Alberta

 

When we crossed the border between British Columbia and Alberta we didn’t get the feeling that we’re in another landscape. The beauty of untouched nature, high mountains, many turquoise lakes and valleys with rivers and streams, continued. We stopped on some picturesque spots and enjoyed in the beautiful nature. We rarely met a local and we saw a tourist or two on our way. The loneliness gives this part of the world a special charm. We never felt so lonely, even though we were used to having no phone signal. You can only get the signal in large places and in tourist centres. We rented a car and drove through many mountain passes, valleys, national parks and the landscape completely changed in a short amount of time. We weren’t looking at high mountains anymore, but at an endless flatland. We descended from the high mountains really quickly and we were surrounded by flatland with highly developed agriculture. The mountains were slowly disappearing behind us and the flatland was surrounding us. It was also a surprise, we aren’t really used to seeing nice fields everywhere around us. Here and there the monotony is cut down by abandoned carriages, barns, bales and the skyscraper-city. The lowest point’s altitude is 152 metres and the highest is 3747 metres high mountain so again, it is a country of contrasts. 

 

The biggest surprise in this endless flatland is the quickest growing city in Canada, Calgary. The biggest city of Alberta is Edmonton but Calgary is definitely more popular.  The city lies about 280 kilometres south from the capital Edmonton. The surroundings of the city is very agriculturally developed, big farms are in majority. Most of the people live in the city, the rural region is purposed for agriculture. We stumbled upon a surprise again, as we saw the skyscrapers, rising from the endless flatland. It is a very tidy city with many skyscrapers in the city centre, pretty, green streets that are stretching around the centre. To see the mightiness of the city a little bit better, we visited an observation tower and saw all the big skyscrapers and even the flatlands, surrounding the city. 

 

 

The agriculture is very developed and we can see that they use every piece of land they have. And the information that they have around 3 million head of cattle only confirms that. Almost half of Canadian cattle is bred in Alberta. They don’t breed only cattle, they also breed bison. They also breed small cattle. And they also grow wheat and rape. Because of the climate there is a problem with drought, which they solve with irrigation. Alberta is one of the most successful parts of Canada as they also produce a lot of honey. The province is the leading province in apiculture in Canada. The northern part of the province has a lot of forests, which they also put in use. The paper industry is developed in that area.

 

 

There are a lot of cheap and great accommodation. In Calgary, I recommend hostel Calgary City Centre, closer to the mountains is hostel in Kanaskis, hostel Banff Alpine Centre in the national park Banff and hostel in the national park Jasper.