Cherry Blossoms and Chimney Cakes at Niagara-on-the-Lake

It’s no secret that I love Canada. My coworkers joke that my office has more pictures of Canadian figure skaters than of my husband (true). So when we RSVP’ed yes to a friend’s Rochester, New York, wedding, Matt wasn’t shocked to see me zooming into Google Maps to see how far we’d be from the Canadian border. With Rochester as our starting point and Toronto as our goal, we set off one rainy, blustery May morning to Canada. In a slightly out-of-character decision for us, we decided to skip the monumental and tourist-laden Niagara Falls and opt for something a bit simpler during our drive north.

So, just after crossing into Canada, we rounded Lake Ontario and settled into the charming, quiet town of Niagara-on-the-Lake. Luckily for us, the rain didn’t follow us into Canada.

Niagara-on-the-Lake at the end of May is a sweet springtime spot. Pink and purple cherry blossoms (which have long since summered into green, leafy foliage in Tennessee) still lined the streets of this little town, and the tulips were at peak bloom. It’s no wonder this town is nicknamed “the loveliest town in Canada.”

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We spent a relaxing and breezy afternoon at Niagara-on-the-Lake. As the name would suggest, this town sits on the shore of Lake Ontario, which shares a border with the U.S. and Canada. Like much of upstate New York, southern Ontario is home to fields and fields of vineyards. The region boasts over 40 wineries.

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From the winding, tree-lined avenue leading from the border crossing to Niagara-on-the-Lake, we glimpsed row after row of vines and grapes and wineries.

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At Walker’s, a quaint grocery store overlooking the lake, we purchased bright red rhubarb tarts, a regional specialty, and watched visitors ride bikes through the vineyards behind us.

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Beside the store, we marveled at the Living Water Wayside Chapel, the smallest chapel in the world, at only 10 ft x 10 ft.

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This tiny church seats only six people and it was so small that we had to wait for a bachelorette party to clear before we could fit inside and pretend we were getting married again.

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After this, we piled into the car and headed further into town. Niagara-on-the-Lake has one main downtown street lined with trees surrounded by quaint, colonial-style buildings.

The town sits right at the shores of Lake Ontario, and gazing across the water, it’s easy to spot Fort George, which was built in the late 1700s. In its early days of settlement, Niagara-on-the-Lake became a haven for British soldiers fleeing the American Revolution. During the War of 1812, American soldiers took Fort George during a two-day bombardment. Just one year later, the British reclaimed the fort, but then left it to abandonment and ruin.

We also learned that the town became a stop for those fleeing slavery on the Underground Railroad. Because of all the history this town has seen, it was named an official National Historic Site of Canada in 2003, and its downtown area has been designated as a Historic Conservation District.

Among all the fascinating historic landmarks we saw, our favorite was the Niagara Apothecary, which is the oldest pharmacy in Canada, established in 1820.

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Drawers, shelves, and glass cases filled with old medicines, remedies, drugs, tonics, and narcotics line the walls of this store-turned-museum. There’s even a display case showing pictures of Queen Elizabeth’s visit in 1981.

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My favorite item in the store was an old perfume dispensary. An employee explained that ladies used to place their handkerchiefs under the machine. For one cent, a puff of perfume would dispense into the hanky. Inventive!

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No trip to a quaint, historic, lakeside town would be complete without perusing the local bakeries. We tried no less than three different bakeries in the span of half an hour. At one, we picked up gingerbread men, strawberry tarts, and maple pie, and at another, we grabbed chocolate cookies and another tart.

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My favorite bakery, however, was off the main road. A well-placed chalkboard sign in the middle of the main street drew me in: “Chimney cakes: The greatest thing you’ve never tasted.” Huh? I was sold.

Let me tell you: the Hungarian chimney cakes, or kürtőskalács, from Budapest Bake Shop, are one of my favorite things I’ve ever eaten. A chimney cake is a pastry made from raised dough which is then wrapped around a spit and baked. The cakes can have any fillings, from sweet to savory. We devoured the cinnamon and walnut chimney cakes. We later learned that the recipe they use at the bakery is over 300 years old.

After exploring the downtown area, we ate a light lunch on the rooftop balcony of the Shaw Cafe, overlooking the bustling and historic Queen Street. Our server suggested we try a flight of ice wine, which is a regional speciality. Ice wine, as the name might imply, is a dessert wine produced from grapes that have frozen while still on the vine. We found the wines to be very, very sweet, and perfect for a bright spring day.

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But as clouds from the storm that had chased us in Rochester began to roll in and a cold wind picked up on the lake, we knew it was time to turn our car north to Toronto. After a few photos against the backdrop of clear blue Lake Ontario and Fort George, we said goodbye to this beautiful border town in high spirits. More about Toronto in the next post!

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