Grab your sweetie and get away to Canada.
An oasis of fun thrives on a mudflat under a Vancouver bridge.
Granville Island is a playground for couples and families. Fido, too.
The 38-acre tourist mecca has a hotel, art galleries, shops, shows, toys, a water park, psychics, every food imaginable, a panoramic view of the city and free doggie treats. There are cobblestone streets and railroad tracks from its industrial heritage, with a working concrete factory tucked in the mix.
It’s hard to believe the place used to be called Mud Island by the locals.
Granville Island isn’t really an island. It’s a peninsula, physically connected to the city by a causeway. But that’s a mouthful to say. “Island” sounds better.
Besides, there’s a paradise feel to it. Paddleboarders and pleasure crafts cruise the calm waters by the marina. Seagulls and street performers croon for handouts. Even the monster concrete trucks are brightly painted with big smiley faces.
What’s missing are the stalls of kitsch. As an online reviewer put it: “Blessedly free of cheesy T-shirt shops and tourist traps.”
You can get there by traffic hell or you can take a cute little rainbow ferry. Whimsical Aquabus water taxis bop merrily around English Bay, taking people back and forth from the land of skyscrapers to the fantasy island.
Take the boat or a bus. It sure beats braving the gridlock of cars jockeying for not nearly enough parking spaces.
Granville Island is like a pizza topped with everything. It’s hectic, crowded and loud — yet festive, relaxing and peaceful.
A must-see is the public market.
It’s Seattle’s Pike Place Market, Vancouver-style.
The indoor market is a bevy of flowers, candies, crafts, produce, butchers and bakers. There aren’t any men in orange waders throwing fish, but the Canadians sure know how to throw a heck of a good market anyway. Prices are in both pounds and kilograms for metric-impaired Americans.
Pick up the makings for a picnic, then sit by the bay and watch the world go by.
Or you can watch a lanky gentleman in suspenders and straw hat play the ukulele, dance, yodel and whistle like a state fair champion.
Just make sure to toss him a few greenbacks.
For more information, go to www.granvilleisland.com or www.seegranvilleisland.com.
Andrea Brown; 425-339-3443; abrown@heraldnet.com.
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