Quote:
Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker
Sydney is very absent, but... I mean? What could you say?
Charlottetown being absent I appreciate. I've been. My impression is that it's urban but outdated. It feels at times like a real city, but 10 years ago.
That said, I've had two friends who've been there. One is from Newfoundland, and loved it - found it way too cold in winter, and way too dead after-hours, but was absolutely fully satisfied by what Charlottetown had to offer when it was open.
Another, who lived here for like five years, and only visited Charlottetown in the summer, and was left the impression it was even better than here. Pains me to even remember the conversation I think he's objectively wrong, by any measure, but the fact he had that impression speaks highly of what Charlottetown has to offer.
So I'm glad it's not here showing us up lol
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In many ways, Charlottetown does feel like a flatter, more orderly St. John's. It's more firmly within the Halifax/Southern NB sphere of influence and feels a bit less quirky and homegrown than St. John's in some ways, its civic identity is heavily tied to confederation and the federal government (it feels more like Ottawa in this way) and there's a seasonal beach town dimension to it, kind of like the Okanagan but without the ski resorts. The food scene is above average for the country and the nightlife and music scenes are surprisingly good but less notable than St. John's. Being at the heart of a large farming region it's also a bit more culturally "country" than people tend to expect. Mainstream retail tends to be weaker in St. John's which is why it's common for people to go to NS or NB to shop at larger big box chains (like Costco or more recently Ikea).
The original town layout was based on the same principles as Philadelphia and Adelaide Aus - it's built around a 5-on-a-die pattern of parks and civic spaces, with Province House in the middle. This is sometimes seen in civic symbols as a pixelated "X" shape.
Wide photos:
Sydney has been pretty stagnant for the last couple decades but I think the area will start to grow significantly again as infrastructure in Cape Breton is upgraded and Halifax deals with shocks to its housing market. I would say it's completely overlooked at the national level and often even at the regional level, but it's a metro of ~100,000 with its own airport, seaport, university, college campuses, in a nice location next to the Bras D'or Lakes and Highlands National Park. The ~4 hour drive from Sydney to Halifax is incredibly scenic and rarely feels like a burden - one of the most enjoyable sections of the Trans-Can IMO. It's also an interesting case study where there's an urban reserve (Membertou) that has been driving a lot of the better developments in the area over the last couple decades.