Friday 27 July:  Left Victoria this morning on the car ferry for Vancouver and then we all headed off in the coach for Granville Island.

This is a shopping district under the south end of the Granville Street Bridge.  It was once an industrial site but today is home to a large farmers market, marina, hotel and various arts theatres and galleries.

Ocean Concrete is the oldest tenant, having started up shop there in 1917 and this is the mural project started on the concrete silos “Giants”.

The farmers market was where we were heading for lunch and shopping and we weren’t disappointed.  We couldn’t resist the fruits, some of which we had never seen before, but all were fresh and delicious and we bought enough to snack on for a couple of days.  Lots of lovely fish to choose from so we chose salmon for lunch;  very nice.

There were lots of artists selling handmade crafts as well as an extensive art shop and I was happy to find a quilt shop where I bought a selection of very nice fabrics with a Canadian theme.  At this point I forgot to take any more photos, but we had a very nice day and have found ourselves coming into contact with lots of Australians and some New Zealanders.  Most Canadians recognize our accent and are keen to start up a conversation.  Very friendly people!

Later in the day we picked up our coach and were taken to the Metropolitan Hotel conveniently located downtown.  This will be home for the next three days.

Not very hungry after our lunch, so we thought we would take advantage of “happy hour” and had a drink in the hotel bar.  We then progressed to a few more bars and ended up in a great little pub in historical Gastown “Steamworks”;  good atmosphere and award-winning craft beers, we managed to get a table with a view and ended the night with pizza and beer.  It was an easy walk back as it doesn’t get dark here until about 10.30m.