Our plan for today was to explore two of Canada’s more extraordinary ‘homes’. Canada doesn’t traditionally have a whole lot of castles but there are two here in Victoria and both have historical connection to the Dunsmuir family.
Our plan was to walk to Craigdarroch Castle, which should have been a shortish walk, however a wrong turn or two made it a little more circuitous and to be fair, probably a bit more interesting. This way went past the City Hall, a couple of churches and we stumbled on the street where a large number of homeless people have set up a pretty significant camp on the roadside.
Robert Dunsmuir and his wife emigrated from Scotland in the 1850s when Robert got a job with the Hudson Bay Company to work in a coal mine at Fort Rupert. He soon had opportunities to work and eventually manage other mines on Vancouver Island, most notably, the Wellington Colliery. With all the money made from coal mining, Robert Dunsmuir commissioned the construction of a 4 storey dwelling known a Craigdarroch Castle. Unfortunately for Robert he died prior to completion, but his wife lived there for a further 18 years, after which it was repurposed as a Military Hospital, Military College, a school, Department of Education office before eventually ending up in the hands of the not-for-profit foundation that now run the site, which has been mostly restored. About 100,00 people visit each year and it is well worth the visit.
It was time to find some lunch so we walked back to the downtown area along a street which feature many victorian-styled houses, some reminiscent of suburban San Francisco. It was a good continuation of the architectural flavour of the day.
After a Thai lunch we caught an Uber to Hatley Castle. This castle was built by James Dunsmuir, son of Robert. James had a long running dispute with his mother regarding his (assumed) inheritance of Craigdarroch which even involved a court case when he was Premier of British Columbia. His objective when building Hatley Castle was for it to be bigger and better than Craigdarroch, so it was twice a big, sourced materials from many far flung places including Eucalypt timber from Australia. When his wife Laura passed in 1940, the property was acquired by the Canadian Government and was used as a military academy until 1995, when the Royal Roads University was created on the site. The University funds the upkeep and as such Hatley Castle has been used in many hollywood productions including X-Men (The School for the Gifted), Smallville (Lex Luthor’s Mansion) and others like The Amazing Race etc… It is a fantastic property and also well worth a visit.
Once back at the hotel we put our feet up for an hour prior to hunting down some dinner. One of the comments I would make about food outlets here, is that generally once away from the hotel, it is definitely more ‘pub’ than high end restaurant. There’s a definite English / Irish pub theme and their food is excellent, but if you’re after a quiet, ambient dinner, perhaps stick to the upmarket hotels.
After dinner and an ice-cream stop at ‘Oh Gelato’ we caught the twilight at the waterfront for a couple of final photos for today.
One thing we noticed while we where out tonight was that there where a lot more people out and there was a real vibe going on. We soon realised that there was a cruise ship in town, so I think the lesson for us to take forward when we do the cruising bit, is that the city / town you see when you get off the cruise ship isn’t necessarily as it normally is.
Now one last thing… one of the blog followers has challenged us to eat a Nanaimo Bar (Chocolate, Custard and biscuit layers). I have to say I was all up for it, but I discovered the biscuit layer is made from nuts! … So that is likely a NO from me. Watch this space!
Until tomorrow.
Rob's "Beats Working" Blog 
Oh, dear! I had no prior knowledge of the aversion/allergy to nuts – I swear I wasn’t trying to kill you! In truth, I thought the base was a crumbed biscuit base, similar to a Hedgehog Slice.
One comment – you neglected to mention the flavour choices for your gelato. This is very poor form, from such a seasoned blog writer. Frankly, I was shocked. But prepared to overlook it. This once.
Oh really… where have you been? I’ve not eaten nuts forever. Apologies for my oversight of the ‘flavour’ rule that I didn’t know existed. I won’t let it happen again!