Ontario is the largest province in Canada by population. On its territory there are tens of thousands of lakes, including the Great Lakes. One of them – Lake Ontario – gave the name of the province. The northern and northeastern borders of the province run along the Hudson Bay, in this part coastal lowlands extend. The northwestern and central parts of Ontario are covered by the Canadian Shield. The southern part of the province is occupied by the valleys of the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River, this is a fertile region where vineyards and orchards grow.
In the southeastern part of the province between lakes Ontario, Erie and Huron is the most densely populated region of the country, which is called the “Golden Horseshoe” or “Ontario Peninsula”. Here is the capital of the province of Ontario – the city of Toronto . Canada – Huron – means “meeting place”. And in fact, since ancient times this place was located at the junction of the main trade routes and was an important trading center. Toronto is the country’s largest city and one of the world’s largest financial centers. In addition, Toronto is Canada ‘s most diverse city, with about 49% of its residents being immigrants. The city stands on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. Toronto, together with nearby cities, forms the whole agglomeration of Greater Toronto with a total population of about 5 million and an area of 630 square meters. km. Old part of Toronto – Downtown- Located on the shores of Lake Ontario. In the 20th century, this area was built up with skyscrapers, there are about 2,000 buildings over 90 m high. Today, Downtown is the commercial center of Toronto. Downtown’s central street is Bay Street. It has numerous banks, shops, restaurants and clubs. From anywhere on Bay Street, you can see the tallest skyscraper in North America – the CNN Tower television tower. The 72-storey tower with a height of 553 m was built in 1975 and until 2007 was the tallest building in the world. Bay Street leads to New City Hall, which was built in 1965. To the northwest, near University Avenue, there is a vast Chinatownand the Art Gallery of Ontario. If you go further north along University Avenue, you can get to Queen’s Park, in the center of which stands the building of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, built in the Victorian style. At the end of University Avenue at the northern end of Queen’s Park is the Royal Ontario Museum, the largest museum in Canada. The longest street in the world passes through Toronto – Young Street , listed in the Guinness Book of Records. It starts from the waterfront of Lake Ontario and ends at the borders of the nearby city of Cochrane. Young Street is 1896 km long. This is Toronto ‘s busiest street., which houses countless shops, restaurants, cafes, clubs and bars. Most of the shopping and financial centers of Downtown Toronto are connected to the vast underground shopping district PATH. PATH is included in the Guinness Book of Records as the largest underground shopping center in the world, its area is 371.6 thousand square meters. m. In the eastern part of the promenade of Downtown Toronto, the historical district of the Toronto distillery is interesting. Until the middle of the 19th century, the local distillery was considered the largest in the world. Here, on an area of 52 thousand square meters. m you can see many buildings of the Victorian era, which are located in modern cafes, restaurants and shops. From other Torontoattractionswe can distinguish the Museum of Science and Technology, the ancient Fort York (1793), where the museum is now located, located in the vicinity of Toronto, the Cassa Loma mansion, with a capacity of 96 rooms, and the cities of Rhodesdale, Annex, Forest Hill, Kebbagetown that are part of the Greater Toronto agglomeration and Bridle Pas, which are full of Victorian buildings. You can have a great rest in numerous city parks. Toronto ‘s most popular parks include Grange, Moss, Alan, Riverdale, Trinity Bellwoods, Christy Pits, High, Number Bay, Centennial, Downsview, Gilwood and Rouge. According to HARVARDSHOES, Kleinburg is located 40 km northwest of Toronto.. Kleinburg is home to the McMichael National Gallery of Art, which was founded in 1952. To the north along the coast of Lake Ontario, the city of Oshawa is interesting – one of the largest centers of the Canadian automotive industry. The city is home to the Automotive Museum, which tells about the history of the automotive industry. Hamilton is located 70 km southwest of Toronto. It houses the Art Gallery of Hamilton (one of the finest art galleries in the country). There are several ski resorts in and around Toronto that turn into popular golf courses during the summer. The most famous ski slopes of this part of the country are located in Toronto.
in Centennial Park, in the nearby ski resorts of Chicopee, Devils Elbow, Sea Sams, in Oshawa, on Blue Mountain (Ontario’s largest ski resort) and in Glen Park at Niagara Falls. All ski centers offer opportunities for snowboarding.
The main attraction of the outskirts of Toronto is Niagara Falls, which is located between lakes Ontario and Erie on the border with the United States, 140 km from Toronto. The waterfall is divided into Canadian and American parts, most of the waterfall belongs to Canada. The center of this region is the city of Niagara Falls . A variety of sightseeing tours depart from here to the waterfall.
West of Niagara Falls is Lake Erie. Numerous vineyards stretch along its northern coast, which are used for wine tours. The main attraction in Lake Erie is the Cape and Pelee Island with Cape Pelee National Park. Pelee Point is Canada ‘s southernmost point. The Caroline deciduous forests, coastal marshes and sandy beaches stretch here, 27 species of reptiles (such a variety of reptiles is not found anywhere else in Canada), 20 species of amphibians and about 50 species of spiders. In spring and autumn, thousands of birds migrate through the park, and in August – monarch butterflies, which can fly up to 3000 km long.
Northwest of Cape Pelee National Park on the border with the United States between Lakes Huron and Erie is the so-called “land of black heritage”. These places in the 19th century became a haven for black slaves who fled the United States from slavery. In the second half of the 19th century, a secret underground railway line was even built here, along which slaves from the United States were transported to Canada. The African American Historical Museum is located in the city of Amherstburg, the reconstruction of “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”, a black slave, the protagonist of the novel by the American writer Harriet Beecher Stowe, is interesting in Dresden, the Underground Road monument dedicated to the bravery of fugitive slaves is located in Windsor, and in the city of North Buxton Worth visiting the site of the first African American settlement in Canada. Between lakes Huron and Erie, the city of London is also interesting. Here is an Art Gallery with works of Canadian art of the 18th and 19th centuries, an aristocratic 19th century mansion Eldon House, a reconstructed 19th century brewery and an open-air Ontario Rural Museum. Just north of London is the city of Stratford. It was named after the English Stratford-upon-Avon, where William Shakespeare was born. Since the second half of the 20th century, the Shakespeare Festival starts in Stratford every year in April, which lasts 7 months. This is one of the most significant cultural events in the country.
Further north is the coast of Lake Huron. Sandy beaches stretch along it, surrounded by dunes and one of the most extensive patches of oak forests in North America. Deep into the lake, the Bruce Peninsula juts out – a land of sandy beaches and high coastal limestone cliffs, cedar forests that are over 1000 years old, and lakes. You can get acquainted with the natural diversity of the peninsula by going on a trip from the city of Tobermory to the national parks of the Bruce Peninsula and Fathom Five. You can also take a ferry from Tobermory to Manitoulin Island.. This is the largest island in the world, located in a freshwater reservoir. Its area is 2770 sq. km. In the villages of the island, you can get acquainted with the culture of the local Aborigines.
To the east of the Bruce Peninsula is Georgian Bay, in the southern part of which is the longest sandy beach near a freshwater body of water in the world – Wasaga. Its length is 14 km. The beach has a developed infrastructure, for which it received an honorary Blue Flag. Also off the south coast of the bay is the Georgian Bay Islands National Park.. These are very beautiful places that are captured in the paintings of many Canadian landscape painters. You can only get here by boat. The park has a rich variety of flora and fauna, unusual for such a small area. The main inhabitants of the park are reptiles and amphibians. The park offers hiking trails and recreation in tent camps. The coast of Georgian Bay is a popular destination for cross-country skiing. There are several ski resorts with flat slopes.
In the eastern part of the province of Ontario, northeast of Toronto, on the Ottawa River, the capital of the country is located – the city of Ottawa . Ottawa becomes the capital of Canada by order of Queen Victoria in 1857. In the city’s historic center, on a peninsula formed by the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau Canal, is the city’s main landmark, Parliament Hill. On it stands a complex of parliamentary buildings, made in the Gothic style. The complex was built in 1922 on the site of the destroyed Parliament building of the mid-19th century. The Peace Tower occupies the central place in the complex of parliamentary buildings.92.2 m high. The Peace Tower was erected in honor of the Canadians who died during the First World War. Numerous monuments of prominent personalities are erected in front of the Parliament buildings, and the Eternal Flame burns on the square. In the morning hours, the ceremony of changing the guard of honor takes place on Parliament Hill. From the east, Parliament Hill is bounded by the Rideau Canal, which links Ottawa with the city of Kingston, located on the northern shore of Lake Ontario. In winter, a skating rink opens on a 7.8 km section of the canal, passing through the historic center of Ottawa. This is the longest skating rink in the world. South of Parliament Hill is the Canadian Museum of Nature, on the other side of the Rideau Canal at the Alexander Bridge, thrown over the river Ottawa, Nipin Point Hill with a monument to the French traveler Samuel de Champlain is located, Notre Dame Cathedral of 1866 is nearby. East of the Rideau River, which runs parallel to the canal of the same name, the Rideau Hall building is interesting. From 1867 until recently it was the residence of the Governors General of Canada. Now Rideau Hall is the place where the Governor General of Canada holds meetings and diplomatic meetings. On the other side of the Ottawa River, it is worth visiting the Museum of Civilization, which tells about the history of the country, and the vast Gatinet Park.
In Ottawa tourists are offered exciting excursions along the Ottawa River on an old ship and along the Rideau Canal and its locks, which were built in the early 19th century. A cruise along the Rideau Canal, starting in Ottawa and ending in the city of Kingston, is a historical route, because in the era of colonization these lands were among the first to be settled by Europeans, and the English loyalists who lived here later left an indelible mark on the culture of the region. The route passes through the cities of Merrickville, where you can buy all kinds of souvenirs, Smith Falls, which houses the Rideau Canal Museum and the world-famous Hershey’s chocolate factory, and through the “capital” of Canadian maple syrup – the city of Lanark. The end point of the journey is the city Kingston , since the 17th century, was one of the main trading posts on the Great Lakes, through which furs were sent to Europe. In 1673, at the point where the St. Lawrence River flows out of Lake Ontario, the French built Fort Frontenac. To this day, only the northwestern bastion and a section of the wall have survived from the fort. The main attraction of the city is the 1832 Fort Henry. Every day there are performances that acquaint visitors with the life of the British military in the 19th century. In the vicinity of Kingston, shipwrecks rest in the coastal waters of Lake Ontario, which attracts lovers of wreck diving in fresh water. From Kingston, you can take a cruise on the St. Lawrence River. To the city of Brookville, tourist regionThousand Islands and St. Lawrence Islands National Park.
Northwest of Ottawa up to Lake Huron extends Elongwin Provincial Park. It was established in 1893 and was Canada ‘s first provincial park. Its area is 7630 sq. km. Dense forests grow here, there are more than 2,000 thousand lakes and many rivers flow. The park’s rivers, particularly the Ottawa and Madawaska, are considered some of the best rivers for whitewater rafting east of the Rocky Mountains. The lakes of Elongwin Park are good for a relaxing beach holiday and fishing.
In general, the area between Ottawa and Lake Huron is one of the most popular river rafting destinations in the country. The local city of Peterborough even opened the Canadian Canoe Museum, which displays a collection of canoes and kayaks. Also of interest in the region is the Petroglyphs Provincial Park, where the most extensive collections of rock petroglyphs, carved about 1200 years ago by Canadian aborigines, have been preserved. Here on white granite rocks you will see images of birds, snakes, turtles and people.
To the north is Samuel de Champlain Provincial Park, through which the Mattawa River flows. These are excellent fishing spots where you can catch various types of pike, salmon and perch. Not far from here in the Lady Evelyn Reservethe highest point in the province of Ontario is Mount Ishpatina (693 m). Also in the vicinity it is worth visiting the area of the Agawa canyons, on the walls of which there are ancient petroglyphs.
In the northwestern part of the province of Ontario is Lake Superior, which, in terms of water surface area, is the largest freshwater lake in the world (82.4 thousand sq. Km). In the central part of the coast of the lake is Pukasqua National Park, and a little to the west is the city of Thunder Bay . The main attraction of the city of Thunder Bay is the reconstructed trading post – Fort William., and its surroundings – Kakabeka waterfalls 39 m high, which are called the “Northern Niagara Falls”. In addition, Thunder Bay is a great place for fishing.
The northeastern border of the province of Ontario runs along the coast of Hudson Bay. The Polar Bear Provincial Park is located here. The park hosts polar bear watching tours and cruises where you can see large marine mammals such as beluga whales.
