Hanesatic Inspiration, INT St Lawrence & Nova Scotia ex Toronto to Boston – 17 Oct 2021

14 Night cruise departing from Toronto to Boston onboard Hanseatic Inspiration.

Experience overwhelming nature, idyllic villages and French big-city flair on the St Lawrence River and the spectacular Atlantic coast of North America.

Highlights of this cruise:

Toronto
Toronto is the Canada’s largest metropolis, lying on the shore of Lake Ontario, the easternmost of the Great Lakes. Toronto is considered the cultural, entertainment, and financial capital of the nation. The city is also the seat of the Ontario government.

Toronto is a sprawling multicultural city, with some sixty significant minorities. There is a wide diversity of restaurants and you’ll see highrise buildings side by side with neo-Gothic and Art Deco architecture and exciting performing-arts and nightlife scenes.

Downtown and midtown boast most of the city’s best attractions, the most celebrated of them all is the CN Tower, the world’s tallest free-standing structure. Next door lies the modern hump of the SkyDome sports stadium. The city’s other attractions include the Art Gallery of Ontario, which possesses a first-rate selection of Canadian painting, and the Royal Ontario Museum, where pride of place goes to the Chinese collection.

The Thomson Gallery and Bata Shoe Museum are also worth a visit. The Toronto Gallery of Inuit Art, the Victorian gentility of Spadina House and the replica of Fort York, the colonial settlement where Toronto began, are also worth a look.

Quebec
Quebec City is the capital of the Canadian province of Quebec. Located at a commanding position on cliffs overlooking the St. Lawrence Seaway, Quebec City’s Old Town is an UNESCO World Heritage Site and the only city in North America outside Mexico with its original city walls. In both parts of the Old City – Haute and Basse – the winding cobbled streets are flanked by seventeenth- and eighteenth-century stone houses and churches, graceful parks and squares, and countless monuments.

Many sights of interest are in the Old Town (Vieux-Québec), which constitutes the walled city on top of the hill. Many surrounding neighbourhoods, either in Haute-Ville (“Upper Town”) or in Basse-Ville (“Lower Town”), are of great interest. The city spreads westward from the St. Lawrence River, for the most part extending from the original old city. The true downtown core of Quebec City is located just west of the old city. Across the river from Quebec City is the town of Lévis. Frequent ferry service connects the two sides of the river.

Gaspe
Gaspé is a city at the tip of the Gaspé Peninsula in the Gaspésie–Îles-de-la-Madeleine region of eastern Quebec, Canada. It is located about 650 kilometres northeast of Quebec City, and 350 kilometres east of Rimouski.

This region offers magnificent landscapes, beaches with fine sand and unique ancestral houses. Gaspe also offers underground attractions: the oldest cave in Quebec, some half a million years old, or an authentic gallery of copper. There are several theaters, art galleries, craft boutiques and health spas.

Halifax
Halifax is the capital city of Nova Scotia and the largest city in the Atlantic Provinces of Canada. The city has a rich maritime history being one of the world’s great natural harbours, and an entry point for European immigration to Canada in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Today, Halifax is a busy Atlantic seaport set on a steep headland beside its harbour. The Citadel, an old British fortress with a striking white clock tower, is the town’s focal point and most significant sight. Amongst Halifax’s other tourist attractions are the Discovery Center, Halifax Metro Center – a large sports stadium, HMCS Sackville museum, Pier 21, Halifax’s Province House and the Cathedral Church of all Saints.

Halifax’s main museums and art galleries include Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Maritime Museum of the Atlantic, Fultz House Museum and the Nova Scotia Museum of Natural History – full of local exhibits and educational / historic information about both Halifax and the state of Nova Scotia.

Boston
Boston is certainly among the top destinations in the USA; its place in American history alone makes it worth a visit. To get a good perspective of the city’s layout and history, take a walking tour along the Freedom Trail. Then, try a memorable trip to the U.S.S. Constitution, see Bunker Hill Monument in nearby Charlestown—which memorializes the efforts of American colonists during the Battle of Bunker Hill on June 17, 1775—and visit the Boston Tea Party Ship & Museum.

Boston is more than history though. The shopping is phenomenal, and visitors should be sure to visit Faneuil Hall Marketplace, which has a history dating back 250 years. A host of Boston museums warrant a visit, including the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, the John Fitzgerald Kennedy Library and Museum, the Cahoon Museum of American Art and the Museum of Afro-American History. For an escape to nature, take in Boston Common, one of the oldest public parks in the United States.