September 26th – Fjord Delight in Saguenay

Today we had one of the most scenic cruises that you can do in Canada, as we passed from the wide St Lawrence River into the breathtaking Saguenay Fjord, and sailed for 50 miles past its sheer cliffs and verdant scenery.

For the humble lecturer, this experience isn't quite as relaxing as it is for the passengers who just sit back and enjoy the scenery – I was up on the bridge giving a narration on the natural wonders we were passing. There were quite a few whales (mainly beluga and humpback) making fleeting appearances as we were gliding along, but they tended to disappear as quickly as I could point them out. However, the vistas scarcely needed words to enhance them – they spoke of the incredible power of Mother Nature in grinding out this glacial valley with its tall cliffs (up to 500 metres high), and silent dark waters (up to 270 metres deep).

Half-way down, we stopped in front of the famous 10-metre high statue of the Virgin Mary that overlooks the fjord, pausing to play a rendition of Ave Maria by Quebecois songstress Celine Dion. I'm not Celine's biggest fan, but even her warblings made this a fairly haunting moment.

Of course, a visit to Saguenay is all about the fjord, so the more mundane town of La Baie where we docked (with its rather ugly aluminium smelter) can potentially be a bit of an anti-climax. However, we got a warm welcome from the incredibly enthusiastic meeters-and-greeters in their traditional costumes, and most people went out on tours to get re-acquainted with the fjord, through bus trips, hiking, or kayak trips.

We decided to do our own hiking trip, so we trekked about 3kms out of town to the start of the Sentier Euchet, a rough track through the trees up the side of a steep hill. As we huffed and puffed our way up, occasionally we'd get some tantalising views of the fjord, and once we reached the top (marked by a huge cross), the views were tremendous, its rows of cliffs seeming to stretch into infinity.

Saguenay provided almost too much natural beauty for the brain to process in one day.

September 24th – On the Boardwalk in Charlottetown

Where Sydney yesterday was perhaps a little underwhelming, Charlottetown was impressive. They're both smallish waterside provincial towns of a similar size, but the quality of architecture, and the array of restaurants and museums here in Charlottetown mark this out as somewhere with a high quality of life. In fact, there's a really prosperous feel to the place – not surprising, when this is the provincial capital (of Prince Edward Island – Canada's smallest province), so there's lots of government offices and facilities here.

Even on a quiet Sunday, there was lots going on out there on Charlottetown's well preserved historic streets – lively alfresco cafes, craft markets and farmer's markets, plus the Cathedral was holding a street party too.  So, we had an enjoyable time exploring the town centre, picking up lots of history along the way from the well-presented information boards – most of them pointing to Charlottetown's most significant moment, when it hosted the conference that saw the formation of modern Canada. As the country is celebrating its 150^th anniversary this year, it was good to be where it all started.

But, my favourite part of Charlottetown is its lovely seaside boardwalk, full of people strolling or jogging. In fact, having walked the length of it with Tracy in the morning, I was inspired to go for a jog along it too. If I lived in Charlottetown I'd be as fit as a fiddle.

September 24th – On the Boardwalk in Charlottetown

Where Sydney yesterday was perhaps a little underwhelming, Charlottetown was impressive. They're both smallish waterside provincial towns of a similar size, but the quality of architecture, and the array of restaurants and museums here in Charlottetown mark this out as somewhere with a high quality of life. In fact, there's a really prosperous feel to the place – not surprising, when this is the provincial capital (of Prince Edward Island – Canada's smallest province), so there's lots of government offices and facilities here.

Even on a quiet Sunday, there was lots going on out there on Charlottetown's well preserved historic streets – lively alfresco cafes, craft markets and farmer's markets, plus the Cathedral was holding a street party too.  So, we had an enjoyable time exploring the town centre, picking up lots of history along the way from the well-presented information boards – most of them pointing to Charlottetown's most significant moment, when it hosted the conference that saw the formation of modern Canada. As the country is celebrating its 150^th anniversary this year, it was good to be where it all started.

But, my favourite part of Charlottetown is its lovely seaside boardwalk, full of people strolling or jogging. In fact, having walked the length of it with Tracy in the morning, I was inspired to go for a jog along it too. If I lived in Charlottetown I'd be as fit as a fiddle.

September 23rd – The Other Sydney

If visiting Sydney, Australia by Cruise Ship is one of the great arrivals in the cruise world, then visiting Sydney, Nova Scotia is towards the other end of the scale. But, let's take the similarities first – they were both named after the same person (Viscount Sydney, the Minister for the colonies in the 18^th century); they both sit on large, picturesque harbours; and, er….. that's it.

There's nothing wrong with this Sydney (Nova Scotia), apart from some post-industrial decline; but, we have to face the facts that it's just a fairly unremarkable provincial town. Having said that, the town is definitely improving all the time, as its attempts to woo the tourists, and to make the most of the few interesting historic buildings that it can boast. The presence of three cruise ships in this small town today, shows that they're being pretty successful in this.

But, the reason that all these people come here, is really outside the city – the beautiful countryside of Cape Breton Island. So, most people sensibly took tours out to discover the historic fortress at Louisbourg, to discover the links with Alexander Graham Bell at Baddeck, or to explore the island's Gaelic heritage from its immigrants from Scotland and Ireland.

However, having done all these things before, we decided to stay in Sydney and see if there were any new attractions since the last time we were here – there weren't. Nevertheless, we had a pleasant morning enjoying the good weather, walking around town and strolling along the waterside boardwalk (Sydney's most attractive feature).

Nova Scotia's Sydney can't compete with Australia's – but not many cities can.