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Kick Scooting in Halifax, Nova Scotia
Adult kick scooters are the perfect vehicles to take aboard a commercial cruise liner. They are big enough to provide serious transportation for those few hours you have on shore, yet they are small enough to fit under your bed and carry through your ship's cavernous (yet narrow) hallways.
This article provides a brief review and tips about where you can travel on a kick scooter once off the ship. It is one of several based on my experiences during two-week cruise between New York City, Quebec City, and back again on the MSC Poesia. Packing a CityKicker and a Xootr Roma kick scooter, my husband and I scooted in almost every port on our itinerary.
For more information and tips, see Taking Kick Scooters on a Cruise.
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>> Halifax is a stunning port city, but many people only associate it with the sinking of the cruise liner, The Titanic, on her maiden voyage. What most people don't know (but birds do) is that a memorial to that event in the form of a Titanic model can be seen in a sparkling pond located at a park named Public Gardens.
And what we didn't know when we left our ship was that the Public Gardens and the Halifax Citadel National Historic Site of Canada (two of Halifax's popular tourist destinations) are located at the top of a hill on Sakvilla Street. This hill is so steep, that when you walk (not kick scoot) up, it feels like you are scaling a wall.
TIP: When doing your pre-trip research for a kick scooter trip, find out the lay of the land. A great sightseeing spot that's only a half-mile away from the dock might also be located a mile straight up!
People who kick scoot love outdoor sightseeing (rather than being stuck on tour buses or confined to specific routes), so having to walk a kick scooter to some areas more than pays off when you're able to cover more distance by scooting to another.
TIP: Kick scooting is best on relatively flat terrain. Walking up and down a few hills is OK as long as the overall terrain is not consistently rolling and sidewalks aren't in bad condition, or are gravel-lined paths.
In Halifax, the cruise ship dock is fronted by a row of buildings so large that once you are on the sidewalk, you cannot see your ten-story tall, two-block long ship. This is disorienting, making it easy to forget from where you came!
TIP: When at a port, always carry specific travel directions. When you leave your ship, you need to remember how to get back. Just because your ship is big doesn't mean that it is easy to find. If you end up taking a cab back, you need to tell the driver exactly where you want to go. Speaking from experience, don't assume that your driver is familiar with a docking area other than knowing that it's by the water.
Halifax features a long, well-developed, flat port area; perfect for kick scooting. In addition to its beautiful surroundings, you'll also find highly-skilled craftspeople in outdoor stations, ships as museums and a museum about ships, places to dine or snack, local businesses, a well-informed tourism council, and lots of places to sit.
Sites along the river's edge are easily accessed by kick scooter. You'll encounter a steep hill only when you travel west, which is quite literally "uptown."
Resources
- www.DestinationHalifax.com: Order their Greater Halifax [current year] Visitor Guide. It is packed with maps and information about what you'll see along the cruise-ship portion of the harbor.
- MoviMaps - Halifax: View this fabulous 3D map online, or download and print it from a PDF file. Better, click on their "Order Free Maps" link to obtain the full size version.
- www.NovaScotia.com: Make a point of learning more about Nova Scotia, including the Cape Breton Island and World Heritage Sites in Nova Scotia. Once you are at Halifax, stop into their large tourist council building to chat with their highly-informed staff and learn about what you can do in the region when you return someday after your cruise.
- Use Google Maps or Bing Maps to see nice satellite views, although these views are not always up-to-date.
- Taking Kick Scooters on a Cruise
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Kick Scooting in Halifax, Nova Scotia
- Kick Scooting in Sydney, Nova Scotia
- Kick Scooting in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island
- Kick Scooting in St. John, New Brunswick
- Kick Scooting in Quebec City, Quebec
Questions? Just ask!
Karen Little - Karen@LetsKickScoot.com
Article by Karen Little. Photographs by Karen and Phil Little. First published on www.LetsKickScoot.com on 12/5/2011. All rights reserved.
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