by Alan K. Lee
British Columbia’s Gulf Islands are located between the southeastern coast of Vancouver Island and the the Canadian mainland. The largest, most populated, and most accessible of the Gulf Islands is Salt Spring Island. Ganges, on Salt Spring, is the commercial and cultural heart of the Southern Gulf Islands. It is the largest (and really the only) town in the Gulf Islands.
The Gulf Islands Guide has a description of each island and good information on events and accommodations in the Islands. Other useful websites include Gulf Islands Tourism, and Salt Spring Island.org.
Almost all visitors to Salt Spring Island arrive via one of the B.C. ferries that serve the island. Ferries travel from the Tsawwassen terminal south of Vancouver to Long Harbor, near Ganges, and from Schwartz Bay north of Victoria to Fulford Harbor on the southern end of Salt Spring. There is also a ferry from Crofton, on Vancouver Island, to Vesuvius on the northwest shore of Salt Spring. Check the B.C. Ferries website for schedules and rates. If you’re traveling from Tsawwassen, book a reservation well in advance during the summer. Ferries from Schwartz Bay and Crofton are first come, first served, but run frequently.
There are no commercial flights to Salt Spring Island. There are float plane companies that will take you to the islands, though. And the Victoria airport is only a few miles from the Schwartz Bay ferry terminal, so flying to Victoria and renting a car is a good option if driving is not feasible.
If you or one of your fellow travelers is an experienced boater or sailor, you can charter a sailboat or power boat and explore the islands by sea. Full-service marinas are located at Sidney on Vancouver Island, and in Ganges. Experience is essential and charter companies require proof of competence, and it is fairly expensive. But if you have the necessary qualifications and can afford it, this is an excellent way to explore the Islands. We have done this, and I can personally recommend it.
There are a wide variety of accommodations available on Salt Spring, from full-service resorts and hotels to traditional B&Bs to single rooms available through Airbnb. One place that I can personally recommend is Spindrift Oceanfront Cottages near the Long Harbor ferry terminal. Spindrift is located at the end of a peninsula in Ganges Harbor in a park-like setting. It has a variety of cottages and two sand beaches perfect for launching kayaks. If you’re a kayaker, this is a perfect jumping off point. Ganges Harbor and its numerous islands are well worth exploring. Prevost Island, a short paddle to the southeast of Ganges Harbor is also worth a visit. A portion of Prevost is set aside as part of the Gulf Islands National Park.
The Ganges area has several restaurants and cafes that I can recommend. For a good breakfast in a unique setting, try the Tree House Cafe in downtown Ganges. Another good place to start your day is Salt Spring Coffee-Ganges Cafe. Salt Spring Inn offers a fine dining experience, also in downtown Ganges. Salt Spring Wild Cider House, just west of Ganges, offers gourmet farm-to-table dinners at a reasonable price. Moby’s Pub, a local hangout, has an upscale pub food menu and a good selection of craft beers. And, if you want a true local experience, you will probably not see another tourist in the well-named The Local Pub, near the marina in Ganges.
Getting around the island is easiest if you have a car, but there is a bus system that will get you around if you don’t. And there is a unique Car Stop system, sort of an organized hitchhiking system. Look for the Car Stop signs and stick out your thumb. Someone will stop to give you a ride. Drivers can be selective about who they pick up, and of course hitchhikers can be equally selective about whose car they get into. But it’s generally safe, and it’s free. It also a unique way to get to know some of the locals.
There are many places worth exploring on Salt Spring, including four Provincial Parks. Mount Maxwell Provincial Park on the west side of the island provides spectacular views of Mount Bruce to the south and west across Saanich Inlet to Vancouver Island. You can drive to the summit, but when we were last there (summer 2024) the last mile or so of the road required a high-clearance vehicle with four wheel drive. There are also hiking and mountain bike trails for the more adventurous.
Ruckle Provincial Park on the southeast coast of the island has hiking trails that take you along the shore of Swanson Channel, as well as a campground with eight RV sites (no hookups) and 78 walk in tent sites. There are also good hiking trails at Mt. Erskine Provincial Park, just west of Ganges. And Burgoyne Bay Provincial Park is located at the base of Mount Maxwell on Saanich Inlet.
Other places on the island worth visiting include St. Mary’s Lake and the small community of Vesuvius. There are also a number of beaches that have public access on the north end of the island.
Salt Spring has an active arts community, with numerous galleries and studios in Ganges and scattered across the island. Many of the studios are open to visitors in the summer. A Farmer’s Market is held in Ganges every Saturday during the summer, where you can sample artisanal cheeses and locally grown produce. Arts, crafts, and home and garden products are also available.
If you are a cheese lover, you’ll want to visit Salt Spring Island Cheese. Their farm is located on Reynolds Road, just off of the road leading to Ruckle Park. There you can not only sample and purchase their artisanal cheeses, but also see the whole cheese making operation. You can also find their cheeses at the Farmer’s Market in Ganges and in many grocery stores in B.C. and as far away as Toronto. If you are a wine lover, stop at Salt Spring Vineyards and Tasting Room, and Garry Oaks Estate Winery, both located south of Ganges on Fulford-Ganges Road.
Salt Spring Island is just a short jaunt from Victoria and can be visited as a day-trip if you’re exploring Victoria, but you can also spend a week on the island without running out of things to see and do. And you can use Salt Spring as a base to explore the other Gulf Islands. My wife and I have visited Salt Spring Island many times over the years, and on each visit we have discovered new places to see and new things to do. I’m sure our most recent visit will not be our last.
Posted January 31, 2025
All photos © Alan K. Lee
So, how to experience the real New Orleans? Well, you probably have to spend a year or two there to really get to know the city. It’s a complex place. But if you don’t have that kind of time, my first recommendation would be to find a place to stay in the French Quarter. It’s the historic center of the city and the city’s cultural heart. Most of what you’ll probably want to see and do you’ll find either in French Quarter itself or close by.
Since my wife and I are both art lovers, another thing that we always do in a new city is spend at least some time exploring the local arts scene. Sometimes that just entails visiting local museums and art galleries. But we also seek out local artists and art related events when we can. The 
Touring one of the city’s many cemeteries turned out to be one of the more interesting things we did on our visit. Because the land New Orleans is built on was originally a swamp, and much of it is below sea level, the dead are not buried in the ground, but are interred in above ground crypts or tombs.
When we were there, we were warned that some of the cemeteries were dangerous places to visit and should be avoided. That may have changed, but check before you venture into any of the city’s cemeteries. There are organized cemetery tours that you can take, but we preferred to go on our own. One of the cemeteries that was said to be safe, and the one we visited, was St. Patrick Cemetery No. 1, on Canal Street near the end of the streetcar line.
Many of the tombs there are large, elaborate, and impressive, holding the remains of many generations of the same family. The larger and more ornate ones are generally well kept up, but many of the others have not been maintained and are crumbling. Many are just ruins, empty and abandoned. One has to wonder what became of the bodies.
Music is an essential component of the spirit of the Big Easy. Whether it’s traditional Cajun fiddle tunes, blues, jazz, swamp rock, zydeco, country, or a fusion of some or all of those genres, music permeates the city. Street performers are a common sight in the French Quarter any time of the day or night. And there are probably hundreds of clubs throughout the city offering live performances late into the night, every night. Take in as much of the music as you can while you’re there because it’s such a vital component of the city’s spirit.
The following was originally posted on this site a couple of years ago. I checked all of the links, but things can change, so check the 
If you just want to hang out at the beach, Fort Zach Park has a nice swimming beach (with an adjacent bar). South Beach at the end of Duval Street also has a beach bar and grill. Higgs Beach is four or five blocks east and has a nice beach for sunbathing and swimming. And across the street, Astro City Playground is a fun place for kids to play. To the east of Higgs Beach are C.B. Harvey Memorial Rest Beach (no bar or other amenities) and Smathers Beach. Dog Beach, a couple of blocks east of South Beach, is literally for the dogs – a dog friendly, off leash park.
Lucca, Italy is a modern city of about 85,000 people, located about ten miles northeast of Pisa and 40 miles west of Florence. But the old walled city was what my wife and I came to see. Lucca has one of the most intact medieval city centers you will find anywhere in Europe. The historic center, or centro storico, is relatively compact, easily walkable, and almost unchanged from medieval times.
Lucca is an ancient city, founded by the Etruscans, probably on the site of an earlier Ligurian settlement. It became a Roman colony in 180 BC. Little remains of the Roman city, though. Most of the old city is of medieval origin, but some of the streets date to the Roman settlement, and a hint of the Roman amphitheater can be seen in the Piazza dell’ Anfiteatro. The popular Piazza San Michele occupies the site of the old Roman forum.
Lucca became an independent state in 1160 and retained its independence for 500 years. In the Middle Ages Lucca grew rich from the silk industry. Banking was also an important source of wealth for the city. More recently, the city was conquered by Napoleon and given to his sister Elisa Bonaparte Baciocchi in 1805. It later became part of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, then the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont, and finally the modern Italian State in 1861.
One of the attractions of Lucca is the medieval city wall. Lucca is one of the few ancient cities in Europe with an intact wall. The wall is a wide earthen structure faced with brick, constructed between 1550 and 1650. The top of the wall is now a tree-lined park with a wide pedestrian/bicycle path. The 2.5-mile-long path is a popular walking, jogging, and cycling path.
Bicycles can be rented for about €5/hour or €20/day at several shops in the old city. Riding or walking the wall is a good way to get a view of the city, and a good place to people watch, too. You will see many locals, as well as fellow tourists, walking and riding the walls or just relaxing on park benches. There are also several places where there are tunnels inside the structure of the wall that are surprisingly interesting and well worth seeking out.
Inside the walls, the old city has many fine old churches, plazas (piazzas), palaces (palazzos), and villas. Getting around can be confusing, as the streets are narrow and lined with tall (4-6 story) buildings, and some much taller towers that block out any visual reference points. On a cloudy day it can be difficult to orient yourself. You may come out onto the street and have no idea which way is north. A city map and a good guidebook are essential. Rick Steves’ guide to Florence and Tuscany has a chapter on Lucca and is a good reference. His walking tour is a good way to see the major sights.
We wandered around without a set itinerary and got lost on several occasions. Wandering aimlessly and getting lost has a certain appeal, but one time we couldn’t find the side street where we had left the bikes that we borrowed from the owner of the Airbnb we were staying in. Eventually we figured out that we were on the opposite side of the city than we thought we were. We retrieved the bikes and rode back to our rental, but only after walking almost all of the 2.5-mile wall.
Some of the major attractions in Lucca are the Piazza San Michele and the Church of San Michele (Chiesa di San Michele), the Cathedral Museum (Museo della Cattedrale), the Guingi Tower (Torre Guingi) and Villa Guingi, the Casa di Puccini (the birthplace of the opera composer Giacomo Pucccini), the San Martino Cathedral, the San Giovanni Church, the Church of San Fediano, the Pallazzo Mansi, and the Palazzo Pfanner. All of these are described in the Rick Steves guide, as well as other guidebooks.
Climbing the 220 steps of the Torre Guinigi gives you a good view of the city and you’ll find an interesting little grove of trees growing on the summit of the tower. This was the first of our tower climbs during our trip. More would come in Siena and Florence, culminating with our back-to-back climbs of the Duomo and Campanile (Giotto’s Tower) in Florence (both 400+ steps). Lucca once had 160 towers like the Torre Guingi, all private residences of wealthy merchant families. Only a few remain. A combination ticket that gets you into both the Torre Guinigi and the Clock Tower costs less than €10. Most of the other attractions in Lucca are similarly inexpensive, mostly between €5 and €10.
There are no shortages of places in Lucca to get a good meal, something we found true everywhere we went in Italy. There are some fine dining establishments that are recommended the guidebooks, but we found the sidewalk and piazza cafes that are so abundant all had very good food at surprisingly affordable prices. It’s hard to go wrong, wherever you choose to dine. Gelato is serious stuff in Lucca, too, as it is everywhere in Italy.
If you’re visiting Tuscany, Lucca should be on your itinerary, even if you only have an afternoon to explore it. Siena is prettier, and Lucca doesn’t have the history or art and culture of Florence, but it is more authentic and much less touristy, and has its own appeal. You won’t regret it.
Originally posted September 17, 2018. Updated and re-posted April 14, 2021 and May 21, 2023.
Savannah is an old city, founded in 1733. It was the first European settlement in Georgia, and the city’s history is an important aspect of its spirit and culture. Walking around in the Historic District, it’s not hard to envision yourself in another, long past, era.
The entire Historic District was named a National Historic Landmark in 1966. The 
Savannah is a very walkable city. Guided walking tours of the Historic District are available for about $25 per person. There are also guided bike tours and public carriage tours available at similar rates. Private carriage tours run $100-125 for two people. Hop-on/hop-off trolley tours run $30-35 per person. Ghost tours are also a popular option for visitors.
We opted to wander around on our own (but probably missed out on a lot of interesting information about the city). A good place to start a walking tour of your own is Forsyth Park, a 30 acre park at the south end of the Historic District. Its most notable feature is the Forsyth Fountain, but there is a lot more there to see. Enjoy the park’s gardens, paths, monuments, and the fountain, then head north toward the river and take in some (or all) of the 22 Squares and innumerable historic buildings, churches, and Victorian houses.
Some of the more interesting structures in the Historic District include The Pirate’s House, mentioned in Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island, the city’s oldest building and now a popular restaurant, and The Olde Pink House, another of the city’s oldest structures and also a highly regarded restaurant. Not quite as old, but equally interesting, the Mercer House (officially the Mercer-Williams House Museum) was the site of the 1980s killing of a male prostitute that inspired the book (and movie) Midnight In the Garden of Good and Evil.
Near the north end of the Historic District, 
The buildings along River Street were once cotton warehouses. Today they house shops, restaurants, bars, and art galleries. River Street has its share of tacky gift shops, but it also has some interesting boutiques, antique shops, and art galleries. Among the many restaurants are Vic’s On the River, Huey’s, The Shrimp Factory, and Joe’s Crab Shack. If you need a frozen daiquiri refill, there’s another Wet Willie’s on River Street.
There are no shortage of other places along the river to wet your whistle, including The Warehouse Bar and Grill, Dub’s Public House, The Cotton Exchange Tavern, and a couple of rooftop bars, Top Deck Bar and Rocks On the Roof. And there are more restaurants and bars on Bay Street on the top of the bluff.
There’s much to see and do in Savannah that time didn’t allow. We had to skip many things. We checked out only a couple of the city’s art galleries, for example, and didn’t make it to other nearby destinations such as 
Originally posted January 24, 2020. Updated and re-posted April 15, 2023.
I’ll cover four of my favorite northern Oregon coastal towns in this post: Cannon Beach, Gearhart, Manzanita, and Oceanside. They all have their own unique personality, but they all share a few things in common. They’re all small (none have more than 3,000 year-round residents), they’re all beachfront towns and the Pacific Ocean plays a big role in their culture and community, all but tiny Oceanside have an active arts scene, and you can find outstanding places to eat and drink in each of them.
