare your money, don’t go to the Capilano Suspension bridge. But our trip to Grouse mountain was definitely worth every penny!
Grouse mountain
Definitely worth your visit and money is Grouse mountain. There is a free shuttle from downtown and just a few bus stops away from Capilano suspension bridge. There are two ways to go up to Grouse mountain. 1. take the cable car for 80 CAD park admission or hike up and just pay 20 CAD park admission to go down with the cable car. If you pay the park admission you can join all the activities at the top, it’s all included. And there are quite some things to do when you’re at the top. Well we are not lazy to hike and we wanted to spare some money. Especially after paying 63 CAD for a ticket at the Capilano Suspension Bridge. So we hiked up! This trail is called the Grouse Grind with difficulty: hard and with an elevation of 800 meters in a 1,5 hour hike. So it was a tough climb up. But we did it, and just in 75 minutes without breaks. Hatsa! We took a beautiful sweaty selfie at the top. Once we were at the top we had an amazing view over Vancouver city. It is worth the climb!
After cooling down and a nice cup of coffee we took the chairlift to the last part to the top to enjoy an even better view over Vancouver. And from the other side of the top we had a view over the BC mountain range. We even saw the mountain range of Montana with the famous Mount Baker. At the top there are two grizzly bears living, safely living behind a fence, where you can see them from up close. Quite cool. At the end we went to a Lumberjack show. A lumberjack is (mostly North American) are workers in the logging industry who perform the initial harvesting and transport of trees of ultimate processing into forest products. The show was amazingly well put together. It was impressive to see them cutting wood very quick, making a bunny with a chainsaw, climbing a huge tree of at least 20 meters long in just 5 seconds. We really enjoyed the show and it was a perfect end to a nice day. We took the tram down and were suprised how much we hiked up earlier that day.
Holland America cruise
Our main event in Vancouver and the main reason we visited Vancouver was our cruise to Alaska. We went through the inside passage, through to Glacier bay national park in Alaska up to Whittier. If you have some spare money, it’s a definite must to do! Just the cruise experience by itself is great, but besides that you can enjoy an amazing view over the inside passage, spot wildlife and visit places in Alaska you can only see by boat or plane.
Click on the link below to read more about our Holland America cruise
My guide for your Vancouver trip
During out visit we have some tips for your visit to Vancouver!
- What to do downtown: visit Gast town, China town & Granville island.
- Restaurant recommendation: Spaghetti factory.
- A top thing to do is cycling in Stanley park. There are many rental companies close to Stanley park.
- What we couldn't do, but definitely a recommendation if you stay longer, is a visit to Whistler & Squamish.
- Visit the beaches: Vancouver has a lot of nice beaches. The best are Kissimi & at stnley park. These beaches also have a swimming pool.
This Post Has 2 Comments
Looks like a wonderful trip to Vancouver. Lived all your pictures!
Seeing the two of you together made me smile on every picture! Love you Jaimy