64 Island Tour

64 island tour

2018-09-27 8:19 AM

1.At the City Center hotel in Victoria waiting for pool to open

An epic first day of birthday trip yesterday cramming a cidery tour ,Pool rum party 2 happy hour pub crawls and a critter happy hour in the smoking

Sea Cider Cidery offered up a delcious flight of new ciders which we greedily

Devoured before purchasing some Witches Broom and Berry jack ciders 

Area behind hotel. Not a bad smoking area replete with benches and palm trees

Numerous bar denzions  joined us for lively conversation as we puffed on a YRomeo Y Juliette and enjoyed a scrumtious butter Scotch noted Courversie Cognac

.A short drive brought us to our Victoria digs The City centre hotel a newly renovated

1961 Landmark. The room exceeded our expectations and the pool bar area wowed us

I couldn’t wait to get in the 85 degree water .

Let the holiday begin. Bacardi 4 year aged rum servedIn hotel logoed plastic cups 

 got the party started. It was hard to let go so we arrived lateFor lunch at the Vista 

and had to settle for Elk sLiders and grilledsquid happy hour bitesInstead of saffron

  

mussels and ahi tacos we had planned. The view was great and the snacks Delicious. Not to be shortchanged we stopped at an old haunt Bartholemews at the Now Double tree Hilton formerly The Executive. I had to have  bar and addethe old'prawn Ceasar"My former hangover staple at this Establishment in years past. They raised the bar and and added a mussel to this creation. Some dry ribs filled up our second course.Leaving Barts to go up the hill to our parking spot. The pain hit me. My problematic ankle Bit hard  forcjing me to limp back to my car. This was probably the worst its ever been in 7 months. Not going to let it spoil the fun. Cigar and Cognac time . WINNING

   

2018-09-29 8:15 AM  day 3

At Ocean Front Suites an underwhelming Cowichan Bay which has definetly

Seen  better days. Duncan Farmers market and Zinatta Winery bistro ahead

Birthday boy indulged a little yesterday with much poolside Rums and oyster

Blowout at Victoria Ferris Bar and Grill .  Happy hour "buck a shuck ' oysters

In the half shell started the baccanalia. It was sad they had to charge for condiments For the oysters to make up for inflation. Also some on the mollusks on our plate wereA little on the small side. Upstairs we continued with humbolt squid and oysters done 6 ways with a very pricey pinot noir ( food was great wine OK)

We loved The Capital City Centre Hotel great room friendly staff and

Over the top pool andpatio bar area. Palm trees  85 Degree water and hot sun

Little Mexico in 'Victoria . We'll be back

Duncan farmers market
This place was the real deal not a craft show with a few food vendors. Wineries and distilleriesSampling their wares at 9 in the morning. A great Reggae band playing in the backgroundWe easily dropped over a $100 dollars on various goodies.

( We didnt really buy any vegetables just wine

 Then a great lunch at Zannata wineries

Sadly one of the wineries Godfrey Bremill had lost its owner and was now closed. This was always an interesting stop on the island wine tour and the  owner always had lots to say. Another winery, The Blue Grouse had changed ownership and unfortunately the stunning white wines formerly produced by the now retired owner were now lacklustre.

NICE VIEW THOUGH

 

The spanking new building and events room did not make up for the wineuality going down. At least the big money that purchased this enterprise certainly paid the founder a handsome fee'
For his 25 year stewardship of this winery. Back to the lunch at Zannatas. Great table overlooking a TuscanStyle garden.

 Pinot noir and coffee marinated beef ribs with Beet and apple salad backed up by the wineries

Own pinot noir. 

An overcast sky protect

 us from a still very hot sun.

THE COWICHAN BAY OCEAN FRONT SUITES

Answers from Hotel Managers not to give Hotel guests

GUEST-"The room is shabby nothing like your web pictures"

MANAGER "yes were going through renovations The pictures are our

Executive suites .I will let the owner know about the bait and switch'

GUEST- "The room is sparsely furnished it looks like furniture is missing

MANAGER-" I guess they are trying to do a minimalist decor.

GUEST RETORT- I would say its more like  early Canadian poverty

GUEST- "The furniture is chipped and walls are scratched'

MANAGER- Yes

GUEST-  Your website mentioned well equipped kitchen , our unit was lacking

               basic amenities. Dishrack  cutting board  large frying pan etc.

MANAGER- "You wouldn’t believe how some of our guests steal things

                        you just have to ask for stuff if you need it at the front desk

GUEST. " We notified staff that we would be back by 100pm today Why is our

                room not cleaned?"

MANAGER-" We are short staffed and 2 people called in sick, We had to

                   do a major clean-up of 2 rooms where people threw up

GUEST TO CLEANING STAFF. " I guess you guys are really busy today

 and weren't able to get to our rooms

CLEANING STAFF- " Yes we are short staffed and 2 people called in sick

GUEST-"The appliances in our room are ancient and don’t look like the ones

                on your web site"

MANAGER- " Oh the old appliances work much better than the new ones "

GUEST- "One of the couch cushions has a rip

MANAGER- "Our maintenance crew is Backed up with work"

GUEST- "The wall is scratched and has a chunk missing out'

MANAGER- ""Our maintenance crew is Backed up with work"

THE VIEW FROM

THE ROOM WAS 

GREAT

Back at the ranch after a great last day on the island. Brunch at The Cow rest on top of the Cowichan Ocean front suites helped redeem the hiccup of the bad room. A delicious smoked steel head bennyAnd bacon ceasar started off a full day of wine and cider tasting. We had booked a late ferry back

And were determined to fill up the day with one of our favourite pastimes.