Vancouver, Canada

When the annual 'World's Most Liveable City' rankings are published, the city of Vancouver is predictably near the top end of the scale along with our hometown of Melbourne. Vancouver, part of British Columbia, Canada is well known for its urban green spaces, culture, food and proximity to the port and snow-capped peaks.
Our three days in Vancouver included a mixture of tourist attractions, culinary experiences (including Richmond night market) and getting in touch with animals and nature at the Vancouver Aquarium and Capilano Suspension Bridge.


Arrival in Vancouver
We caught an early Friday morning Air Canada flight from Las Vegas to Vancouver, arriving at Vancouver International Airport in the afternoon. The 'Canada Line' rapid transit rail system shuttled us to the center of town where our hotel was booked. Tickets for the airport train cost $5 more at the machines on the platform in comparison to purchasing the same day pass ticket from retail stores within the terminal building.

Downtown Vancouver
Our hotel - Comfort Inn Downtown was located on Nelson Street, near the main shopping district and a short walk to the trendy Yaletown area. Our first adventure was to seek out food and armed with a map of the city, we judged that the tourist hub of Granville Island Public Market would only be a short walk away.

Granville Island Public Market - view from above

Granville Island Public Market
The walk over the Granville Bridge took us completely over the island and we had to double-back at street level to reach the market entrance where we were greeted by two harbour seals. We passed by many sheds with stallholders selling home-wares and crafts. The food section reminded us of Borough Market in London - a mixture of fresh produce stalls mixed with vendors selling ready-made meals. We ate a range of seafood and shared a table with a couple of Vancouver locals who gave us tips on things to see and do.

View from the Granville Bridge

Under the Granville Bridge

After our meal we went to explore the rest of the island, pausing to watch a street performer entertaining the crowd by balancing on a skateboard resting on a suitcase that was on top of a table and a box - topping it off by juggling objects thrown from the crowd.

The great balancing act

Artwork out of former industrial ruins

Aquabus
To get back to Downtown, we avoided walking the scenic route back along Granville Bridge and instead caught a ride on the aquabus (a mini ferry). This service shuttles from Granville Island to the nearby suburbs, dropping off  passengers 'on-request' at a number of different jetties.  In addition the captains are friendly and offer information about nearby tourist attractions.

The aquabus

Houses in danger of being flooded by the rising tide

The city of Vancouver is a cyclist-friendly place with public buses equipped with bicycle holders on the front bumper; and a large urban green-space: Stanley Park being a perfect place to explore on two wheels.

Yaletown
Yaletown is famous for warehouse conversion properties along Hamilton and Mainland streets that are lined with cafes and restaurants. The area reminded us of a cross between Shad Thames and Shoreditch in London. For lunch, we considered buying up supplies at a nearby supermarket and having a picnic in the hotel room. This idea did not eventuate but we were impressed by the extensive selection of self-service food dispensers (cereal, grains, dried fruit, nuts) for customers to bag and weigh.

Too much choice!

Yaletown Brewing Company
The strolling up and down the streets had made us quite thirsty and a stopover at the Yaletown Brewing Company solved that issue. Although we had walked in with the intention of only having one drink, we ended up selecting the beer sampler that showcased seven different varieties.

Sights of Downtown
From Yaletown, we travelled across Downtown to check out the Chinatown district. We had been warned that it was a 'shadow' of its former self and were disappointed that most shops were shut by late afternoon. We stopped by the gated entrance, took a look at the menu of a few restaurants and decided to return to the Yaletown area for dinner - eating Pad Thai and Massaman curry at the Simply Thai Restaurant.

Chinatown Gates

Curry for dinner

The walks we took all over Downtown Vancouver enabled us to contrast the look and feel of the different neighbourhoods - the modern port area of Canada Place; the areas of Hastings St where we were approached by drug addicts, the busy shopping strip of Robson Street and the marine playground of Coal Harbour.

Canada Place

Queen Anne style houses

Street art

Lots of boats at the marina

Capilano Suspension Bridge

As this trip followed a week in glitzy Las Vegas, we were keen to seek out the tourist attractions that showcased nature and wildlife. First stop of day two was Capilano Suspension Bridge and Park in North Vancouver, accessible using a complementary shuttle bus from Canada Place.

On entry, we we were given a park map that outlined a self-guided tour of the different attractions, including the famous bridge, a raptor (bird of prey display), tree-top walk and a couple of lakes that are stocked with fish to attract local wildlife.

The suspension bridge is 140 metres long and 70 metres above the Capilano River. The first bridge was built in 1888, but has been renovated and strengthened many times since then. 

The Treetops adventure is a set of bridges that cross 30 metres above the forest floor, taking you right into the rainforest canopy that contains 1300 year old Douglas fir trees,

The raptor display introduced us to three feathered friends - a Harris Hawk, Kestrel and Great Horned Owl.

The Cliffwalk was the newest attraction in the park - a series of narrow cantilevered bridges, stairs and platforms that are only held together with 16 anchor points. If you are sensitive of heights, don't look down!

Cardero's Restaurant

The shuttle bus dropped us back at Canada Place where we walked along the sea-wall to Coal Harbour for lunch at Cardero's Restaurant. We sat by the window and enjoyed the view only to have it disrupted by heavy rain - at least the seafood kept us occupied whilst we planned an indoor activity for the afternoon.

Cardero's restaurant

Vancouver Aquarium

The nearest indoor activity was Vancouver Aquarium in Stanley Park, a short walk away from the restaurant. The queue times for tickets were surprisingly short for the summer holidays - a tip to future travellers would be to pre-purchase tickets online or buy from the ticket stand before the carpark. Once we were inside, we were keen to check out the 4-D films however after seeing the length of those lines, we decided to spend more time seeing the wildlife. The exhibits are spread across a number of marine zones that portray the habitats for fish, sea-creatures and invertebrates around the world. 

Globe in the main hall

Our favourite exhibit was the Beluga show as it showcased an animal that we had never previously seen before. Other highlights included a big furry sea otter and some friendly dolphins.

Beluga show - including a tail splashing at the end

Sea otter just chilling out

Delightful Dolphins

Richmond Summer Night Market
A tip from a tourist brochure alerted us to the existence of the Richmond Summer Night Market - open Friday and Saturday evenings from May until October. The markets are held next to Bridgeport station in an open field or showground. The markets consist of tents selling mostly Asian street food or carnival games that attracted visitors of all ages.

Lively atmosphere at the Night Market

We arrived just as the market was about to open and were shocked that the queue stretched across the carpark - at least a 40 minute wait to reach the front ticket booth. Whilst Mei waited in line, Olie went to ask if there was any other way we could speed up the entry process. The 'Zoom Pass' is a transferable $20 multi-admission ticket purchased for the purpose of repeat visits or to allow friends/family to attend in a group, with the benefit of a VIP entry line. This benefit soon had us asking strangers in the queue if they were willing to share in the cost of the pass. Seven volunteers and ten minutes later, we were inside the gate and ready to start eating.

The food on offer was similar to the hawker food markets in South-East Asia - skewers, BBQ squid, fish balls and fried chicken - we tried many different dishes and ended up having one of the best meals of this holiday.

Cross Water Ferry Service

The next day, we took a break from Vancouver and spent two days in Victoria on Vancouver Island. The Cross Water service combines a Pacific Coach transfer from Vancouver bus station to the Tsawwassen BC Ferry Terminal, a BC Ferry (the bus comes on-board the ferry) to Swartz Bay and the Pacific Coach transfer to the center of Victoria where our accommodation was booked. Tickets were booked online and in advance as we were travelling during the busy Labor Day long weekend. Further details of our Victoria trip will be written up in a separate blog post.

Baoqi Eateri

One further night was spent in Vancouver (back at the Comfort Inn Downtown) after the return ferry trip from Vancouver Island. By this time we were quite exhausted from the long days of sightseeing and spent most of the evening in our hotel room. Dinner was eaten around the corner at the Vietnamese restaurant - Baoqi Eateri that served tasty rice-paper rolls and a soup noodles (pho) with rare beef to dip into the broth.

An amazing bowl of pho

We caught a flight back to Las Vegas the following morning for one-night's stay at the Bellagio Hotel, before our summer holiday ended with the return flight back home to London.

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