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Travel Media Network Links Collection
| A Personal
Message from Stan Campbell -TMN |
IONA, NOVA SCOTIA |
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When you were a kid, if you were
like me and most other young people, you cared about fun,
excitement, music and the opposite sex...not necessarily in that
order. You could have been raised in a the part of town where
most people feared walking and driving the streets or on a
hilltop overlooking a pristine Hawaiian tropical paradise. It
didn't matter much The vista was literally invisible.
I grew up oblivious to one of North
America's most breathtaking views. I simply didn't see it. It
was just..there. I left home right after high school and
lived in and visited some of the most exciting cities in the
world. Years later, when I came back to where I was raised, in
the rural community of Iona on Cape Breton Island in Nova
Scotia, I was awestruck by the natural beauty. I wondered how I
could have ignored this. My Colombian wife, who comes from a
extraordinarily beautiful country, surveyed the mind-blowing
panorama standing atop the the hilltop at "Hector's Point" was
astounded that I could have taken this for granted. |
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The picture above was taken on
Monday Sept 12, 2005 at the top of the hill at the Highland
Village in Iona, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. I grew up
three miles from this scene and passed by this vista almost
every day. This photo does not do the scene justice. Just as you
cannot adequately show the Grand Canyon on film, neither can you
display the breathtaking view at Iona overlooking the Grand
Narrows in Nova Scotia. If you want to get off the beaten track,
visit sometime. The day we took this picture, the loudest noise
in the background rose up from the crickets among the thistles. |
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HOW TO GET THERE
Find Nova Scotia on a map. It's in
eastern Canada. In fact, it is the most easterly part of Canada
to which you can drive. Cape Breton Island is in the most
northeasterly part of Nova Scotia. Iona is in the middle of the
island (see map) It's Route 223. You can access Route 223 from
the Trans Canada Highway (Highway 5) or from just outside
Sydney. There are many signs pointing to the Highland Village. |
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WHERE TO STAY |
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Iona is a rural community
with no convenience store or other retail outlet. Be sure you
have gas and cash. There is a convenience store which also sells
beer, wine and liquor across the strait in Grand Narrows, only a
mile away. The only accommodations available is at the Highland
Height Inn...a average to below average motel with a million
dollar view. The rooms are spartan but very clean. The rates are
on par with the view...one hundred dollars and up. Recently the
hotel was purchased by a Baddeck owner who seems to prefer that
you find someplace else to dine. Evening dining is from a
limited menu and simple but well prepared. Breakfast is simply
tourist exploitation at $7.95 for a CONTINENTAL breakfast. You
don't have many options but you do have ONE REALLY GREAT option
next door up just a little higher on the hill behind the museum.
It's breakfast canteen style at MABLENES. We had a hot breakfast
with two eggs, a thick he-man piece of ham (the kind with the
bone), toast made with their own home-made bread and home-made
jam, home-fries and great coffee...and for two dollars less than
the outrageously expensive continental breakfast at the Highland
Heights Inn. We were lucky. It was a beautiful morning, so my
wife and daughter and I had breakfast under the sun overlooking
the Bras D'Or lakes. |
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It's Jimmie &
Donna, owners and chefs at Mablene's in Iona
By the way they have superb lunches
and dinner. (check that price for a salmon dinner) |
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