June 28, 2025

Marti Eicholz

Victoria, British Columbia, Canada welcomes The Odyssey and its passengers just as it welcomes all the other 800,000 visitors from cruise ships each year with its friendly, positive, inviting atmosphere that makes you feel comfortable and accepted.

This city is famous for its harbor, the largest natural harbor in the world. The waters encircling Victoria are home to five distinct species of whales, so it is a good place for whale watching with humpback whales, gray whales, and three resident pods of Orca whales totaling seventy-six whales regularly spotted.

We arrive on a chilly, partly cloudy, turning sunny day to enjoy beautiful gardens and rich history.

Victoria, British Columbia, has a mild, temperate climate with dry, sunny summers and cool, cloudy, and rainy winters. Victoria is a sunny city with an average of 308 days of sunshine per year and eight months without frost. 

Although it is in an earthquake zone, the threat of a tsunami is low.

The golf courses in Victoria are open 365 days a year. My golfing shipmates are out on the course.

Dedicated bike lanes and scenic cycling routes make for a bike-friendly city and Victoria has both. My shipmates with bikes are thrilled to take a ride. For those without bikes, Victoria is walkable.

Victoria, the capital of British Columbia, nestled on the southern tip of Vancouver Island, the oldest city in the Pacific Northwest, a city of contrasts, has the charm of a bygone British heritage dating back to 1843. In 1858, Victoria’s population skyrocketed to 30,000 in a matter of weeks, courtesy of the Gold Rush, becoming the capital in 1868. Today, it is home to a thriving arts community, a vibrant food scene and has the vitality of a modern metropolis. The city boasts Canada’s oldest Chinatown with its unique architecture and vibrant culture. The narrowest street in the country is Fan Tan Alley.

Canada’s longest national road, the Trans-Canada Highway, begins in Victoria, traversing the island, connecting to the mainland via ferry, and continuing eastward across Canada, covering all ten Canadian provinces.

With a perfect growing climate, Victoria is referred to as the “City of Gardens”, has over one hundred parks and open spaces for exploration, including the stunning, world-renowned Butchart Gardens, a 55-acre site, originally a limestone quarry, transformed into a beautiful garden by Jennie Butchart in the early 1900s, highlights diverse floral arrangements from over nine hundred varieties of plants and flowers, beautiful water features, and extensive walking paths.

Beacon Hill Park, larger than New York’s Central Park, offers a serene oasis in the heart of Victoria, complete with peacocks, petting zoo, walking trails with scenic views of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and is home to the world’s tallest, at a height of 127 feet, free-standing totem pole.

Gracing the picturesque Victoria’s Inner-Harbor, a marina area, is historical sites, grand, elaborate Victorian-era buildings, decorated with intricate details, stained-glass windows, carvings, and ornate balconies like the famous Fairmont Empress Hotel, welcoming guests since 1908, serving 500,000 cups of tea annually.

Craig Darroch Castle, a Victorian-era mansion built in the late 19^th century, offers a glimpse into the city’s history, and is one of the city’s most immaculately preserved historic edifices, now a museum. It boasts staggering eighty-seven steps leading from the main floor to its tower.

The Parliament Building is illuminated every night by 3,300 energy-efficient lights and 1,600 lampposts holding hanging flower baskets.

The Art Gallery has a comprehensive collection of Asian art.

The Royal BC Museum, founded in 1886, is a famous cultural institution.

Victoria has a thriving, vibrant arts community, with many galleries, theaters, museums, and an active literary scene with bookstores and literary events throughout the year. The Royal Theatre and the McPherson Playhouse host musicals, plays, and concerts.

The Maritime Museum of British Columbia is home to North America’s oldest operating birdcage elevator.

Notable people from Victoria include Nelly Furtado, Steve Nash, and David Foster.

After a one day stop, we prepare to leave a scenic beauty, a beautiful city that has often been a backdrop for numerous film and TV productions and has been given many different names, such as “Most Romantic City in Canada”, “Top 15 Friendliest Cities in the World”, Best City to Live in for Women in Canada”, “Seventh Best City”, “Second Best Small City in the World”, and nicknamed “the city of the newlywed or newly dead” with nearly 18% of its population over the age of 65.

I deny none of the above. Victoria is STUNNING.

June the 28^th marks the day my Robert passed. It has been three years. Victoria is a place we enjoyed together, boating to and from Seattle, walking the trails, enjoying the colors and smells of the blossoms, playing a few rounds of golf, savoring an authentic Chinese specialty, and having a calorie splurge High Tea afternoon at the Empress Hotel. Today, I felt his presence. He knows I want peace, happy times, and people who love me, and he is happy that I have found it. Thanks to each of you.

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