Halifax Harbourfront

     Halifax is the capital city of Nova Scotia and is a vibrant city for both tourists and locals. The regional municipality consists of four former municipalities that were amalgamated in 1996: Halifax, Dartmouth, Bedford, and Halifax County. There is so much to do here that we will have to visit it many times in order to see everything it has to offer.

      Halifax was developed as a military post for the eastern coast with a number of Citadel fortresses over the years. This we will discuss in future posts.

Travelling into downtown Halifax, the first
thing we see is a huge lobster suspended on
the wall of the Casino

      The Halifax Harbour boardwalk is a lovely walk. It goes past many different historical sites, museums and of course, the waterfront. There are many areas where chairs are set up for the weary walker to sit and look out into the harbour.

Many chairs are set up for people to rest and enjoy the scenery

A huge Canada 150 sign (celebrated in 2017)

Bev sitting in the over-sized red Canadian Muskoka chair.
It was great fun trying to get out of it!

Art work is displayed all along the boardwalk.
It makes the pathway very colourful

More art work to study along the Boardwalk

This mural shows a very clever way of hiding pipes
on the side of a building. Do you see them as the boat's masts?

This sculpture is called "The Wave" by Donna Hiebert and installed in 1988. It is a unique slide for children. First the challenge is to climb up onto it. We have seen many children playing on it.  The area around it is rubberized to cushion falls.  Ironically, the City does have warning signs at the bottom saying, “For Your Protection, Do Not Climb” yet there is no barrier to prevent it.  Probably the City lawyers recommended it to guard against lawsuits.

This is the tail of a whale. Photo below shows the outline of the body
as seen below the water line with fish or waves above it.
The small things are used as benches. Clever!

Lobster-flavoured chips - only in Atlantic Canada

     While sitting in one of the many chairs along the Boardwalk we saw:

Ships of all shapes and sizes

The action of the tide.
The tide is low here and we can see the barnacles on the pilings.

Sea life is exposed.

The Last Steps Memorial Arch

I met the man who built this Memorial Arch on our travels in another part of the province. He was very proud of the fact that he was a part of this Memorial. The Halifax waterfront is where approximately 350,000 Canadian men and women took their last steps on Canadian soil as they embarked on ships to Europe during the First World War. About 60,000 never returned. Many people have a photo taken here.

Fountain, Get Drunk, and Fall Down Lampposts

     The lamppost pieces, entitled ‘Fountain’ and ‘Get Drunk, Fall Down’.

What’s the story behind them?

     Designed by Chris Hanson and Hendrika Sonnenberg, the ‘Fountain’ lamppost shoots a stream of water into the harbour, as though it was relieving itself after a big night downtown. Not far away, ‘Get Drunk, Fall Down’ features another lamppost slumped across the pier, with its concerned friend looking down.

     For a city with one of the highest number of pubs per capita, it seems fitting that the citizens and visitors of Halifax identified so strongly with the debauchery depicted by these cheeky waterfront sculptures! I don’t know if I would want my City to be known for its debauchery. To each their own. It is certainly an interesting conversation piece.

The Emigrant Statue

The Emigrant is a monument which honours those who

have left their homes to find a new life in Canada.

Monument to the volunteer women of World War Two

The bronze monument made by Marlene Hilton Moore includes three figures: a young girl pulling a wagon full of salvaged metal, a black woman working one of the many canteens that fed servicemen around the city and an older woman sitting in a chair knitting with a Mi'kmaq basket. It depicts the various volunteer work done by women during WWII in the Halifax area.

     Exploring the harbourfront of Halifax was great fun. Lots to see and do and there is so much more to see. We will explore more over the time we are in Nova Scotia.