In Edmonton: museums, gardens and a melting pot of cuisines

Edmonton, the capital of the province of Alberta, could mark the end of this journey. As the final outpost of civilisation along the route of the gold mined in the Yukon, this city – which has close ties to the Indigenous tribes that for centuries have hunted to trade their furs – has recently turned its focus to culture. This is evident from the presence of many interesting museums, from the Art Gallery of Alberta, which focuses on Canadian artists, to the Royal Alberta Museum, which houses a vast collection of artefacts that help visitors understand developments in natural history. The Telus World of Science is decidedly more interactive, whilst inside Fort Edmonton Park on the riverfront, visitors can gain an insight into what life was like at a nineteenth-century post station in pioneering 19th-century Canada. In summer, Sir Winston Churchill Square is the most picturesque spot from which to observe contemporary city life. Meanwhile, at the Muttart Conservatory botanical garden, visitors can embark on a whimsical journey through a series of pyramids, each dedicated to a different climate zone and its corresponding plant species. Architectural past and present converge at Block 1912, a café where you can sample Alberta’s diverse cuisine. At the tables of Three Boars, you can also savour the quality of local produce grown on farms just outside the city limits – a city that remains deeply devoted to the trains on which this Canadian adventure began. So, to round off your visit, there’s nothing better than stepping inside the legendary Alberta Railway Museum, which houses 75 locomotives, diesel and steam engines built between 1877 and 1950, treasured as if they were precious artefacts. After all, the railway has always been – and still is – the ultimate key to discovering the mountains, valleys and lakes of extraordinary Canada.