Walter Bibikow’s Nova Scotia

Walter Bibikow has recently returned from Nova Scotia in North Eastern Canada capturing the barren and wild beauty of this Atlantic region of Canada: beautiful coastal landscapes, lighthouses on rocky outcrops and small fishing villages, all quintessential of this region.

From the photographer, Walter Bibikow:

“On a map the Canadian Maritimes can seem close to where I live in Gloucester, MA, USA but in reality getting out there is a very long 2000+ mile road trip. I’ve been going up here since a camping trip in 1976 during a rare Canadian visit by Queen Elizabeth II. The queen and I share so many things (just kidding!), but we do share a love for this wonderful little corner of the world in the northern vastness that is Canada. In the 42 years since my first trip there are plenty of changes but also plenty of the great things remaining that always call me back regardless of the distance. The Cabot Trail in the north of the province is as spectacular as ever, the Acadian folks of Cheticamp as friendly as can be, especially the hooked-rug-making ‘Hookers’. The underwater mines around Sydney have closed but their heritage lives on in the excellent Mining Museum run by former miners. The old mining town is re-inventing itself as a tourist hub with traditional music festivals and a very new cruiseport with its ‘Big Fiddle’. The historic towns of the Annapolis Valley now have a great number of wineries that not only bring new ‘Napa-esque‘ dimension to the landscape but also offer wonderful places to stop and eat.

Folk art abounds, with renewed interest in the painter Maud Lewis after the appearance of the award-winning film ‘Maudie’ with Sally Hawkins and Ethan Hawke. You can see her tiny and wonderfully painted house at the big art museum in Halifax and visit a painstakingly made and wonderfully painted replica standing outside the great scallop fishing port of Digby. Driving around the south the views of the Atlantic go on forever. Peggy’s Cove has fewer fisherfolk and more tourists than I remember from back in the day, but the chowder is still excellent. Lunenburg still has its ships including the famous schooner ‘Bluenose’ that visits us down in Gloucester from time to time. These days the town also has a distillery that makes the most exquisite pear brandy sold with a pear grown right in the bottle. Yarmouth’s ferry port is still busy and the town has some wonderful and quirky museums to visit when it rains and, oh yes, it rains often! Fall is a beautiful time, huge storms, high seas, fabulous skies. The blueberry fields all red ‘work’ well with the yellow and orange of the autumn hardwoods. The world’s highest tides of the Bay of Fundy continue to amaze. As they say ‘Downeast’, it’s all ‘finest kind’!

To view all the images on AWL Images click here