Welcome to Ottawa, the capital of Canada. The city sits in the southeast of Ontario where the Ottawa and Rideau rivers meet, just across from Gatineau in Quebec. It was founded in 1826 as Bytown and renamed Ottawa in 1855. Today it is the political centre of the country, home to the Parliament, the Supreme Court and many foreign embassies. Ottawa also has the highest proportion of university-educated residents among Canadian cities, and it is one of the most visited cities in Canada. Let's begin our tour on the hill above the river.
Parliament Hill
Photo: Wladyslaw · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia CommonsBefore you, on the southern bank of the Ottawa River, rises Parliament Hill, home of the Parliament of Canada. Its Gothic revival buildings were designed to evoke the history of parliamentary democracy. In the 18th and early 19th centuries this was the site of a military base, and it became a government precinct after Queen Victoria chose Ottawa as capital of the Province of Canada. A fire in 1916 destroyed the Centre Block, and the hill took on its present form when the Peace Tower was completed in 1927. About three million visitors come here each year.
Rideau Canal
Photo: Bobak Ha'Eri · CC BY-SA 2.5 · Wikimedia CommonsNow follow the water of the Rideau Canal, which runs 202 kilometres from Ottawa to Kingston on Lake Ontario. Its 46 locks lift boats 83 metres up from the Ottawa River to the Rideau Lakes, then lower them 50 metres down towards Kingston. The canal opened in 1832 for commercial shipping. Freight later moved to the railways, but the boats never stopped: it is the oldest continuously operated canal system in North America, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, used today for pleasure boating.
National Gallery of Canada
Photo: – Wladyslaw [Disk.] · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia CommonsStep into the National Gallery of Canada, the country's national art museum and one of the largest in North America by exhibition space. The institution was founded in 1880 and moved several times before settling, in 1988, into this glass and granite building designed by Moshe Safdie on Sussex Drive. Look out of the windows for a fine view of the Parliament Buildings. The permanent collection holds more than 93,000 works by European, American, Asian, Canadian and Indigenous artists.
Canadian Museum of History
Photo: Hayden Soloviev · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia CommonsCross the river to Gatineau, Quebec, where the Canadian Museum of History fills a vast building designed by Douglas Cardinal. The museum's roots go back to 1856 and the Geological Survey of Canada, which later added an anthropology division. It moved here in 1989 and was known as the Canadian Museum of Civilization before taking its current name in 2013, with a new focus on Canadian identity and history. Its collection contains over three million artefacts and documents.
ByWard Market
Photo: Hayden Soloviev · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia CommonsWe finish east of Parliament Hill in the ByWard Market, a lively district of shops and entertainment in Ottawa's historic Lower Town. Its name recalls the old By Ward, named after the engineer and surveyor John By. The market buildings are open all year, and in good weather vendors along the surrounding streets sell fresh produce, flowers, crafts and souvenirs. A fun story: in 2009 Barack Obama stopped here on his way to the airport, bought BeaverTails pastries and maple leaf shaped cookies for his daughters, which became known as Obama cookies.
Lomakuume
