12 Hours in Victoria

It's an easy two-hour drive south to Victoria from our home in Parksville, and we recently made an impromptu trip down for a 12 hour anniversary celebration.

We began our evening with a wonderful dinner at Nautical Nellies, a steak and seafood restaurant on Wharf Street. The place was packed on a Tuesday evening, but they managed to seat us, without a reservation, after a short wait . We started with the 10 piece Sashimi appetizer which included raw Albacore and Red Ahi tuna, salmon, snapper and scallops. It was fresh and delicious. My companion is an oyster freak and ordered 4 Effingham oysters and would gladly have ordered more. As a main course I had the 7 oz New York steak with crab cake and garlic prawns. The steak was flavourful and the crab cake was amazing. My companion had the lobster tail with prawns, seafood fritters and a seafood risotto. We finished with a flourless chocolate torte. The entire meal was a winner.

After all that rich food we walked the 2 blocks over to Swan's. It's my favourite brew-pub in Victoria, partly because of the beer but even more so because of the outstanding atmosphere brought on by the amazing collection of art on every wall. The had live bluegrass on stage and while the beer was good, the waitress was a little cranky so we picked up a nightcap at the onsite beer and wine store and headed back to our hotel.

We stayed at the Bedford Regency Hotel thanks to a last minute online deal, just $59.00 for a standard queen room in this downtown heritage building. It's right across from the Bay Centre and within easy walking distance of the Inner Harbour or any other downtown attraction. The room was cute and unique, not your standard cookie cutter budget hotel room, the bed was comfortable and clean, it had a walk-in shower with dual shower heads and a handy little office area. There's a bar/lounge on the second floor, though we didn't partake and a coffee shop in the lobby. The online off-season rate was fantastic but it would be well-worth the standard rate at any time of year, so we look forward to staying there again.