Looking West

I like this view from Gonzales Hill because while it is high enough to let you see what is ordinarily not visible such as the general shape of the landscape and the houses' roofs, it is also close enough to be intimate in that you can see the details on the houses, their sundecks and porches, sidewalks and the stairways they have built for shoreline access. In this photo we are looking westwards from the top of Gonzalez Hill, just in front of the the white observatory building posted here yesterday. Directly below is Gonzales Beach. In the distance on the right, Clover Point can be seen and beyond that on the horizon are the hills of Metchosin.

Gonzales Observatory

Though it is no longer used as an observatory, this building and the little hilltop park in which it is situated remains a favorite spot for me. It has some of the best views in the city and we'll take a look at them later in the week.

Gonzales Beach

Gonzales Beach is another favorite of mine. It consists of the shore of Foul Bay - not a very attractive name but here "Foul" refers to the nautical character of the bay as an unsafe anchorage due to the nature of the seafloor. Although it doesn't show much of the beach, I have chosen to use the photo above because it provides a good orientation to the location of the beach. On the eminence we can see the white Gonzales Observatory atop Gonzales Hill, which gives its name to both the observatory and the beach. A couple of years ago I posted this photo of the beach taken from the observatory should you wish to see what this intimate little beach looks like from above.

Above Gonzales Beach

Today was what I consider to be the "default" weather for Victoria in spring and summer - a nice sunny, blue-sky day - so I decided to try to get up above the city and have a look around. In this photo we are looking down on Gonzales Beach from Gonzales Hill. Gonzales Hill has interesting views in several directions and we'll spend a little more time up there next week.

View from Gonzales Hill

While the Gonzales Observatory (pictured here yesterday) is itself worth a trip to the top of Gonzales Hill, the view is spectacular. Here, with the observatory behind us we are looking out over Foul Bay (left foreground) with Ross Bay beyond. The mountains barely visible on the left are the Olympics across the strait in the USA. The dark blue hills on the right background are in Metchosin, further along the west coast of Vancouver Island.

Gonzales Observatory

Like lighthouses, observatories are similarly appealing to photographers. Like Gonzales Observatory above, usually they are perched on the very peak of some eminence and they are interestingly shaped and domed. Whenever I visit this particular little observatory I am inevitably reminded of those classic sunbaked white villages of the Greek Mediterranean coast. Gonzales has not been in use as an observatory for many years and now serves as an office for The Land Conservancy which has been managing this site and others of historical and ecological significance in the province.

Gonzales Observatory and Gonzales Bay

I am still engaged in another project but I also realized this morning that I have not fully exploited my sunrise trip to Gonzales Hill Park a few weeks ago. Above is another shot of the observatory that I like and below is a view of Gonzales Bay (directly below) with Clover Point further back. The background mountains (on the left) are the Olympic Peninsula in the USA. This view is almost identical to one I took about 15 months ago.

Gonzales Observatory III

The old observatory building itself is reason enough to visit Gonzales Hill but the views are also worth seeing. Here we are looking west with Gonzales Bay directly below. Gonzales Bay has a nice little sandy beach. The bay is at the bottom of Foul Bay Road. I think Foul Bay was the former name of this bay but this name is passing out of favour because the current meaning of foul is rotten or smelly. I suspect when the bay was first named it was from the nautical meaning describing a seafloor where it was difficult to anchor. Local historians will please correct me if I'm wrong.

Gonzales Observatory II

The Gonzales Observatory (see yesterday's photo) always reminds me of the blue and white of Greek village photos we so often see in travel brochures. With its small dome it looks more like a little Orthodox cathedral than an observatory. Its steep stairways and elegant lines always inspire the minimalist in me. And much as I love the Rattenbury Legislative Assembly Buildings that I photograph so often, the classical simplicity of the observatory is a welcome antidote to their elaborate ornamentation.

Gonzales Observatory

Early this morning while the rest of you were rioting in swinish slumber I was out capturing both the moral and literal high ground. Spurred by a reminder from commenter Dean Lewis, I re-visited Gonzales Hill, which rises above Foul Bay and is capped by the splendid Gonzales Observatory. This is another of those sites like the Fisgard Lighthouse that looks striking from every angle and in every light. Above it catches the first rays of what promises to be another lovely summer day. Hope you have a good one.

Sunrise

Last year I missed the Swiftsure Sailing Races so this year I thought I'd get a real head start by being up at dawn and photographing the hundreds of sailboats from atop Gonzales Hill. I should have checked the time better because at that hour (around 6:30 am) there were no sailboats visible off Clover Point - the starting point of the races. It seems they don't gather until several hours later. Nevertheless, it was a beautiful morning and seeing the first rays of sun light up Foul Bay and the more distant Clover Point made it all worthwhile.

Gonzales Observatory

Today was a glorious, bright blue-sky day and I took advantage of it to ride to Gonzales Hill Park, Victoria's smallest regional park, situated atop Gonzales Hill in the Fairfield neighbourhood. On this rocky hilltop overlooking Gonzales Bay is the old observatory, built nearly one hundred years ago (1914). It is no longer in use as an astronomical observatory. However, it is being preserved as a heritage building and it does cap this hill beautifully. Below is a wider shot of the observatory.