1st October 2022
This morning we checked out of our Hotel in Montreal and decided to hit the road rather than go on another fruitless search for breakfast in our immediate area. It is Saturday, so traffic is light at 8.30 am and we have an easy exit from the city without too many road diversions.
Our destination today is Gananoque, ON, we are leaving Quebec Province and entering Ontario. The area we are staying in is called the Thousand Islands because of the multitude of islands that are in the seaway in this region. Some are not much larger than a big rocky outcrop, some are much larger and many are occupied.
First on our priority list once clearing the urban sprawl, is to find somewhere where we can breakfast. Once you hit the motorway here options diminish quickly, however we took a punt on a town called Cornwall, just off the motorway and with a population of 37,000 must be full of cafes looking for hingry travellers (or even locals).
If only it were that easy, we drove up and down looking for such an outlet and took the opportunity to call in to a service station to pump up a rear tyre that has a slow leak and needs attention every 3 or 4 days. John went to the counter to see if he could get some insight into where we may get breakfast and came back with a recommendation and instructions of how to get to The King George Restaurant.
To our great relief, we had discovered breakfast Nirvana. The menu was amazing and you could see the women running the place had this down to a fine art. They also spoke English and were very friendly.
The girls had Smoked Salmon Eggs Benedict and John and I had omelettes. We all left very satisfied.
Eggs Benedict (with compulsory potatoes)
My omelette (also with potatoes)
Breakfast really was the highlight of Cornwall, which from our very brief appraisal didn't have much else going for it from a tourism viewpoint.
With breakfast, or Brunch, out of the way we continue on and our travel guide tells us that we should visit a few areas along the seaway rather than take the shortest route on the freeway. As such we take the turn off to a town called Brookville which seems to have a few tourist attractions.
We drove down to an area called Tall Ships Landing, where a lot of water based activities seem to be available, as are restaurants etc.
There is a large waterfront shopping/ restaurant complex the included the tourist information centre
An inland port/marina (off the seaway) was the base for boat cruises etc
Moving on we are told that the best part of the trip is a stretch of road known as the Thousand Islands Parkway, which starts at a waterside town called Rockport.
Distances are very short between centres and we are in Rockport 30 minutes later. It is a renowned base for cruises of the Thousand Islands. When we arrive, it is quite a bit smaller than expected and the busiest part of town seems to be the Cornwalls Hotel. There is no sign of a cruise happening anytime soon, so we settle in for lunch at the hotel.
Looks like a good place for lunch
We settled in to a comfortable deck table and awaited our smoked salmon open sandwiches and crab cakes.
Smoked salmon sandwich
Crab cakes
Whilst we were having lunch a cruise boat was returning to the wharf with a good number of people on board. There were 2 buses in the carpark so I assume it was part of an organised tour.
Lunch completed, we now have a short drive to Gananoque where we will spend the night. The drive coninues along the Thousand Island Parkway with regular views of the river and the many islands, so with very off looking houses on them.
Gananoque is quite a pretty city and another centre for water tours of the area. There is a very large marina and a number of cruise boats operating from the waterfront nearby.
Cruise boats
The marina is not very full but is probably very busy in summer
An afternoon walk around the town helped get a feel for the place and despite it being the end of the season, there are a lot of people around. A busload had arrived at the Comfort Inn where we are staying since we checked in at around 3pm.
A rough layout of the town
There is a small beach near the marina
There is a boat museum, which is not open, but looks like it would have been interesting. It has a tall ship out the front that looks like it may be used for cruises and an interesting "boat shed" over the water that contains a number of classic wooden boats with crane facilities to lower them into the water.
Across the bay is the Gananoque Inn, a very impressive hotel/ restaurant on the water.
Gananoque Inn
A modern apartment complex with its own marina is located just around the corner from the Inn. The marina looks very new.
This tranquil little bay is just below the Inn
Walking back up to the main street, the autumn leaves are on show framing the front of St Andrews Church.
The main street has a lot of restaurants and other tourist shops. Restaurants are all busy and the one we have chosen for dinner can only fit us in at around 8 pm.
Main street
Maple Leaf Restaurant where we hope to have dinner
There is also a microbrewery On the way back to the Comfort Inn, I crossed the bridge and noticed a weir in a tributary of the river that crosses the town.
Tonight we have a bit of time to fill in before our restaurant booking, so we went for a walk to the main street and had a few drinks in Moroni's Restaurant and Bar. It was the only one that wasn't packed. It claims to be a Mediterranean restaurant and when asked for wine list to get the girls a glass of wine, we were told they had 2 wines, house white and house red, both from Greece. The girls risked the house white, which they managed to consume.
The Maple Leaf restaurant had plenty of seats available when we arrived at 8 pm. Despite it's name, it is actually a Czech restaurant, serving Schnitzels, spaetzle and goulash etc.
Our waiter immediately greets us with bad news, they have run out of spaetzle but can offer pan fried, potatoes instead. We are assured this will go equally as well with our schnitzle so agree that will be fine. About 10 minutes later the waiter returns to advise us that they have now run out of pan fried potatoes and the options are chips, rice or salad. By now we are pretty hungry and will take whatever comes, the girls are having salmon and their side options are unaffected.
The food was good, but we are seeing a pattern here of restaurants regularly running out of food. It has been worse in Quebec Province, for some reason.
We leave the restaurant with a good motto at the exit.
Tomorrow we have a long drive to Niagara Falls where we will spend 2 nights.
No comments:
Post a Comment