The new keeps intruding upon the old in Victoria. And that's part of its charm. If you want to experience "colonial" Victoria, head over to the Bengal Lounge in the Fairmont Empress, sink into a leather armchair, and order a drink. Overhead, breezes gently waft down from the old ceiling fans, while the light from the roaring fire sparkles off the glass eyeballs of the poor Bengal tiger mounted above the mantelpiece. In this time-warped atmosphere, you might think you're in some outpost of the empire on the edge of an unknown island . . . Except that your drink might be a fluorescent blue martini, the music from the sound system is mellow jazz, and the coats piled up on a nearby armchair are made of Gore-Tex and fleece instead of wool or oilskin.
Once a little patch of the British Empire, Victoria is now wading into the shoals of a highly internationalized 21st century, and doing it with an appealing vitality that tweaks nostalgia for the past with a thoroughly modern sensibility.
As in Vancouver, you'll be amazed at how nice the people of Victoria are. Of course, you'd be nice, too, if you lived in such a pleasant place surrounded by such generous doses of natural beauty. Victoria, after all, with a population of about 325,000, occupies just a tiny corner of an island one-fifth the size of England but far more wild -- so wild, in fact, that parts of it still have no roads and the only way to get around is by boat or on foot.
The city is one thing, its location something else. Only in the past decade or so has Victoria finally begun to capitalize on its stunning physical surroundings. Whale-watching is now a major industry; kayak tours are becoming ever more popular; mountain bikes have taken to competing for road space with the bright-red double-decker tour buses; ecotourism is big; and "outdoor adventures" are available in just about every form you can think of. Your trip will be even more memorable if you move a bit beyond Tourist Central (the Inner Harbour area) and put yourself in touch with Mother Nature.
Afterward, you can sip a lovely cream tea or a bright blue martini.
