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British Columbia
14
Beautiful British Columbia’ is boldly
written on all the province’s car licence
plates and BC, as it is commonly known, is
where you’ll find many of Canada’s most
fabulous natural features. A good place to
begin is BC’s largest city, Vancouver, a young
and vibrant metropolis that is consistently
voted one of the world’s most attractive
cities to live. This is easy to believe as it is
overflowing with rich cultural experiences,
‘
exceptional wildlife viewing and plenty of
outdoor activities for everyone. On Vancouver
Island the provincial capital, Victoria, is a
colonial gem, with an old-world charm and a
mild Pacific climate. The province’s spectacular
scenery includes the famed coastal Inside
Passage, the old-growth rainforests and big
surf beaches of Vancouver Island, the vast
cowboy country of the Cariboo, the orchards
and vineyards of the Okanagan Valley and the
Kootenay Rockies with their bears, elk
and eagles. The First Nations of the Pacific
seaboard are renowned for their totem poles
and longhouses and after many years of
oppression the native cultures and arts are
now resurgent. BC is four times the size
of Great Britain and its northern half,
bordered by Alaska and the Yukon, is a largely
pristine wilderness of glaciers, fjords, lakes
and waterfalls.