hey guys samuel and audrey here and today we're taking you on a little day trip to mahone bay
this was one of the many picturesque towns we visited along nova scotia south shore and
we had a really fun day walking around feasting on delicious clams and lobster
mac and cheese sampling local craft beers hiking part of the rum runners trail plus a
few misadventures in between we invite you to join us for our mahone bay travel guide as we
share some fun things to do in mahone bay on a day trip let's hit the road shall we
well good morning good morning everyone greetings from mahone bay nova scotia canada yeah this is a
place we've been wanting to visit and you know what is what like 10 15 minute drive
from where we're staying in lunenburg yes yeah very convenient very easy to access we
are continuing our road trip along nova scotia south shore and today we're spending the day
here in mahone bay nova scotia it's a bit of a windy day but we've got sunshine and this place
looks so charming yeah the sun is playing peekaboo all morning it's uh it's either bright like this
or or a little bit overcast but it looks like it's going to be an incredible day to explore this town
there's no rain scheduled so we're very excited about that and yeah so far our impressions of
this place is just incredibly charming it's the most relaxing town you can be at yeah it looks
very walkable lots of colorful buildings you have restaurants breweries souvenir shops so yeah we're
just gonna explore on foot all day we've parked the car and let's go see what this place is all
about let's go check it out for anyone driving into mahone bay on a day trip we noticed a few
different parking areas along the harbor on main street and edgewater street we parked right across
from one of the three churches so naturally that was our first stop this right here is st
james anglican church and just a few steps over you have st john's lutheran church there's also
trinity united church which we somehow missed and together these make up the famous three churches
of mahone bay canada fun fact for many years saint james's 30 meter steeple was marked on marine
charts and sailors would line up the steeples of the three churches as a navigational aid
so a little bit of history here right now we are walking along
what used to be a shipyard this beautiful coastal area in between these historic churches
used to be where they built many of the schooners that were part of lunenburg's fishing fleet
of course not much of that remains today this is more of a tourist town nowadays but yeah really
cool to kind of reminisce and think about the history this place has in the 1700s mahone bay
was founded by ephraim cook who saw the bay as a potential shipbuilding location thanks to its deep
and narrow channel and sheltered harbor it's hard to picture today but by the early 1900s
shipbuilding would have been at its peak in mahone bay and the waterfront would have been lined with
shipbuilding wharves today no trace of that remains safe for a commemorative plaque and an
info board but you can visit the mahone bay museum to learn about mahone bay's shipbuilding history
okay so we have decided to grab an early lunch somebody's hungry yeah i'm definitely hungry
it's only it's only like 10 after 11. but um you know what we've been putting in some
serious walking uh ever since we've done this nova scotia trip we we just walk all
day long we're gonna check out a place i think it's called oh my cod oh my god yeah
with the name and with a name like that yeah you know it's gonna be a good quirky place to check
out yeah i think we're gonna go for seafood honestly with a name like that we need to
get some fish preferably cod if it's on the menu lunchtime here in mahone bay nova scotia we came
to oh my god just as we promised and check this out i got the lobster and shrimp mac and cheese
extra cheesy check out that thing of beauty they weren't joking about the lobster show
that look at that big chunk a little bit closer for us so we can see but shall we try it yes
so here's the question we've been having some great mac and cheese lately
i don't think i could ever go back to like that instant craft dinner stuff
after having this that would be so hard this one is like extra creamy yeah and it tastes like an
aged cheese and then we have parmesan on top yes we do and now okay let's try one bite with shrimp
okay look you've even got some toast yum buttered piece of bread
this is just so tasty yeah really happy with it i can't wait to try mine i've got a nice
looking dish too and what did you get over there guys check out this mountain of clams
and chips yeah they're not just any kind of clams they're the famous digby clams which
is one of the best places you can get well any kind of seafood really scallops clams i think
from the whole province very famous from digby out on the bay of fundy and yeah we've got a
just a mountain clams on top chips on the bottom and we've got a nice tartar sauce over here
this is the way to have clams yeah i really love them fried and they're nice and salty
they're so salty yeah i'm gonna sew about the tartar sauce like classic classic maritime
atlantic food here i'm just loving it great lunch oh ho belly's full belly's very full and very
happy we just had the best lunch ever let me tell you that is a life-changing mac and cheese i mean
to have lobster and shrimp and for it to be that creamy and that cheesy so good it's amazing like
that is mac and cheese to die for and also the the clams and chips were good too that was good
but going back one more thing about the mac and cheese yeah that is the top two mac and cheese
i've had on our travels yeah it is right up there with the truffle and bone marrow mac and cheese
we had inside that's high praise those two are right up there we also got to chat with the owner
super friendly guy and this is just a beautiful small town great experience and um we also have a
recommendation for a good place for dinner yes we are going to matias bistro yeah but we've
still got a few hours before we start thinking about food again so we're actually going to
drive over to oak island over the causeway and check that out because there's a lot of stories
surrounding mystery treasure over there so we'll tell you more about it when we get there
indeed
okay the funny thing is we're looking for a business called the worldly gig
yes and then after we turn on a road i think it's crammed to go to oak island oh there it is
that's the really good it should be right here
to give you a bit of context oak island is a 57 hectare privately owned island on nova scotia's
south shore the island rose to mainstream fame when the history channel started airing a reality
tv show called the curse of oak island which follows a group of modern day treasure hunters
there are all sorts of theories about what kind of treasure could be hidden here ranging from pirate
treasure to the holy grail and marie antoinette's jewels to money smuggled out of fort louisburg
some of these theories are a little more out there than others but all we can really say is that
the show has a big cult following now for the bad news our visit to oak island didn't go as planned
well that was a fun little misadventure so we got to oak island we know it's a privately owned
island but supposedly it's open to the public just like at the tip of it where they have
an interpretive center and you can learn more information about the history of the island but
right now they've got this big red sign that says oak island is close to visitors no trespassing
yeah um so so yeah that's the end of it but what what we can see from here it's beautiful and
um we got some great views of the water so we took a few clips of that but that's the end of
our oak island venture today we're just going to head back into town yeah supposedly there's also
boat tours that you can do but they don't go out every day of the week and you can also do guided
walking tours but they only release those tickets a few times a year and they sell out immediately
because people are really into this treasure right so anyways um yeah we're just gonna head back into
town and uh yeah it was a fun little fun little misadventure this is part of the part of the
travel experience yeah we'll just spend the rest of the day in mahone bay that's right after our
failed attempts at visiting the island we started driving back to mahone bay and came across the
rum runners trail the rum runners trail is a 119 kilometer trail that runs along a former rail bed
and it connects halifax with lunenburg while passing through hubbard's chester and mahone
bay the trail gets its name from nova scotia's prohibition which was enacted from 1921 to 1930.
during this time bootlegger is also known as rum runners were the booze suppliers for the illegal
market and the coastline's proximity to the railroad made it an ideal route for rum running
so we are now going in a little afternoon hike we're walking part of the rum runners trail you
can also bike this trail and yeah it's just a really nice trail wooded shaded if we had a bit
more time i would totally bike this to halifax and this particular stretch is just beautifully
maintained the trail is just you could tell that it's been flat in it there's no big
rocks or anything i mean this looks this looks like a manicure garden almost more than i know
we also enjoyed a drive through oakland which sits directly across from mahon bay
here we found a nice little beach to walk along
so we were really looking forward to visiting the mahone bay museum however we didn't realize
it's open by appointment only if you want to arrange a visit you can message them on
their facebook page or send them an email through their website but remember you must
do so at least 24 hours in advance so one of the volunteers can be on site the museum has excellent
reviews and most of the comments mentioned how informative and friendly the guides are so if
you want to have a good chat about mahone based shipbuilding pass this is a good place to go
next up we made our way to saltbox brewing company to sample some of their local craft beers
it is beer o'clock it is the sun is out in for full force at this point it was a little chilly
earlier on i'm actually only wearing this flannel because it's protecting my arms from
the direct sunlight poor red hair but anyways we've got a nice selection of beers and cider
four beers one cider and i'm just gonna try them all for you and where are we of
course we're at salt box brewing one of the most uh famous attractions here in town and
a beautiful spot to be hanging out on a late summer day yeah for those of you who like to
drink beer come on down yeah this is the place all right guys first off is a very unique beer
it is a lobster ale crustacean elation that sounds like something i would call a beer i love
i love things that rhyme tongue twisters and it's coming in at 5.5 percent so let's give that a shot
that's a nice refreshing beer good for the summer
i can't see i taste too much lobster in there that's probably a good thing it's probably a
good thing the next one is actually mine if you want to have a sipper is that your cider
yes apple cider girling apple cider sterling apple cider and this is audrey loves her cider so i do
by having a sip i'm depriving her of a little bit of it i feel bad but not too bad
that's an interesting cider that's got a bit of a i mean i taste the apple but it's got a little
bit of a mint aftertaste um definitely prefer the beer but i think you'll like that one a lot okay
let's move on to this is a sour one this is called the sour rhubarb and it's supposed to be citrusy
tropical and tart so this sounds really good this is one of their most popular summer beers
very citrusy everything's been so unique so far i've been i've been surprised by the diversity and
variety so next up is the make and break a double ipa this is the strongest beer coming in at 7.5
okay i like this one a lot i love the grapefruity aftertaste to it it doesn't
taste as strong as you'd think at 7.5 you know out of the four this is my favorite one so far
but that's probably gonna change because i i do love my stouts
last but not least we have the ragin cajun and it is a stow aged in a bourbon barrel that's so cool
oh that is good it tastes like gingerbread to me this one has some kind of a bit of
bite to it a little bit of spice to it i love this brewery there's so many um so many great flavors
here and one more thing to mention you can do a flight of three or you can do a flight of eight
right so we're doing five you got all kinds of variety and all kinds i mean have eight if you're
thirsty enough you know and then after all that beer and cider we walked over to the barn this is
a really cool coffee shop in mahone bay and our favorite part was their secret garden outback
so we've gone from the brewery over to the coffee shop this is a place that was recommended to us
today the barn for tea and coffee i actually went for tea i'm having a london fog some earl
grey tea with milk i have a cappuccino and i've got to say it's a great location outside and also
very artsy inside a great place to enjoy your coffee and and tasty bite inside too
cinnamon roll the glaze looking very good take a big bite of that one
cinnamon buds are good that's got some really nice cinnamon swirls inside
that's how it is done i'm really interested to hear about the energy but has some really cool
cool ingredients for sure peanut butter pumpkin seeds chia seeds cranberries coconut
all over the exterior the everything ball does it taste more dessert like or healthy i'd say
relatively healthy but very good very good yeah you could feed it to a non-health enthusiast
also i don't think i've had a chance to show you guys the shirt i got yesterday i'm really excited
about this one so it's a collaboration between east coast lifestyle from a brand from out here
in the east coast and the blue nose shop the blue nose 2 and the human berg i've been interested in
the east coast lifestyle brand ever since i've kind of been traveling around new brunswick and
nova scotia i've seen so many people wear it this is a kind of a young brand and they've done so
well in less than 10 years and so i've kind of always wanted to get a shirt when we saw that
it has the iconic bluenose 2 which is what you see on the canadian dime right and then with the east
coast it was like a two for one special i got a hoodie which you'll probably be seeing in future
episodes and audrey's just trying not to spill everything and i just discovered chocolate chips
so when we were asking locals what things we couldn't miss in mahone bay
several of them mentioned amos pewter what is pewter you ask i wonder the same
thing to get all sciency on you pewter is a malleable metal alloy composed of 85 to 99
tin it was used for tableware and decorative metal items by the egyptians and later the romans and
it also came into extensive use in europe during the middle ages the cool thing about amos pewter
is that they have an open studio where you can watch how they make their ornaments and jewelry
we ended up getting a cute christmas ornament as a gift we also enjoyed a walk along the mahone bay
civic marina because sometimes it's just nice to look at boats even if you never plan to own
one
and then it was time for another meal this time dinner at the highly acclaimed matias bistro
well guys it feels like all we've been doing today is eating eating eating like we have gone
from a restaurant to a brewery to a coffee shop to another restaurant meal number four
we're good eaters we may not be good at anything else in life but we can eat i'm just kidding what
but we are good eaters um so we have come to matias bistro for dinner tonight it's a
restaurant that people kept recommending very highly rated the chef is from bratislava so we
have ordered an appetizer to share we are doing mussels in white wine how does that sound to you
all kinds of amazing come to me muscle in a white wine sauce how do you do this
oh just like that how is it you like it that's very tender that's good is it
you taste the white wine yes yes and that has onions a little bit of coarse salt
that's delicious is it i didn't know i like mussels so much but when they're like this hey
we've been we've been acclimatizing ourselves to seafood for that's not the right word but
um we've been eating a lot of seafood for a while so they'll surprise you like muscles
main dishes here i got their award-winning chowder this looks so good seeing lots of mussels potatoes
carrots different herbs and spices
how's that that is very nice this is award-winning powder i've never seen
a chowder with so many ingredients i know let's try that got a bit of fish there mussels as well
oh yeah your mussels are so good
we had them for the appetizer and i'm happy to be having them again for the main
pasta time so i'm having chicken penne so excited smoked chicken not just any kind of penny
check out that looks like it has a vinaigrette bit of a creamy sauce as well
whoa delicious chicken in here just love it pairs so nicely with the shiraz wine
and we've got live music as well pretty cool
and that was our day trip to mahone bay we took the scenic road back to lunenburg
along the lighthouse coastal road driving past mater's cove and detouring to herman's
island where we spotted a deer it was so peaceful and there was such a beautiful
light this part of nova scotia canada really won over our hearts on this trip
if you enjoyed this mahone bay travel guide video we invite you to hit subscribe and join
us as we continue our road trip along nova scotia south shore next up lahave islands see you soon
you