Travel: Touring Niagara wine country

Sitting in our suite of the Crown Plaza by the French windows that directly overlooked Niagara Falls, I couldn't help but take a breath. The view was spectacular (for want of a better word). If there is one word that describes the falls, it is 'mighty'. It is a sight so awe-inspiring that you can do nothing but stare.

It had finally sunk in. I was in Canada.

Let's take a short flashback. My husband and I flew out of Delhi at midnight on August 7 and at noon on August 8 we landed in Toronto, Canada.

We were visiting my sister and her husband who had taken time off from work to take us on a road trip in their car.

Not willing to waste much time, we rested for a bit and were off to take the city on. Our first stop was the CN Tower, one of the tallest structures in the world (at 1,815.4 ft) -- the place to get a view of the city, at a height of 342 metres. A section of the landing has a glass floor where if you stand and look down you can actually see the bottom of the tower. It is a sight not for the faint-hearted!

When hunger struck, we attacked the local kiosks. The hotdogs here [$7; 1 CND = Rs 45 approx] are miles away from the ones back home. For one, the Italian sausage is the size of five Indian ones. A local dish called poutine is often bought to accompany these. Poutine is a bunch of French Fries drizzled with barbeque sauce and topped with cheese curd ($4-8). It is something of a staple in Canada.

We then satisfied our sweet cravings with a French crepe with Nutella, strawberries and bananas. Heavenly! The night was completed by a trip to the Greek Fest in town (Pilaros, Danforth). If you haven't already, try their Gyros ($7-8). The ones on offer were these wraps of chicken/ beef in pita with tzatziki (a dressing of sorts made with curd and cucumber). You will be addicted from the first bite!

After spending the night at the Marriot Hotel in Toronto, we started early the next morning with a breakfast of waffles and strawberries and then drove off towards Niagara Falls. The distance of 130 kms is easily covered in 1.5 hours. We had bought the all-inclusive pass ($50 per person) and the entire day was spent visiting everything on offer.

First up was 'Journey behind the falls'. They have built tunnels behind the falls and you can watch tonnes and tonnes of water cascading down in front of you as you stand right behind the them! The boardwalk along the class 6 rapids had us convinced that they weren't kidding when they said that these can't possibly be tamed by rafters. The butterfly conservatory followed where thousands of butterflies flew around inside a tropical jungle setting. But it was the grand finale that was the cherry on the icing on the cake.

The 'Maid of the Mist' is a boat that goes to the mouth of the Horseshoe Falls at Niagara, and it is not an experience soon forgotten. With eyes that could barely open due to the mist, we squinted and held our breath as we watched the fury of nature unleashed. There aren't any words to explain the feeling of standing on that boat, staring at the falls crashing down just meters from where we were.

Absolutely exhausted by the end of it, we ended the day with a lovely dinner of pasta in rose sauce, a nacho platter and beer sitting on the patio of Kelsey's with live musicians playing. Life couldn't have been more perfect.

Day 3 started with us heading out to Niagara-on-the-Lake, a small quaint town just 15 minutes from the Falls, famous for its vineyards and wineries. In an effort not to waste any time, we headed straight to the vineyards to start off on our wine tasting tour. We went to Hillibrand, Jackson Triggs (where we also did the tour) and Joseph's Winery that day.

The vineyards themselves are just breathtaking -- acres and acres of vines growing in geometrically perfect straight lines, and the French Chateaux-style wineries in the middle of the green. Each winery let us choose one red, one white and one ice wine to taste. The ice wines are my favourite.

The story goes thus -- when the winter came and the grapes froze, they would be collected and thrown away. Until one day a guy said, let me try making wine with the frozen grape too -- and lo you got the sweet dessert wine called ice wine! One bottle of the stuff is made from the same amount of grapes as ten bottles of table wine and they are priced like that too!

If you are a wine-person you can pick up some bottles from any of the boutiques in these vineyards. They even make great gift items.

Our tours were educational as well. We learned that wineries plant a rose bush in front of the vines, because the bugs that attack the vines attack roses first and the planters could then protect the vines. We also learnt the correct way of drinking the wine -- the swirling, checking for sediment and swishing in your mouth bit. We stayed the night in a lovely bed and breakfast called Cape House. (www.capehousebb.com).

Each wine tour costs between $5-10 but if you stay in a bed and breakfast, the hosts invariably give you a bunch of free coupons for these.

Canada has a refreshing culture of bed and breakfasts. People on vacation prefer these to the hotels. Not only are these more economical (at around $100-150 per night) but they also give you a peek into the life of the locals and their food.

Day 4 had two more wineries including our favourite -- The Peller Estate. It is a typical French Chateaux style winery with a long winding driveway and acres and acres of vineyards -- the stuff that movies are made of. After the wine tastings, we finally bid adieu to Niagara-on-the-Lake (the town is on the banks of Lake Ontario) and took off for Ottawa via Toronto.

When hunger struck mid-way, we made a pit stop at Toronto's famous Lahore Tikka House -- a restaurant that serves up hot naan, seekh kebab, mutton curry, biryani etc, and the taste is comparable to that of the famous Jama Masjid gullies in Delhi. The taste of hot naan with the curry after days of eating other cuisines was a delight!

Niagara-on-the-Lake is around 530 kms from Ottawa and the drive took us around eight hours with an hour's break for lunch.

Day 5 was spent exploring the beauty of Ottawa, the capital of Canada. A fairy-tale town with lovely cobbled streets and castle-like buildings. The city is enveloped in the green arms of nature and is blessed with hectares of forest area, plenty of lakes and three rivers that flow through it. If you like cities that boast natural beauty and yet are action packed with entertainment when you want it, Ottawa is the place for you.

We had a lunch of fajitas and nachos at Moe's ($10 per person). But the icing on the cake was our evening walk at Petrie Island. A beach just 15 minutes from the heart of the city place, and that too, of a lake and not the sea (though you can't see the horizon in most Canadian lakes). We watched the sun go down over the water as boats raced past and impromptu beach volleyball games broke out -- it was the perfect end to a perfect day!

We never wanted to leave!

Useful information

• All currencies given are in CND. The Canadian dollar is usually slightly less than USD. Most big stores accept USD as well.
• Though the Canadian dollar is accepted at all airports, the change given is always in the local currency. When flying through Europe, carry some Euros for the airports.
• Canada has a great culture of bed and breakfasts (B&Bs). You will find lovely B&Bs in all towns and tourist areas. They come highly recommended on sites like tripadvisor.com.
• Canadian summers are the best time to visit. May-August is lovely. The evenings may get a little nippy so do carry a light jacket.
• The bugs and mosquitoes are larger than life. Invest in "Off" which is a anti-bug body spray and available there.
• Though there is not much variety to Canadian food, the variety of cuisines available are stupendous. Try out Greek, Chinese, Vietnamese, Mexican, Spanish, French, Indian, Pakistani, English, Polish, Lebanese, Thai, Indonesian, American, and Brazilian amongst others.
• Public transport is very effective and user-friendly. Metros and busses are common as are renting bicycles.
• If you want to take back something from your trip, you will find plenty of souvenir shops in Canada. You could pick up a Red Indian figurine or even a painting for your house from the cobbled backstreets of Quebec. Canada is a shopping paradise for clothes though. Most stores go on sale around July-August and you can get some great deals from brands like Esprit, Tommy Hilfiger, Winners, Blue Notes, Old Navy, Jacobs, Garage, GAP etc.