Samantha Brown's Places to Love

-I'm in a city that everyone loves.

It has one of those enviable locations right on the water that has attracted people for tens of thousands of years.

It's a city recognized for its picture-perfect beauty and charm, where flowers bloom everywhere and friendly taxis dot the harbor.

But far more than a pretty face, this city is at the forefront of sustainability.

Oh, my gosh!

And everyone who lives here acts as a piece in its great puzzle, from its ocean waters to its lush urban forest, with a local fresh-food scene that comes straight from the farm and boat.

I'm in Victoria, Canada.

I'm Samantha Brown, and I've traveled all over this world, and I'm always looking to find the destinations, the experiences, and, most importantly, the people who make us feel like we're really a part of a place.

That's why I have a love of travel and why these are my places to love.

"Samantha Brown's Places to Love" is made possible by... [ Birds chirping ] -Oceania Cruises is a proud sponsor of public TV and "Samantha Brown's Places to Love."

Sailing to more than 600 destinations around the globe, from Europe to Asia and Alaska to the South Pacific.

Oceania Cruises offers gourmet dining and curated travel experiences aboard boutique, hotel-style ships that carry no more than 1,250 guests.

Oceania Cruises.

Your world, your way.

-As a traveler, I always feel like I'm more of a guest in someone's home, and that home could be their land, their history, their culture.

And so with that, I would like to express gratitude to the Lekwungen-speaking people of the Esquimalt and Songhees nations.

This inner harbor, the mountains, the land -- this is their traditional territories, and we get to enjoy it because of their stewardship and care.

So, I promise I'm going to be a very good guest.

And what a home I'm in.

Victoria is the capital of British Columbia, which sits at the southern tip of Vancouver Island, the largest island off the West Coast of North America.

It's been attracting people to its shores from all over the world.

-So, we have the oldest Chinatown in Canada, 30 years older than Vancouver.

-Okay.

-And we are second in North America, second to San Francisco.

-Wow.

-And, of course, the reason why San Francisco and Victoria became a large Chinese community was because of the gold rush.

I'm Charlayne Thornton-Joe, and for the last 20 years I was on Victoria City Council.

I recently retired, and now I am the visitor-experience and volunteer coordinator for the Chinese Canadian Museum.

-It feels like there's still that authentic Chinese culture that we as outsiders can experience.

So, this is the barbecue shop.

-Oh.

-And it's the oldest Chinese business in all of North America.

So, not just Victoria or Canada, but all of North America.

-Wow!

-And they have carried on the tradition of making barbecued pork, crispy skin pork, the soy-sauce chicken.

-It smells phenomenal.

-And locals and visitors come in all the time to either buy some things to take home or to get their lunch.

They might bring some if they go visit friends or family.

The delicacy is the skin and the fat.

-Not the meat?

-No, no.

-Okay!

-So, right there.

And this is -- -Oh, this right here?

-Yes.

So delicious.

Can you get that one out?

-Yeah.

Oh, like, right there?

-Okay.

Oh, you got lots.

Okay.

Here we go.

-Mm-mm!

That is crispy skin.

That is so good.

So, they clearly serve their community.

-Mm-hmm.

-And it was time to explore more of it.

I've always read about Victoria being this wonderful, like, walking city.

-Yes.

-But these alleyways make it even more of a discovery, right?

-And you have to think of the old days when you would hear, like, the mah-jongg tables, the fan-tan, only Chinese language being spoken.

You know, that's part of the magic of this place.

And this is considered the narrowest street in Canada.

-It's considered a street?

-It is called a street because there's actual addresses in here.

So, people were always surprised.

16 1/2, and a half means you go up the stairs.

-Okay.

You can get a greater sense of the vibrant history here, at the Chinese Canadian Museum.

-The museum's mission is to tell the story of our Chinese-Canadian community -- the history, the culture, and the success stories that we can celebrate today.

I managed to sneak a few of my photos in there, so... -Where are you?

-Right behind the drum there.

And there's my father holding my sister.

-Charlayne, this is beautiful.

-And there's another one of me right here.

-Oh!

Fan-Tan Alley is named after an ancient game in China, which in this case was played by placing a bet on how many buttons would be left in the main pile after being separated four buttons at a time.

-I get people that come in and say, "Are you sad that a lot of them aren't Chinese-owned businesses?"

What's important to me is that there's not boarded-up shops.

There are people on the streets that are checking out the stores.

My parents worked 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, no pension.

They had no medical and dental.

They didn't say, "I want you to take over Loy Sing Butcher.

We want you to go to university, and we want you to get other jobs."

And so, when you see that a lot of the businesses aren't owned by Chinese, that's a success story.

-There aren't many cities where I would newly arrive and hop on a bicycle, but Victoria is so bike-friendly that they've got an Eco Totem that counts the number of cyclists that pass by it each day.

So, biking is the perfect way to get an overview of what makes this city so special.

So, this is the Parliament building.

-These are the Parliament buildings.

Yes, we're a constitutional monarchy.

The king is head of state.

The prime minister is head of government.

-My whole life I've just considered Canada an independent country.

What you're saying is, "Not so fast."

-That's correct.

-I've got a question.

I get "British" in B.C.

Where does "Columbia" come into the game?

-Columbia?

Ah, this is the drainage basin of the Columbia River.

-Okay.

-The queen designated it "British Columbia" to stand alone from the Oregon Territory and southern Columbia, which was Washington State.

So, we became British Columbia.

-Thank you.

-You're welcome.

-This is a city that really is proud of their sustainability efforts.

-We're really trying, yes.

You'll notice litter on the streets is almost nonexistent.

We all pitch in and pick up.

We don't tear the old buildings down here.

We repurpose them.

-All right.

Where do we see that?

-Right beside -- these are all old, 1900, 1903.

But all the old buildings are still intact.

It really adds to the charm of the city.

-I always say it's impossible to be unhappy on a bike.

-Oh, my God!

I've heard that.

-Do you say that?

-Yes.

It's so true.

-And you have a little bit of everything right here in the Inner Harbour... -We really do.

-...in terms of the grand-dame hotel.

You've got your Parliament building.

You've got the boats, all the shops, the restaurants.

It's so concentrated.

-Mm-hmm.

It's very well-planned to welcome visitors.

-As Rick and I bike into Beacon Hill Park, all the bustle of the city fades as we travel through a rain forest.

Oh, wow.

How lucky are you that you have a city park that has waterfront access?

That's incredible.

-The Strait of Juan de Fuca, which is, of course, part of the Pacific Ocean.

-Okay.

-And we are looking due south to Washington State.

And, Samantha, look behind me.

-Oh, my gosh.

Wow!

[ Laughs ] -That's the tallest freestanding single-tree totem pole in the world -- 127 feet, 7 inches.

It's called a story pole that represents some of the habitat that you find on the island.

So, you see an orca fin.

-Sure.

-You'll see eagle beaks.

There's halibut, beaver on there.

-Wow.

-Yeah.

-After escorting me along the seacoast, Rick told me about a lunch spot that I'd love, with legendary fish and chips sold in a food truck/ fish market called "Finest at Sea."

So, what makes you the finest at sea?

-Well, it's the way we fish for the fish and the way that it's treated from the time that it comes on board.

-Comes on board where?

-We have a fleet of boats.

We catch all of the fish that we sell here on property.

Almost all of our boats are equipped with a special system on them that freezes the fish that we catch within an hour of being caught.

So, immediately when the fish is caught, it is put on these pans, where it's frozen at minus-30 degrees immediately.

So, every time you eat fish here, it's like it was just caught within hours.

-That's wonderful.

-It is.

-This is the freshest fish I could possibly have.

-Absolutely.

-That's what makes it "finest at sea."

-Absolutely!

-Now I'm getting it.

-Yes.

-I mean, what should I have?

I think I was gunning for the fish and chips.

-Definitely.

Fish and chips is what people like the most.

We love lingcod here, as well.

It's got richer flavor and texture than a halibut.

-Oh, okay.

-And it's not as expensive.

-I've never even heard of that.

-It's a really, really beautiful fish -- white fish, as well.

-Oh, wonderful.

-Yeah.

-Well, I should try something that's absolutely indicative of this area and these waters, so the lingcod?

-Lingcod, absolutely.

Lingcod and chips.

-I'll have fish and chips with lingcod.

Oh!

Look how beautiful that is.

Oh, my God!

One defining element of Victoria is its amount of flowers.

They're everywhere.

But to really stop and smell the roses, I headed about a half an hour outside the city to a garden that will wow you.

Butchart Gardens is one of the most famous in the world and for any visitor to Victoria an absolute must-see.

And the star of the show is the sunken garden.

Oh, my gosh!

Oh!

-It's amazing what you can do with an old limestone quarry.

This is an excavation pit, a hundred years ago, over a hundred years ago.

Mr. Butchart was a pioneer in the cement industry, and this area was actually a great location to have a limestone quarry.

The Butcharts actually lived in the company house on the property.

Once the limestone had exhausted in the sunken garden, Mrs. Butchart, being a horticulturalist, she started landscaping around her home.

And just like any gardener, one plant led to another, to another, and developed into the gardens that we are today.

My name is Carlos Moniz.

I'm the director of horticulture here at the beautiful Butchart Gardens.

I'm very fortunate.

I am entering my 49th year on the staff here at the gardens.

-Carlos took over from his father, who was head gardener for 35 years, and Butchart Gardens has been owned by the same family for over a hundred.

So, these gardens are really one woman's dream almost a hundred years later.

But how long did it take to go from being this, you know, empty pit into something resembling a garden?

-I'd say about a 2-to-3-year process to actually do the garden, because a lot of the rocks and materials that were on the floor itself of the quarry, she just piled them up into the beds.

And then, like I say, then it was a slow process to bring plants in.

The garden has really changed through the years.

The garden passed to her grandson, and he really was a visionary to really make us into this display garden that we are today.

-Is everything I'm looking at something that was planted?

-Yeah.

Everything you see would have been planted.

Some of the original trees might have been in this area.

It was originally logged way back when, in the 1800s.

Well, actually, all of these beds are still in the design of Mrs. Butchart's time.

So, we've really tried to maintain how she laid out the garden.

So, all these flower beds were her original design.

One of the things that I'm very proud of in my role is the way we've transitioned our gardens to become more sustainable and think about the environment.

We've been working extremely hard to introduce organic-based fertilizers.

We have an extensive integrated pest-management program, which is actually changing the way we think about plants -- having the right plants, growing the right location, developing plants that will actually be better adaptable to an area.

And then we use a lot of natural predators.

So, trying to reduce our need of chemical-based fertilizers, chemicals at all.

And people will look at our garden and think that our plants are on steroids, but they're not.

They're actually very organic.

So, everything that you see, all the flowers, they actually get compost, and they get turned over, and we recycle everything we have, all our plants material on the property, and that becomes our soil.

We haven't bought soil in over 30 years.

[ Birds chirping ] -Sustainability is such a foundational value for Puzzle Lab.

Everything we do is through a lens of how is this impacting our footprint and how is it impacting the world?

So, the materials that we're using are all eco-friendly and sustainable.

Our packaging is made of paper.

We don't have any plastic in the packaging.

We're very careful about where we get our wood and making sure that's sustainably sourced.

And then several of our puzzles are actually puzzles with a purpose.

So, every once in a while, we release a puzzle where a portion of the sales from that puzzle are actually being donated back into conservation efforts.

My name is Tinka Robev.

-And I'm Andrew Azzopardi.

-We are partners in life and business, and we founded the Puzzle Lab in 2020.

-When we started, we found this huge community of people that are obsessed, and that was great news for us because it gave us the opportunity to throw things at them.

-Andrew is called the mad scientist in our production.

-I had this idea of, why don't we try to make the whole puzzle out of orcas?

-Wow!

-Every piece being an orca.

-Uh-huh.

-So, I did quite a bit of research, and then from there I brute-forced figured out a shape that was an orca.

-Anyone who starts a puzzle, corner pieces.

-I know.

-Borders.

-And you took that away from us.

-Yeah, except that there are.

If you look really closely, there are edge pieces.

-Right here.

Okay.

-You see how there's no actual connector on the end of the whale tail?

-Yeah.

-Yeah, that's how you know there's an edge piece.

-Okay.

-But yeah, that just gave everything away.

[ Laughs ] -All of our artwork is curated from up-and-coming Canadian artists.

They receive a royalty on every puzzle sold with their artwork.

So, we're really proud to be supporting the artists, as well as providing a platform for them to expand their reach.

-I love your difficulty-level ratings.

Chili peppers.

-Yep.

We've noticed that most people are leaning towards the three, four.

-Yeah.

-The brave go to five.

Or the five are for, like, a friend that they are upset with or they want to, you know, give them a bit of a hard time.

-A little bit of pain?

-So, I'll show you over here, this one.

Ooh, this one is... there is a warning right there.

-Puzzles have a warning.

-I've started removing the things that you take for granted when doing a puzzle.

-Mm-hmm.

Corner pieces, edges, borders.

-Exactly.

-Love them.

-And in this case, every piece is identical.

-Oh!

-And they can rotate into position.

-Oh...wait.

So, up is down.

Down is up.

Side is side.

-There are 20 pieces that are unique.

And so, as you're putting this together, if you get the wrong piece in the wrong position, it may not go together.

-You could be almost done with this puzzle.

-Yeah.

-And you weren't right.

-You weren't right.

-Oh, you are evil!

-Yeah, I know.

-You are the evil puzzler.

-I know.

I know.

-Yeah, we also did a really interesting project for the Mtis Nation of British Columbia.

That's an indigenous nation here.

And they reached out to us and had us design and create 2,000 children's puzzles to help the kids in the community connect with the culture and the values of their culture.

So, we're really excited to see all the different ways that puzzles can bring joy and connection to the people.

-We are in the Salish Sea, which, hands down, is one of the most magnificent, nutrient-rich, and biodiverse-rich regions in the world, next to the Amazon rain forest.

-I'm heading out on the Salish Sea on a whale watch with a company that has been at the helm of Victoria's conservation efforts for 20 years.

-We feel strongly that sustaining where we are currently in our ecosystem and our environment and being corporately responsible is maybe just not enough.

I'm Brett Soberg, co-owner, operator, and captain of Eagle Wing Tours from Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.

As a company, we actually were able to do some sound testing of all the different boats in our fleet, and it was remarkable to know the difference in the range at different speeds with different pieces of equipment.

-So, you're basically getting volume levels on each boat and what it puts out?

-Yeah.

And the hope is that the end result is that we'll be able to make some operational decisions and/or changes or modifications to the boat to further reduce our acoustic footprint, which is pretty -- it's important to do.

Oh, there's an animal out there about a half a mile way up off our bow, about a half-mile, It's further to the east there.

Just came up.

Oh, here we go.

Here.

-Ooh, ooh, ooh!

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

-Here you go.

-Whoo-hoo-hoo-hoo!

-Right there.

-Oh!

Oh-oh-oh!

I'm keeping it low.

Oh, my gosh!

-Beautiful humpback whale.

-That's a humpback?

-Yep.

-Oh!

-Indeed!

-Oh, look at him or her.

-Here comes the tail!

Here comes the tail!

-Come on.

Show us your tail.

-Go, go, go!

[ Gasps ] -Yes!

-We got a tail!

-Nice!

Fantastic.

-Yes!

Eagle Wing Tours has given $1 million to support 29 local organizations with a strong focus on conservation.

-Ooh!

Lunge feeding?

No way!

-What's lunge feeding?

-Amazing!

Lunge feeding is when you have a school bus with flippers opening up its mouth, going sideways at the surface with its mouth fully open, and you can see the baleen.

Their throat will expand exponentially out, like a big bullfrog.

They take in huge quantities of water.

When they close that baleen, their tongue, which is a really big, powerful muscle, pushes the water through the baleen.

There it is.

-Oh, my gosh!

-See the baleen... -[ Gasps ] This is beautiful!

Oh, my gosh!

-Pectoral fin, tail on the side.

-Oh, my gosh.

-There's a lot of power and grace and beauty behind these animals, but the power is what you have to really respect.

You don't get closer.

You don't try to get the animal to do anything beyond what it just needs to do.

And that's just be a wild animal by nature, which is the way we like our critters.

-10 Acres is not only the name of this establishment.

It also refers to the farm where all of these ingredients, most of them, anyway, come directly from.

-Yeah.

-That really is taking that "farm to table," you know, label to the highest level possible, right?

So, what's in season right now that we can see on these plates?

-We have asparagus crops popping up.

We also have our tomatoes starting already because we grow all of our tomatoes and peppers in greenhouses.

We also have oysters, of course, that are local to Vancouver Island.

We're always rolling fresh noodles.

Our lasagnas are made with fresh pasta sheets, so, like, having that experience of a fresh noodle is really unique to a lot of customers.

-Katrina Archibald is the sous chef at 10 Acres and has responsibilities between running the restaurant and working directly with the farm.

-We have staple things, like our pork chop that we make and, again, our fresh pastas.

But the actual ingredients that are going with that dish, that are creating it, are seasonal.

-Are people, travelers to this area, surprised at the bounty that Victoria and then Vancouver Island -- right?

-- really give us?

-They are, and even myself.

I'm from the island, and I am shocked at some of the crops that we grow that are successful.

But often our ingredients are so true to their flavors that we don't need to do much.

-So, I'm gonna try this... -Oh, my gosh!

Dive in.

-...because the asparagus is the best.

Yeah.

-The asparagus is one of my favorite crops, actually.

-And you've paired it with a lovely, like, puff pastry here, some cheese.

What cheese did you choose?

-So, this one has Brie cheese feature in there, a double cream, and asparagus.

It has a little twist in the sense of it has, like, the everything-bagel spice.

It has sesame seeds, poppy seeds, garlic powder, all, like, homemade mixed in there.

And then our aioli you see on the plate there, that one is a deviled aioli.

So, it's similar to what you get inside your deviled egg, but minus the egg whites.

-Oh, my gosh.

-So, this tomato right here came from a farm that was 20 minutes away.

-Yeah, yeah.

Isn't that crazy?

-Oh!

They're like candy.

-Oh, my gosh.

-They're so sweet.

-And the longer the summer goes and the hotter, the sweeter they get.

-It sounds like there's a real community effort.

And even though we're in a city, the oldest city in the Pacific Northwest, there's still a lot of community here that believes in where we're going for in the future.

-Yeah, and I think that's really important.

I think Victoria is really doing their best to hold onto that as business owners, as people that are running, as chefs, as the faces of a lot of the communities.

I think they're definitely holding onto that.

-I'm ending my trip at the Empress.

Opened in 1908, it's one of Canada's grandest hotels and is designated a National Historic Site.

While it is famous for its afternoon tea, I'm here for a sunset sip to follow in the footsteps of one of its most famous guests, Winston Churchill, who sometimes liked to have his cocktail served in a teapot.

Well, after all, it is British Columbia.

The famed hotel even has a gin named after it, and it puts on a show of its own.

My, um, cocktail has a sort of a bluish tint to it.

-So, Empress Gin is made with pea flour.

-And it's -- the pea flour gives it that blue color.

-When it hits acidity -- so, if you pour tonic water.

-Yes.

-That's what changes that color.

You don't have to be staying here to come and enjoy the Empress.

-Mm-hmm.

And you get to enjoy a lot of the accoutrements of afternoon tea, but in a more, I don't know, adult sippy-sippy, drinky-winky... -Fun way -- absolutely.

Well, cheers.

-Cheers.

-Traveling to areas where you immerse yourself, there's perspective, and from that you can preserve, protect, and promote things that you now love and understand.

That is why Victoria is an amazing city and a place to travel and experience for yourselves.

-The new visitor, who is just enthralled by the plant material or a flower or a plant, who can see what beauty you can create from a bleak landscape one plant at a time, will help create a better environment for everybody.

-In a lot of Chinatowns, you will see gates such as this because we want a sense of welcoming.

We call our gate the Gate of Harmonious Interest because, you know, we wanted to remind people with the title that we all need to live in harmony and get along.

-I would encourage anyone visiting Victoria to slow right down and really just... -I was thinking the exact same thing.

-...stop and smell the roses.

We got beautiful rose gardens, but also metaphorically really just soak it all in.

Victoria is such a beautiful place, and we really relish in the slower pace of life here.

-Take your time.

-I hope that you will do.

-When a city puts a solid focus on sustainability, when locals all take steps great and small to effect a more positive change, when travelers can take part in having a softer impact on one of the prettiest cities in the world... Oh!

...that is when we share a love of travel.

-I know.

-[ Laughs ] And that's why Victoria, Canada, is a place to love.

-For more information about this and other episodes, destination guides, or links to follow me on social media, log on to placestolove.com.

"Samantha Brown's Places to Love" was made possible by... [ Birds chirping ] -Oceania Cruises is a proud sponsor of public TV and "Samantha Brown's Places to Love."

Sailing to more than 600 destinations around the globe, from Europe to Asia and Alaska to the South Pacific.

Oceania Cruises offers gourmet dining and curated travel experiences aboard boutique, hotel-style ships that carry no more than 1,250 guests.

Oceania Cruises.

Your world, your way.