The Tall & Small Cafe

Another favorite restaurant - strictly for lunch. This tiny hole-in-the-wall is located on the main drag (342 Main Street) in downtown Antigonish. This is definitely an earthy venue favoring natural ingredients.

The restaurant a favorite with college students and faculty, since St. Francis Xavier College is located nearby. Students bring laptops and sit in the window. There are also easy chairs and tables for 2 or 4. Be warned, however; this place is usually packed at lunch. Lee and I tend to go there later in the afternoon. The walls are lined with works from local artists.

   The Tall & Small specializes in vegetarian food, but you can get great sandwiches with turkey, ham, grilled cheese etc. as well as their own homemade soup and combos of both. We've eaten here a lot and never been disappointed.

Finish your meal with coffee and one of the original cookies or date bars. Having grown up with fig newtons in the States, I thought I'd died and gone to heaven when I tasted these. And they're healthy, right?

Dragon Fly Cafe

There are several great restaurants in the Antigonish area and this is one of the best if you're interested in breakfast or lunch or a coffee for the road. Located right on the Trans-Canada Highway just east of Antigonish in Lower South River, it's easy to find (and convenient for our long road trips back to Boston - always the first stop along the way).

The Dragon Fly people make their own homemade muffins, scones, and cookies - and they sell bags of day-old products (my favorite for a road trip). However, you should stay for a regular meal as well as the breakfasts are unbeatable and the service is great.

The Dragon Fly is mostly a breakfast and lunch establishment, but they do have a dinner menu and they host occasional evening events. Check their website for more detail on hours and menus.

There are many reasons we like this place, but one is that the dragonfly reminds us of our nephew Charlie, for this was his symbol. The sign on the Dragon Fly plaque above the cash register reads, Symbolizes going past self-created illusions that limit our changing and growing.

The Bayside Cafe

A great place for breakfast when you drive up into Cape Breton! These ladies serve up the best baked goods in an atmosphere that makes you feel like you're home (or at your grandmother's house!). 

Check out these biscuits. They also serve scones, muffins, full breakfasts, soups, sandwiches, and pies. Always hospitable.

The Bayside Cafe is located on the main road up the center of Cape Breton (9657 Trans-Canada Hwy 105) in Whycocomagh in Cape Breton, just about 30 minutes after the Canso Causeway and on the way to Baddeck.

St. Pierre, Cape Breton

It's easy to waste a day doing nothing in Nova Scotia. We spent one day in St. Pierre, a little town on the main road from the Canso Causeway to Syndey.  "Little" means no stoplight and a one-lane bridge on the main route.

Cape Breton is a mix of peoples and St. Pierre is evidence. Once named San Pedro, then St. Pierre, Cape Breton also hosts Irish (Gaelic) and Scots as well. The music here is fantastic.


St. Pierre is best known for the small canal that links the Bras D'Or Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean. They're not really lakes, but large inland seas with salt water. But the lakes are protected, so there are few waves and only a small tide. This is a sea kayakers' paradise.

We visited Battery Park, one of the many Provincial parks in Nova Scotia, which lies along both sides of the canal. Campers park along the seacoast and picnic areas with tables line the canal. The park warden was a very helpful college student.

The local lobster boats park right in the canal, since the waters are protected. Most of the fisherman are done checking their traps by noon. We could see them unloading crates of live lobster to the refrigerated trucks, which would take them to market and someone's table that night. Of course, you can buy lobster right off the boats if you want (cheap).

The canal has a system of locks so boats can get in and out of the lake.  Here the seaside locks are closed and the lakeside locks are open in the distance.
Looks like this is also a great place for fishing.





We're always on the lookout for good fish and chips. Believe it or not, Chubby's in St. Pierre's wins the prize for us. Best we've had yet.