Vancouver Bike Riding - Vancouver, Canada
Vancouver, Canada
This morning we woke up and had breakfast which was again included as we are back staying at the Samsun hostel Vacouver for 3 night until my mum and dad arrive on Wednesday.. After a belly full of toast, bagels and fruit salad, yes free fruit salad we headed of to hire bikes from Simons bikes on Robson street. The friendly blokes at the boke shop equipped us with bikes and locks for only $24 for the full day, a bargain compared to other places. We rode off through the city on dedicated bike lanes that made it a lot safer to head through the city. Take note again Melbourne. We went down Robson, and made a right. Within minutes we were cruising down hill to Canada place which is the large cruise depot and convention centre space with the large sails on the roof. From here we ventured along the seawall bike track that would be our path for the day. We passed marinas, restaurants and a multitude of yachts on our way towards Stanley Park. Stanley Park is a 1,000 acre urban park completely surrounded by the seawall and ocean. This oasis in the city is simply amazing. Its covered by dense forest, lakes, creeks, a par 3 golf course, has beaches and is home to the Vancouver Aquarium which we visited later in the week. We continued to ride along the seawall past coal harbour and dead man island to stanley park. Our first stop along the seawall in the north eastern corner was the totem pole park. There were several intricate and colourful totem poles depicting native stories and legends. My favourite was a bright pole featuring bears, wolves, eagles etc. The people who do this work are very talented. Just over the rise was the Brockton oval where Sir Donald Bradman once played in his heydey. He stated that you would struggle to find a prettier ground anywhere in the world. I'd have to wholeheartedly agree. The ground is a tiny oval with synthetic pitch but has sensational views back into Vancouver downtown and across the channel. We were startled shortly thereafter by a few black squirrels that just about ran across our path. This drew a few ooooooo's from Rox. Next up we rode further along burrard inlet seawall and went further into into stanley park when 10 minute ride up the path. We rode into beaver lake about 500m in from the ocean. This lake is covered in vines and lillies and with such dense vegetation they believe the lake may vanish in a few years. Efforts are being made to revitalise the water supply to the lake which will also help the local wildlife. Rox was dissapointed we once again didnt come across a resident beaver...very elusive creatures thats for sure. From here it was back onto the seawall bike path from which we rode under the lions gate bridge and around prospect point..this gave us good views of north Vancouver. The western point of Stanley Park housed Siwash Rock. This was a cool 5 metre tall rock that jutted out of the ocean and had a lone tree perched on top of it. Next us was a brief ride by second and third beaches. Just off the path as we entered again the downtown area was an amzing set of statues that were all about 4 metres tall, bronze and were all in various poses of laughter. Very cool. We stood next to a few and impersonated them laughing at ourselves along the way. It was a cool and uplifting peice of artwork. The ultimate destination of our day was a visit to Granville Island. This just took us a short ride over Burrard Bridge, switch back to the seawall and we were there. The island was originally a reclaimed piece of land that featured factories, warehouses and buildings that came under disrepair in the 80's and 90's. A group of guys thought it would be good to revitalise the area so they encouraged a public market and businesses to come on board. Now the island contains that market, a brewery, artists workshops, a theatre and many other businesses. We locked our bikes up and explored the fruit stalls, flower stores, bakeries and delies of the market and even got some Polish food for lunch. Periogo and polish sausage. Yum! For those of you who've been keeping up with our blogs you would have noticed I dont mind trying a local microbrewed beer or two or three or four, well you get the picture. Here there was the Granville Island Brewing Company to visit. This time there was no cider so Rox helped me out with the beers. Between us we got hefeweizen, lager, maple ale, raspberry beer, ginger ale and honey lager. All of them were so tasty that I actually lashed out and bought a glass for a keepsake for home. The sewall continued on the southsde of the city and river so we rode along further stopping in a park and enjoying some cherries and a tasty artisan bakery cake purchsed earlier at the market. A further 10 minutes easy roll further up the line we hit the Winter Olympic Athletes Village built for the 2010 olympic held in Vancouver/Whistler. This was now a huge modern housing development that had enviable views back into downtown and viewed the huge BC Place stadium (home of football and soccer) and also Rogers Stadium (the home of the Vancouver Canucks Ice Hockey team). As we passed the space age looking Science and Technology museum we viewed down the river and into downtown. Coincidentelly this is where we headed to hand back our bikes and return to the hostel. We had read about the seawall and the best way to see Vancouver and this was definitely it. You get to see the major things the city has to offer at your own pace, the views are unique and superb and you get to sample some great food and drink as well. Ticks all the boxes. Following our long day out we returned to our room and showered. After a full on day the hostel pubs $6 tacos and cold drinks were hard to refuse so we ate them, updated some old blogs and retired for the evening. Tomorrow Whistler!!