Casa Loma, Toronto, Canada with City Pass

I spent 3 weeks in Canada last year, in Hamilton and had only 3 days in Toronto before flying home to Dubai, with so much to see and do I opted to purchase the Toronto City Pass, which gave me entry to 5 locations around the city, sadly the Zoo was too far out of the City in the limited time I had to visit, but I did manage to get to visit Casa Loma once I'd navigated the transport system from near the airport, where I was staying, by bus and train, I found Casa Loma easily, the directions in the City Pass were very helpful. Although it did involve a medium length walk up hill from the subway.

Casa Loma is North America's only full sized castle and a premier historical site in Toronto. Designed by architect E J Lennow in 1911 by Sir Henry Pellatt. It is an Edwardian Castle that took 300 men, 3 years to build. It covers 200,000 square feet and cost $3,500,000 to build and sits in 5 acres of land.

On arrival at Casa Loma you are directed down the stairs to collect an audio guide and a map, passing a cafe and well stocked gift shop, where you start the tour. Everything was well sign posted and there was lots of information available in several languages.

The tunnel that leads to the garage, stables and potting shed.

Dining room where many a function has taken place both then and now and there was a wedding photo shoot taking place the day I visited.

Originally designed as an indoor, heated pool, but never finished due to the Pellatt's financial difficulties.

The staircases were numerous, these are the ones leading to the servants quarters.

The Pellatt's had separate bedrooms.

The plumbing for the bathrooms looked quite modern.

Third floor full of military memorabilia.

Inside the tower.

I love a good mezzanine and this one was huge, can't help think about the heating bills though.

An exact replica of the Queen's Coronation Chair that sits in Westminster Abbey, carved by the choirboys in the 18th century.

You can see the Gardens of Casa Loma in a separate post with HDYGG? How does your garden grow?

The Gardens of Casa Loma, Toronto, Canada with City Pass and HDYGG?

In July 2015 I spent 3 days in Toronto, Canada on my own. I bought a Toronto City Pass to see the 5 major attractions Toronto has to offer, sadly the Zoo was too far out of the City in the limited time I had to visit, but I did manage to get to visit Casa Loma once I'd navigated the transport system from near the airport, where I was staying, by bus and train, I found Casa Loma easily, the directions in the City Pass were very helpful. Although it did involve a medium length walk up hill from the subway, but as you can see it was a beautiful walk. I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of greenery in Toronto.

The house is truly spectacular and you can read more about the history of it here.

The views of Toronto were stunning and you can see how green it all is.

The gardens were visible from all the windows over 3 floors.

You can see the CN Tower from the gardens.

It is summer in June and the flowers were in full bloom.

This archway led back into the house to the conservatory, which was spectacular. 

After a long walk through tunnels in the basement and passing through stables and garages I discovered the potting shed.

You can see how far away the house is from the potting shed.

I had the most amazing time in Toronto, which was part of a visit to see my very dear Penfriend Catherine or AlwaysARedhead on Social Media. I'd love to visit Canada again and see more of the beautiful countryside, but sadly it was a once in a life time trip. You can read more about the castle itself over here.

Next weeks post is Camping in the Wild in Algonquin and once I've finished all the posts I'll be linking them all up.