Down South (Nova Scotia)

[crystalcazzie]

Part 2: Mahone Bay and Lunenburg

We left a rainy Halifax and headed south to our next stop, Lunenburg. But first we took the advice of someone we'd met who said that we should definitely take time to see Mahone Bay on our way there.

This turned out to be good advice and it meant we got to see the town all done up for the annual Mahone Bay Scarecrow Festival...



Unfortunately the rain followed us and a lot of the scarecrows had plastic on to protect them, but they were still very cool!











Well, hello there!

I also loved how autumnal the town was, with no shortage of pumpkins around the place!









I'm gonna be honest with you, I have no idea what's going on with these pigs in this picture but I kinda love it.


Mahone Bay is also home to the Saltbox Brewery so we were able to get another stamp in our Good Cheer Trail passports.



And avoid the rain for a bit.


~*~

Said rain showed absolutely no sign of letting up as we made it to Lunenburg, but we were brave and ventured out...



A little inclement weather wasn't going to stop us from reaching our destination...



The Ironworks Distillery! We were a bit early for the guided tour, but the weather was so bad we just hung around in the shop for half an hour until it started.

It was a good tour. And you know what all good tours end with?



Tasting time! When I saw those bottles I thought we'd get a choice of which one we wanted to try, but no. We got to try every single one. It was a very good tour!

~*~

That evening we decided to do a walking tour of haunted Lunenburg. Fortunately the rain had let up a bit by that point so we didn't get completely soaked.



The tour started here, at an inn that is, of course, Very Haunted.



We also went to this church. I thought we were just going to see it from the outside, but no...



We were allowed in.





The church burnt down in 2001 and when they rebuilt it they wanted to be as accurate as possible in recreating everything as it was, so they did some research into the stars on the ceiling and it turned out that the original stars were where the stars would have been as seen from Lunenburg on the night Jesus was born. That's pretty cool.



We also got to go downstairs and see some of the original gravestones under the foundations of the church.

After leaving the church we headed up to another graveyard and another haunted building...



This one. Which was also our guide's old school. Pretty cool place to go to school!



I took this picture of the church on the way back and I love it so much.

~*~

The next morning was still pretty wet and we went down to the harbour.



Our inn booking included a complimentary sail on the owner's boat but due to weather it didn't go ahead and I now have a certificate entitling me to a free sail if I'm ever back in Lunenburg. Might be a while!



And here is the Bluenose II, fresh from Halifax.




The buildings are pretty and I do wish we'd had better weather that would have given us more opportunity to walk around and take in the place properly.


We did wander back up into the main town for a few more pics...





Yes, it's that church again. I just love how the colour of the church and the sky are so similar it almost looks like a drawing.

~*~

When we left Lunenburg we made a couple of detours for more Good Cheer Trail stops...



Roof Hound Brewing Co! I had to buy one of their sampler glasses cos it had a dog on it.



And Bear River Vineyards. I love a place called Bear River.

~*~

Next up, Wolfville.

(Also, I feel like I should mention that I'm currently drinking Ironworks rhubarb esprit out of my Roof Hound glass. It's very good.)