SYDNEY, N.S. — Cape Breton wasn’t even on Jean Knight’s radar when she booked an eight-day Montréal to New York luxury cruise for herself and a friend.
But all that changed when the experienced 91-year-old world traveler mentioned her trip during a bridge game in Cheltenham, England.
It turns out that one of the men playing that evening had been to Cape Breton many times to visit his daughter in Sydney. By the end of the game, her friend had arranged for his son-in-law to meet up with Knight and her traveling companion, 83-year-old Cynthia Skae, to show the pair a little bit of the area.
In fact, they got even more than they bargained for as bad weather along the St. Lawrence River prevented the Silver Spirit, a high-end cruise ship with capacity of 540 passengers and 376 crew, from making a planned stop with the result being they got to Sydney the day before their scheduled arrival.
Like many of the passengers, they spent the afternoon strolling downtown Sydney before retiring to the ship for a good night’s sleep at cruise ship berth by the Big Fiddle. So, with the waterfront area already covered, the next day the ladies were whisked out to the countryside to take in what remained of the colourful autumn leaves.
They loved the scenery, but what struck Knight the most was the local architecture.
“Look at all the wooden houses,” she repeated again and again. “I just can’t get over that all the homes are made of wood.”
An interesting observation, given that the majority of the residences where she lives are made of brick. The Cotswold region from where she hails is also renowned for the miles and miles of stone walls that line the fields and properties in the rolling hills of western England.
“It’s certainly advantageous to know somebody when you go to a new place — they’re able to give you an inside look at the area,” said Knight, after being told of the area’s rich history in coal and steel.
For her part, Skae was full of questions about an island she confessed she knew nothing about.
“What strikes me the most is the space, you have so much space here — all the homes have lots of space around them, it seems more relaxed than England,” she observed.
Overall, the veteran sightseers rated their Cape Breton visit a full 10 out of 10. They declared the scenery to be top-notch, they marvelled at the friendliness of the people and they said they would recommend a visit to Cape Breton to their traveling friends back in England.
For the record, the Silver Spirt was the penultimate ship of the 2018 cruise season, with the last vessel, the Silver Wind, expected on Monday.
