Spirit of Victory
2/2/05
Walking in the streets of the city, even downtown area, you get the amazing feeling of pleasure and relaxation. It’s an automatic response of your senses to the Beauty of space, the colors, the clean atmosphere and the fresh air…You smell the ocean waves and just a little bit of the green area surrounding the city.
When I first came here, I soon gave up my first plan to land in Vancouver and prepare myself to work and study in the coming year. Yes, Vancouver is great, but the little sister Victoria has secrets of it’s own.
For me, after traveling around BC and Alberta, driving many hours from place to place, running fast to catch the last summer days, I got to a peaceful point when I decided to rest and stay on the Island. With the magic opportunity to jump and see Tofino, Salt Spring, Strathacona park and all the other awesome parks near the city, it seems that I could spend here quite a time.. This is when I first met the guys in Ocean Island Hostel. The free creative spirits in the hostel effects everyone around. Lots of magical nights you just stay in listening to the musicians and players that come from all over the world, to get together and celebrate life !
AND WHAT A LIFE - You can do almost everything in the city, you can rock your shows off, just half a minute stroll downtown and you can find bunch of cool bars that play live music almost every evening, if you go further downthe road you hit the beaches that Australia would be proud to have (And I have been there to prove it).
The best chill would be either a beer in one of the countless pubs, or just a coffee and a good conversation in a cosy organic coffee spot. But I also like to walk down to the parks, through Disk Golf around and see the endless show of the funny dogs sniffing the ground in Beacon Hill park.
In the summer, Victoria allows you to see the best whales watching, go sailing, do kayaking, paragliding, Bungy jumping, fishing and you name it…But I think the winter is so cool (even if it’s never cold here)to do the best window shopping,(or real shopping if you have the $$$), go to the bookstoresm hang around in China town, get some hiking skills- wonder in Thetis lake, Goldstream park, Mount Douglas area or Sooke, these are all huge natural wilderness, where you can watch salmons go by, bold eagles nesting and sea lions playing, just a few metres from the shore.
from the moment you wake up, you want to get out there and explore - In which resturant should I have the next breakfast? Well, interms of going back to nature, only recently we made a fire on willows beach (near Oak bay) it’s a long impressive beach and the full moon was on, so we could see the silvery flows of the tide, next to us a small river made its special sounds, and the marshmallows with the chocolate (I keep forgeting the Canadian name of this dish) made the whole scene even sweeter :))
So, yes, if you want to hang outside- this is the place, if you want to hit and run, shop till you die- you can find some groovy music shops, excellent second hand clothing, antiques, not to mention – tons of art galleries and theatres…and organic shops…and…
But my best suggestion to you is come meet the people, the uniqe blend that flows here, to have good time, to draw on the hostel walls, sing non stop, make dinners together, have the best holidays ever and of course – get crazy, be free and love each other.
In Christmas, we planned to see some inlighted ship at the naval point in the other side of the city, instead we met deers eating the grass, no lights, no ship …So, we came back to the harbour in the city, and entered the Empress hotel and saw thousands of lights sparkling in many different types of trees. It was a contest exhibition organized as a benefit to a local hospital. Everybody got what they wanted – the hospital got donations, I got to see my first Christmas trees and even snow!! (rare thing in this place) And this is how I see Victoria- as an experience never ending, inspired by the good will of the people living here and spiced up by the travelers who passes and wish they could stay.
Written by Christiana F
Last notes:
After traveling South America, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, the Far East, and Australia, I can say Victoria wins in the following categories:
- Best city park that has ocean, rocks, trees, green meadows and funny dogs
- Best lakes 10-15 min from the city downtown area
- Best long bike trail “galloping goose”- you can ride it for days..
- Best home made bread and pastries in most of the bakeries and coffee shops
- Best cheap seafood that you can even buy in the super market and make yourself Yummy!
- Best creative minds, sitting in the street drumming in the middle of the night(see the corner of Yates and Broad)
- Best Scottish bars that make their own beers
- best kayaking and whale watching tours to wild islands and resorts
- Best live rock music at Steamers and Lucky on the weekends
- Best open Mic at the Ocean Island hostel lounge Wednesday nights!
- Best green staff that can be found in every public gathering place but don’t ask me
Christiana F (Last seen in Tel-Aviv)
Currently develops the Ocean Island website with the killer team- Kevin the owner and Pema the designer
How did I find myself here?
I started drawing some painting for the hotel rooms, painting horses and dragons on the OI lounge bar door and ended kidnapped by the web team crew. Yap, this team is so fabtastic that we even did a usability test to check users satisfaction from the site and we keep upgrading it all the time!
