Saturday morning, Vero and I picked up Mike and Melissa to head to Brockville to see Joe and Danielle and then hop over to Gananoque for a boat cruise of the 1000 Islands. I’ve always wanted to tour around the Islands and what better time than a beautiful Saturday?
A BBQ to start off the afternoon was great. We chatted, had a few beer and then hit the road for Gananoque. Parking was hell in this tourist trap of a town, but we managed to nab a spot, run to get some tickets and embark on the Gananoque Boat Cruise with 30 seconds to spare.
The cruise was quite lovely. They have a recording telling stories of the Islands and we tour around. I was quite jealous at the boats going by and people having fun at their cottage. Must save my pennies!
1.5 hours later, we pulled up to Boldt Castle which was quite astonishing to see in the middle of the 1000 Islands. Legend has it that George Boldt built a castle for his lovely wife but alas, she passed away four years into the construction. He paid all the workers and had them leave the island and for 70 years it sat doing nothing. In 1977, the Alexandria Bay Tourist Authority bought the land and castle and each year the restore a different room in the castle.
It’s quite a beautiful property and you can even get married on the premises! There was a wedding party disembarking a boat when we arrived. In fact, we heard that the great-grandson of George Boldt was married earlier in the day!
We toured around the castle for a few hours and marveled at the architecture. It’s interesting…the bottom half of the castle is complete but the rest of the castle are just empty rooms with graffiti and crumbling walls. I can only imagine how nice it will look once it’s all done.
Hop back on the boat where Vero and Melissa posed for pictures and I enjoyed the sun going down in the distance as we cruised along the water. We then grabbed a great bite to eat at the Gananoque Inn and headed for home.
All in all, a great event only a few hours from Ottawa!