We approached Prince Edward Island along the Confederations Bridge from New Brunswick. The island is a low sprawling place which is generally quite rural. Charlottetown is the only major town on the island, although the PEI visitor tourist map (which has literally every single road on the island on it) has managed to provide a town name for just about every intersection.

After wandering around the western half the island we settled in Charlottetown for the evening. It is a very easy city to get about. We stayed a few blocks from the historic area and walked everywhere from there. This is the province house in the relatively small governmental district.

Much of the older area is restored now housing a lively selection of restaurants and pubs. Bed and breakfasts (like this entire street) abound and in general it's just a pleasant place to wander around with quiet tree-shaded streets.

The primary attraction on Prince Edward Island is the Green Gables area based entirely on the fiction of Lucy Montgomery. A couple things stand out here. First, while based loosely on her actual life, the Anne of Green Gables books are fictional so the house shown here (and the snow queen tree) are really just replications. Secondly, the golf course winding around the property really detracts from any sense of experiencing the 'island beauty' as you wander around the property (including the haunted forest and lover's lane). Finally, while popular the Anne books are not exactly required reading in the US. They do seem to be elsewhere though, particularly Japan. We were told this is the 3rd most popular honeymoon/wedding site among Japanese couples. That seems a bit unlikely but there were two Japanese weddings in progress while we visited.

We left from the southeast corner of the island via ferry, headed back to Nova Scotia. Beaches like the one here are relatively rare. Some of the island is bordered by mud flats, and in many places the farmland runs right to the rocky edge of the island. The national park is really just a beach in the Green Gables area and while it may be pristine, it'd be difficult to find a quiet spot along it. On the other hand, everyone we met on the island was quite friendly and polite. I'm fairly certain nearly everyone asked us where we from, in the form of 'are you from here?' which I'd have to guess we clearly weren't. We'd definitely go back to Charlottetown, although probably not Green Gables.