An Icelandic stopover makes a Nova Scotia adventure twice as nice

What could be better than a visit to Canada’s ocean playground of Nova Scotia? How about a stopover in Iceland, two great destinations in one go? Not only does splitting the flights with national carrier Icelandair at no extra cost cut the air travel into two four hour flights, you also get to discover the delights of this magical island.

church | Janet Christie

Watching ice-crusted black lava fields slide by en route from Keflavík Airport to Reykjavik, there’s no mistaking you’re in a unique destination. With active volcanoes, hot springs, spouting geysers, glaciers and craggy mountains, Iceland is like nowhere else I’ve been. It’s a spectacular living landscape, drawing you to any available window to gawp and tempting you out to explore.

EDITION | Janet Christie

Based at the comfortably chic Reykjavik EDITION hotel (www.editionhotels.com/reykjavik) on the waterfront, our 24-hour stopover saw one new experience after another. There was dinner in the upmarket Brut (www.brut.is) restaurant where the superlative local seafood included Icelandic sea snails and grilled arctic char, while Northern Lights danced across the inky void with a showstopping luminous colourstorm. Then an early morning dander around downtown Reykjavik’s coloured wooden buildings, housing design stores and cool cafes, up to the spectacular Hallgrímskirkja with its towering steeple, followed by Fly Over Iceland, an unmissable adrenaline-filled virtual experience on the waterfront that flies you over mountains and glaciers while blasts of mist, rain and wind add to the illusion.

A thermal experience is also a must and the Sky Lagoon on the edge of Reykjavik is perfect for short stopovers. Bob about in the warm outdoor pools among the black rocks then lounge among the saunas, salt scrub and steam rooms enjoying the seascape then emerge blissed out for an evening flight to Halifax in Nova Scotia.

After the volcanic landscape of Iceland, Nova Scotia looked lush, the autumn maples every colour of red and gold, an ocean playground peninsula and place of coastal settlements and fertile valleys, the fruits of which find their way onto plates and into glasses.

The landmark lighthouse at Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia | Janet Christie

Halifax, the capital, is a long way from Scotland yet in this waterfront city of 18th and 19th century architecture mixed with glass and steel towers, flavours of the familiar appear. Bagpiping soldiers guard the Citadel (parks.canada.ca/lhn-nhs/ns/halifax), built by the British in 1749, maple syrup is laced with whisky, there’s the whiff of breweries, oatcakes, flapping saltires and even a ‘12 o’clock gun’.

Halifax, Nova Scotia | Halifax, Nova Scotia

While the Scottish connection is strong, so is that of the Acadian French, Black settlers and Mi'kmaq indigenous first nation inhabitants whose continuing story is told at the fascinating Maritime Museum (maritimemuseum.novascotia.ca) where displays include artefacts from The Titanic which sank 350 miles off the coast.

Harbour Hopper tour | Janet Christie

From the vibrant 160-bedroom Moxy Hotel (www.marriott.com), we began with a fun 55-minute Harbour Hopper tour (www.harbourhopper.com) in an amphibious vehicle around hilly historic streets with museums, galleries and universities then splashed into the bay where we admired the city from the water, finishing off with dinner at Queen’s Marque, the city’s new waterfront Cultural district, where Drift @ The Muir (www.drifthalifax.com) reimagines classic Atlantic Canadian dishes and traditions such as halibut cheeks and snow crab with style.

Moxy hotel, Halifax, Nova Scotia | Janet Christie

Halifax is full of attractions but also makes an ideal base for day trips to explore areas such as Peggy’s Cove, Lunenburg and Wolfville, under two hours’ drive away. We head first for the South Shore (novascotia.com/explore-by-region/south-shore/lunenburg) along the coastal road past rugged headlands and bays with picture perfect coloured wooden clapboard houses to historic Lunenburg, a UNESCO fishing community founded in 1753 by German and Swiss immigrants that grew rich on fishing cod. An hour-long, fact-filled Lunenburg Walking Tour (www.lunenburgwalkingtours.com) led us down quaint streets lined with original houses complete with widow’s ‘bump dormer windows from which wives watched for their husbands’ return from sea.

It was time to hit the water ourselves at nearby Blue Rocks village, with Pleasant Bay Paddling (novascotia.com/listing/pleasant-paddling) and spent a fantastic hour sea kayaking with guide Luke Moore leading us along channels among (until recently inhabited) islands, pointing out bird and plant life and seals basking in quiet bays, as well as the house where Tom Selleck filmed his Jesse Stone TV movies. In keeping with the watery theme, we dined at the glitzy Water Polo (waterpolohfx.ca) in Halifax, Nova Scotia’s newest landmark seafood restaurant with elegant interiors modelled on classic Italian speedboats and upmarket seafood to match.

kayaking out among coastal islands at Blue Rocks, near Lunenburg | Anja Horn

Wine has been made in Nova Scotia since the 1600s and the fecund Annapolis Valley is an oenophile’s paradise where 13 of the region’s 20 vineyards excel at producing signature Tidal Bay, a light white wine best paired with seafood such as the delicious chowder at the Five Fishermen Restaurant & Grill (www.fivefishermen.com) back in Halifax. Around Wolfville we visited vineyards at Benjamin Bridge (benjaminbridge.com), Domaine de Grand Pre winery and restaurant (grandprewines.com) and Luckett Vineyards www.luckettvineyards.com tasting variations on the region’s signature wines, drinking up the spectacular views down to the Bay of Fundy, where the highest tides in the world wash the shores.

At Grand-Pré National Historic Site (parks.canada.ca/lhn-nhs/ns/grandpre), a UNESCO destination, we explore the story of this French immigrant Acadian settlement from 1682 to their deportation by the British before heading to Hall’s Harbour Lobster Pound (hallsharbourlobster.com) where four family-owned boats land 30,000lbs of lobster a week. The ubiquitous Nova Scotian favourite - served everywhere in bread rolls, with mac ‘n’ cheese, with poutine - at Hall’s Harbour comes fresh and simple, filling a dinner plate with a perfect feast.

A plateful of Hall's Harbour lobster | Janet Christie

A final trip to the landmark lighthouse at Peggy’s Cove south west of Halifax saw taking selfies on the vast slabs of granite rock jutting out over the Atlantic before dropping in to Cafe L’Acadie where owner Gary Le Blanc has spent six hours perfecting their signature traditional Acadian rappie pie, a perfect crust topping grated potatoes, chicken and pork - a heartwarming final taste of authentic Nova Scotia to bid us a fond adieu.

Icelandair (www.icelandair.com) flies to Nova Scotia three times a week, with flights starting from £533.

For further information see Tourism Nova Scotia (novascotia.com)