Would you visit Peggy’s Cove on a Winter Day?

We are just back from a quick trip to Halifax and Antigonish. We had a half-day with no plans. We checked the weather forecast: sun in the morning; snow in the afternoon. A typical Nova Scotia forecast. If you don’t like the weather, wait ten minutes or drive 10 miles.

We decided to drive to Peggy’s Cove, a 45 minute drive from downtown Halifax.

It was a picture postcard drive to Peggy’s Cove

Instead of taking the highway, we took Prospect Road to Peggy’s Cove. We made many stops along the way.

This duck does not mind the snow and ice

This tourist attraction is on Peggy’s Cove Road

Development in the village of Pegg’s Cove is strictly controlled. You do not see this type of tourist attraction at Peggy’s Cove.

Would you paint your house with a Peggy’s Cove theme?

Once you make the final turn to Peggy’s Cove, tourist attractions are limited to art galleries, shops and restaurants in original fishing houses … but they are closed for the winter.

The main restaurant next to the parking lot is open. Everything else is closed.

We had Peggy’s Cove to ourselves!

You can take as many selfies as you want at Peggy’s Cove in the winter!

We went to Peggy’s Cove in the summer a couple of years ago. Below is a photo from the same location.

Summer or winter: When would you rather visit Peggy’s Cove?

Although it was a summer day on our previous trip, everyone wore a jacket or sweater because of the wind.

You can find more summer photos of Peggy’s Cove in my previous post on Peggy’s Cove:
http://boomervoice.ca/lighthouse-peggys-cove-famous-world/

There was no wind on our winter visit. In the sunlight, it almost felt warmer on a calm winter day than a windy summer day.

This is a picture of the waves on our summer visit

The ocean was very calm on our winter visit.

I had some photoshop fun with the big waves from our summer visit

We did not drive to Peggy’s Cove on Norman’s motorcycle. I photoshopped him into a picture of the waves.

Peggy’s Cove looks the same, summer and winter

There are no trees and no grass at Peggy’s Cove. Just rock. Lots and lots of rock. It looks the same all year round

The pools of water at Peggy’s Cove were flash frozen

I like looking at reflections in the ice

Flash frozen ponds are perfect for skating … but we didn’t bring our skates

These tourists are skating without skates

These Asian tourists had a great time at Peggy’s Cove. They took pictures of us and we took pictures of them.

I tried a feature on my iphone: live photo. When you set the phone to live photo, the camera actually takes a short video. I then set the photo on loop. It is a fun feature on the iphone.

Jumping on ice is fun. The ice did not break

This is a typical place to take photos of the lighthouse

You will notice that there is a bit more cloud cover. We were starting to lose our sun, but no snow yet

Even though the ocean was calm, you need to heed the warning to stay away from the shore

Did I heed the warning to stay away from the water?

Peggy’s Cove is also a fishing village, with a naturally protected harbour. It is safe to walk down the wharf in the harbour.

We saw lots of fishing boats in the ocean. It is lobster season in many parts of Nova Scotia.

I didn’t mind putting my hand in the water for a few seconds but I would not want to be out on the ocean in a fishing boat in winter.

This is the view of the natural harbour at Peggy’s Cove

This is the view from the end of the cove at Peggy’s Cove

We walked through the village at Peggy’s Cove, looking for a large granite carving dedicated to fishermen.

We thought it would be easy to spot a large granite carving … but there is granite everywhere in Peggy’s Cove.

We headed over to Visitor Information for directions.

We found Visitor Information … but it was ….

CLOSED!

We couldn’t ask for directions at the Lobster Truck. It was … closed

We found it on our own

This is a massive granite carving, dedicated to fishermen

The biker was heading home before the snow

By now, the sun was gone. It started to snow just as got back to the car.

It snowed all the way back into Halifax.

We drove by my favourite house in Halifax at Christmas

Don’t forget to throw some money into the donation box. The homeowners match all donations to the Salvation Army.

There is a lovely story behind the decorations on this house and a neighbouring house. The houses are owned by two brothers, both doctors in Halifax. They came from a large, poor Cape Breton family. Their mother loved Christmas so the brothers decorate their houses every year to honour their mother.

Two south end Halifax doctors are continuing their tradition of going big with their Christmas light displays this year.

 

The doctors — who are also brothers — started the tradition 10 years ago to make their mother happy.

 

“My mother loved Christmas lights and I always told my father that some day, she would have the best lights,” said Nick Giacomantonio, adding the family is originally from Whitney Pier.

 

“She never did. So we thought we would start to decorate for her.

 

The brothers use their display to help local food banks and shelters this time of year.

 

“Most of the donations I take to the Parker Street Food Bank and Nick is collecting for the Salvation Army,” said Carman Giacomantonio.

 

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/south-end-brothers-christmas-lights-1.3377597

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to You

After we got back to Halifax, we went for a walk in the winter wonderland.

It is hard to believe it is the same day … picture postcard in the morning sun … winter wonderland in the late afternoon snow.

I will be back next week with more on our trip to Spain