Sangria

Our little four day Nova Scotia “Staycation”, has been very relaxing and to be honest a bit slow. When you only have an hour or so between stops, you are in no rush and have time to stop anywhere you like. Driving from West Pubnico to Summerville Centre we decided to stop in Shelburne just to have a little walk around and see the town as we have not been here for many years. We stopped on the waterfront and wandered around, but then saw an interesting local pub and thought we'd stop for a snack and a drink.

While Regis made a trip to the ladies room, I ordered a beer and the server left a menu from which I noticed some deep fried pepperoni that I thought might be perfect to hold us over until dinner time. Regis had returned when my beer arrived and the server asked Regis if she'd like a drink.

“Do you have any sparkling wine?”

“No I'm afraid we don't.”

“How about Sangria, do you have that?”

“Yea, red or white?” Now this was a pleasant surprise we had not expected; they actually had sangria.

Regis ordered “red”.

A wine glass arrived with something red in it and was politely left at the table.

Reis picked it up and took a sip. I could tell by the grimace that it was not good Sangria. “This just tastes like red wine.”, and she passed the glass to me.

Yup, just plain red wine; not a bad wine, but a dry red the worst kind for her.

The next time by, we stopped the server and said “This is not sangria, it tastes like just red wine.

“Yes, I asked you if you wanted red or white, you said red.”

“But it's not Sangria, Sangria has red wine mixed with fruit juice, brandy and fruit.”

The puzzled look told us she had no idea what “Sangria” was. “Can you take it back and mix it to make a sangria.” We explained again what makes “Sangria”.

“Oh, we don't have and brandy. And we don't have fruit juice and I know we don't have any fruit.”

The server was very apologetic and embarrassed, but explained that she didn't know much about mixed drinks, because she did not drink herself. We asked if she could bring at least some Sprite to mix with the red wine to make it a spritzer.

When the Sprite was delivered she again said how sorry she was, and added with a giggle that at least she now knew what a “Sangrino.” was. (And that is not a typo . . . . )

Not Sangria

The Beer was good!

On The Road Again

It has been a while since I've written anything here, but then it has been a while since I've done any travel and the posts are mostly written around travel. Now, since the “Atlantic Bubble” has opened up, we decided to spend the government's $300.00 Senior COVID-19 gift supporting some local destinations. Originally I planned to go to Saint Andrews By The Sea, a location I have wanted to visit for a while, but we decided instead to keep our contributions to the economy really local and stay within Nova Scotia. Regis set out to organize a “Staycation” within the province. She decided upon a night in Wolfville, then on to Annapolis Royal, an evening in Pubnico and finally Summerville Centre. A four day trip around the South Shore of Nova Scotia was a great opportunity to get away without actually going away.

A leisurely drive down to Wolfville only took us two hours, driving all on the secondary roads and allowed us to stop at a couple of our favourite wineries, and finally getting to see what was in the Hops House just off the highway at Grand Pre. We have stopped in three times previously only to always find it closed; now when many businesses are closed due to the Pandemic this place was open. I picked up some of their local craft beer to bring home.

After visiting Gaspereau Winery, one of my favourite in the province, we made our way to Wolfville. The road we took made me sorry I had decided to bring the Toyota rather than the Alfa Romeo because the road had enough twists and turns to “break the back of a snake”, but the impending rain and thunder storms had kept the Spider in the garage.

In Wolfville, we stayed at Micro Boutique Living where we had a delightful little suite overlooking the amazing tides of the Minas Basin, and we finally got to sample the fare and brews at Church Brewing which had always been overflowing with collage students prior to the virus sending them all home.

Day two was traveling to Annapolis Royal along the old highway Route 1, through towns we normally only know as signposts at the exits on highway 101.

Our accommodations in Annapolis Royal was an exercise in differences from Wolfville. Where we had six texts and e-mails making sure we knew our check-in time was not before 3:00 PM and we MUST be out by 11:00 AM, the “Just-B” (Just a bed, no Breakfast), sent us a greeting that said check-in was 3:00 and check-out was 11:00, but they would have everything ready plenty early and they were in no hurry to clean up after us, so come and leave when convenient. As well, the Just-B was quaint and old fashioned with an artsy feel where the Micro Boutique was trendy and modern. Interesting contrast, but both places were comfortable and I would recommend them both.

While in Annapolis Royal, we hiked the French Basin Trail, a nice walking trail on old dykes around a marsh. This allowed us to work up an appetite for Take-out fish & chips delivered by the cook to the Brewery down the street – that's small town hospitality and co-operation for you.

And now that I have gotten back into writing, I hope you get to read a few more of these posts from this trip around the province.

Regis walking the French Basin Trail

A comfortable bed for the night

Dinner at the Church

The Amazing tides of Minas Basin