|
Ottawa Travel Guide >>
Cananda Travel Guide
From humble beginnings—first as a military post and
then as a lumber camp—Ottawa has emerged as a vibrant,
multicultural capital city. Ottawa is a bilingual city,
reflecting its French and English heritage. Home to the
copper-roofed Parliament Buildings, the Supreme Court of
Canada and foreign embassies, Bytown, as it was
originally named, is also a vigorous community housing
farmers markets, world-class museums and historic
buildings.
Situated at the confluence of the Ottawa, Gatineau and
Rideau rivers, the city is bisected by the Rideau Canal.
The section running from Dows Lake to the majestic
Ottawa River, a distance of 5 mi/8 km, is flanked by
bike and walking paths. In the winter, the ice surface
is flooded to create the world's longest skating rink.
In the summer, colorful masses of flowers, beginning
with tulips in May, bloom along both sides of the canal.
In 2007, UNESCO declared the entire canal, stretching
125 mi/202 km from Ottawa to Kingston, a World Heritage
Site.
The greenbelt encircling central Ottawa and the many
parks filled with plants, well-kept lawns and trees add
to the city's scenic appeal. Across the river in Quebec,
Gatineau Park is a massive natural playground with some
of the region's most pristine protected areas, wildlife,
lakes and rivers.
|
