History comes alive at popular tourist spots

HALIFAX, Nova Scotia — Standing atop a grassy embankment inside the thick granite walls of the Citadel, we were treated to an astounding panorama of the city's downtown area and, beyond it, Halifax Harbor — the second-largest natural deep-water harbor in the world. (For fans of "Jeopardy!," Sydney, Australia, has the largest.)

The huge fortress, which sits on a hill, took three decades to build in the mid-1800s and once served as the heart of this port city's fortifications. It was built to deter assaults on the city in the event of war with a number of would-be foes — including a certain neighboring country to the south.

Outside its walls is a deep ditch, and cannon openings spaced along the wall would allow gunners to fire down on anyone foolhardy enough to get too close.

"And one reason for the fort's star shape is that troops could catch any attackers in a nice crossfire down below," explained our young tour guide.

The Citadel, a national historic site, is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Canada.

Our guide, a college student, was a living-history re-enactor portraying a member of the 78th Highland Regiment, a famous Scottish unit of the British Army, which was stationed at the Citadel in the late 1860s. He cut quite the dashing figure in his MacKenzie tartan kilt and bright red doublet.

When not showing visitors around the fort, the Highlanders perform precision drills in the Citadel's gravel courtyard, while the unit's bagpipers and drummers, dressed in contrasting green uniforms, parade around periodically, entertaining visitors with martial marching tunes.

Across the way, on another part of the fort's ramparts, re-enactors dressed in what looked like blue bellhop uniforms were busy with their own ceremony — preparing to fire the noon cannon, a daily tradition that's been continued 364 days a year (all but Christmas Day) for nearly 150 years. Though no cannon balls are used, the concussion from the daily blast was occasionally known to shatter windows in town, so a few years ago the explosive charge was cut back. But there's still enough noise to make adults wince and small children cry when the cannon is fired.

Halifax was one of two Canadian ports of call during a four-day summer cruise out of New York City on Carnival Cruise Lines' MS Victory. The other stop was at Saint John, New Brunswick.