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Nova Scotia: Day 4

For our last full day with the car rental (timing of our flight from Halifax to St. John's meant that we couldn't just drop it off at the airport), we decided to make the most of it. Once we got ourselves up, we headed out to grab some breakfast at a nearby coffee shop, ironically named Dilly Dally. It was a fun, hipster cafe with surprisingly good food - too bad we couldn't spend a bit more time relaxing there.

The reason for the rush was to beat the rest of the tourists to Peggy's Cove. Having heard from every other person that we had to go see Peggy's Cove, we figured it was worth visiting. Getting there, we saw the scenery change from forests to stone - apparently the stone was formed hundreds of millions of years ago from tectonic plates colliding, and also from glaciers shifting. This makes for a very unique seaside landscape, especially when combined with the colorful maritime architecture of the fishing community. 

Arriving early meant that we didn't wait too long to snag a prime parking spot at the visitor's center, which freed us up to explore the area thoroughly without worrying about the SUV. I was mesmerized by the beauty of the small village - almost every step yielded a view that was picture-worthy. From the houses, to the boats, to the piles of fishing gear, everything seemed to tell a story. In amongst the houses were stores with local art and souvenirs for sale - my favorite was one selling all different sizes and colours of buoys, while showcasing treasures collected over the years from fishing these waters (like giant whale ribs). Walking towards the lighthouse, we saw more and more people, either exploring the shops or climbing all over the Cove's stoney terrain. Even with the growing number of tourists pouring in on a sunny Saturday, there was still enough room to go wherever you desired and stay as long as you wanted. When we got hungry, we grabbed a lobster roll to tide us over until we could get to a proper fish market.

Once our appetite for Peggy's Cove was satiated, we headed to Ryers Lobsters for fresh catch. Unfortunately, we learned that they no longer sell cooked live lobster, but luckily there was a small restaurant down the street that did! We each got our own lobster at Make and Break Cafe, and though it was slightly overcooked, it satisfied our lobster quota for the day. 

With lobster in our tummies, it was time to head out in search of scallops! Digby is famous for their giant scallops, and even though it was clear on the other side of the province, along the Bay of Fundy, food is worth travelling for, right? To get there in time for dinner, we had to book it - covering the 200+ kilometers in just under 2.5 hours. The destination was the Crow's Nest restaurant, right at the edge of town. We ordered the seafood chowder and scallops, which were thankfully worth going the distance. We tried pan-fried, deep-fried with a light dusting of batter, and bacon-wrapped... each scallop was cooked to tender perfection, flavorful, and meaty. Yum!

The drive back to Halifax was accompanied by the calm light of the full moon. By the time we got to the Airbnb, we were too tired to do anything else. Tomorrow, we'll explore Halifax.

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