Charlottetown
After a few days in Quebec City, our cruise took us to Prince Edward Island. It’s embarrassing saying this as someone who considers herself well-traveled, but, I have never heard of P.E.I. before this trip. Am I clueless? Or just not Canadian? Feel free to let me know in the comments.
Charlottetown, the birth place of Canada, is the capital of Prince Edward Island. It’s difficult for me to think of a word other than quiet to describe it. I’ve been to tropical islands and rugged islands. P.E.I. felt like a nearly uninhabited small town island. Driving through Charlottetown we saw tiny villages, harbors, rolling farmlands and stunning seascapes. It felt like I’d been transported a hundred years into the past. I saw what North America looked like before we had skyscrapers and suburban neighborhoods where farmland used to be. I might sound crazy to the millions people that still live in remote locations just like Charlottetown.
We started our day in Charlottetown by driving through the heritage district and farmlands on our way to Cavendish. There we saw Green Gables Heritage Place, the house that inspired Lucy Maud Montgomery’s famous children’s novel, Anne of Green Gables. The story, published in 1908, was before my time, but I still appreciated the beauty of such a historic home and landscape. Growing up in such a beautiful, quiet place would also inspire me to write stories about my childhood adventures as well.
After an hour walking around the Anne of Green Gables Museum, we took a drive to the red sandstone cliffs. It was an amazing place to take photos. Although, it was VERY windy and not an ideal place to take photos of yourself. I was definitely relieved that I decided to braid my hair that day or else it would be a birds nest after stopping at the cliffs.
We spent our last few hours in Charlottetown exploring some historic landmarks near the port on foot.
Of course, we couldn’t end our trip without trying the famous Cow’s Creamery. All the flavors looked delicious, but in the end, I went for the Cownadian Maple. I was in Canada after all.
-Ayla♥
I should read “Anne of Green Gables” (it’s on my list forever) and hope to visit PEI someday. Great post!
I should too. Especially since I visited her family’s home!
I think you would both like it. Anne is a very relatable character and it’s a fun optimistic read… I love it.
I heard someone mention the book yesterday in conversation and now I know I need to go to get a copy hahaha
Nice photos! I want to visit there.
Thank you!
looks like a lovely little place to get away. Great mixture of the historical with nature.
Looks like a wonderfully peaceful place. I’ve only heard of P.E.I through other travelers so you’re not alone in it being a bit of an unknown 🙂
It definitely felt a bit uncharted hahaha
And here’s your next geography lesson – all PEI is not Charlottetown; that’s just the port and capitol of the Province of Prince Edward Island. Growing up in the States, we learned about the Canadian provinces, and I’m old enough to have read “Anne of Green Gables” decades ago! I’ve been going up to PEI for the past 10 years, and if you want to see my point of view, go back in my blog kayak2016blog.wordpress.com
I haven’t sorted posts into categories, but most visits are late summer/early fall, and they are tagged PEI.
Hello! I’m aware not all of PEI is Charlottetown. Charlottetown is the port I arrived to. All my blog posts are named after a city so instead of calling it Cavendish & all the other cities I visited, I decided to call it Charlottetown after our port stop. I continue to do that for some other islands and provinces I visited.
Hi! Just came across your blog and I’ve enjoyed rummaging through your writings 🙂 I didn’t know about PEI before I lived in Canada a few years back as well! You’re so lucky to have been there. I’ve always wanted to visit that historical place about Anne of the Green Gables. The only eastern Canadian province I had been to was Nova Scotia (and the Cape Breton Island), it was surreal and I wished I had seen more of the Atlantic Canada.
Anyways, hi from a new follower! 🙂