Vancouver situates itself as a gateway to the Canadian wilderness, a few miles from the border with the USA. The city is massive as long as you are not fooled into thinking that downtown is the extent of it. Our first port of call when we arrived was to try out the food near to where we were staying which was not in downtown. Accross the road we spied a place that made "Rotis", the food was inexpensive and amazing and in my opinion fully deserves its 5 star review online. My only qualm was that mine was too spicy.... but then again i was warned not to take it because the "Canadian spice index is different". I made my bed i shall lie in it.
The recent NBA championship to make its way to Canada was being celebrated on every bollard and lamppost- a bit like England is STILL celebrating its 1966 world cup win
Downtown Vancouver is a sensational place. In the space of two blocks you could be at a ferry terminal, in a massive park or in the middle of a the fanciest hotel in the city. The cruise business is massive in the city, you will see at least three different cruise ships come in and out in the middle of downtown everyday. At this specific time it was the Disney cruises that had arrived from Alaska, so as you walked along the pier you could hear every single Disney song under the sun, i was not complaining but other less fun , boring, people were. The most recent craze to hit the city is electric bikes, you can hire them from little bike shops (mostly run by engineering students) and ride them around the renowned Stanley Park. This is a lot of fun except when you accidentally put the bike into full speed and realize that it becomes a mini moped except without all the safety features attached, you basically become a freewheeling deathtrap along a narrow coastal road. The views are stunning though.
You don't have to stay in Vancouver you can take a day trip out past North Vancouver. Horseshoe bay is one of the ports from which you can reach Vancouver Island but also happens to be a beautiful seaside village with a really pastry shop. The other notable stops to make is to go to the Sea to Sky Gondola to get some majestic views of the area and walk across one of those scary cable bridges. Also you can visit the Britannia Mine , an amazing building which holds a lot of controversial history from when it was open and polluting the surrounding areas yet providing necessary employment for the local people.
