Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/1215222
20 | Destination Greater Victoria 2020 | 800-663-3883 S I G H T S DARE TO COMPARE The Oak Bay Beach Hotel, just off the avenue, hosts craft beer tastings featuring a wide sampling of local brews. WORD ON THE STREET Browsing bibliophiles can find six bookstores in the space of just a few blocks in scenic Sidney. BEACON Avenue, Sidney Sidney-by-the-Sea lies 30 minutes north of downtown by car, an hour by public transit, with views of the Salish Sea and farm fields along the way. (It's near The Butchart Gardens and the Swartz Bay BC Ferries terminal.) Once a rough-and-tumble fishing, logging and, during Prohibition, rum-running port, Sidney today is a prime retirement and vacation destination, one that proudly moves at a slower pace. Beacon Avenue, the main street running to the waterfront pier and parks, reflects that transformation. With wide sidewalks, flowers and public art, it invites visitors to explore the shops, restaurants and galleries. Start with its unofficial name: Sidney Booktown. Beacon Avenue's bookstores offer everything from antiquarian finds to new releases to second- hand bargains. There's more than books of course, with clothing stories, gi shops, art galleries and restaurants and the Sidney Museum. Just off Beacon on First Street, there's the Shaw Centre for the Salish Sea, an aquarium with more than 160 species of marine life. A few steps farther along First, Victoria Distillers offers tours and tasting sessions in a beautiful waterfront building. Finally, you can't leave without exploring the waterfront, with its fishing pier, pubs, restaurants and parks. For years the District of Oak Bay, just east of Victoria proper, took quiet pride in claims it was "more British than the British." Even today its main drag, Oak Bay Avenue, resembles an old-fashioned high street in an English village. More recently, the municipality has gone for public art in a big way, which should whet your appetite for its galleries. The Avenue Gallery features contemporary Canadian art in a beautiful space, offering everything from jewelry to sculpture to paintings. Winchester Galleries, just down the avenue, features works by emerging artists and masters. (Don't miss the upstairs space with works by Newfoundland printmaker David Blackwood.) If you've worked up an appetite, don't worry. Vis-a-Vis offers a menu based on the best from local producers and, next door, The Penny Farthing Public House offers great food and two dozen beers on tap. White Heather Tea Room offers classic aernoon tea, with sandwiches and sweets served on tiered trays. Save room though. Rogers' Chocolates, in a handsome heritage building on the avenue, serves up amazing confections. (Queen Elizabeth II is reportedly partial to its vanilla creams.) Anglophiles may feel transported to the old country at the White Heather Tea Room (above left) and the Penny Farthing Public House (above right) on Oak Bay Avenue OAK BAY Avenue THE AVENUE GALLERY; SIDNEY MUSEUM; WHITE HEATHER TEA ROOM; (THE PENNY FARTHING PUBLIC HOUSE) DESTINATION GREATER VICTORIA; ISTOCK Oak Bay Avenue sports several art emporiums including the Avenue Gallery (above); learn about the area's colourful history at the Sidney Museum (top right) on Beacon Avenue