ByWard Market (1826), the Original BeaverTails Kiosk, Sussex Drive & Kìwekì Point

Laid out in 1826 by Lieutenant-Colonel John By right beside the Rideau Canal locks as the commercial market town for canal builders and lumberjacks, the four-by-four-block grid of the ByWard Market is one of the oldest and largest public markets in Canada, and the daytime and evening social hub of Ottawa.

1. Three Essential Stops Inside the ByWard Market Grid

1. The Original 'BeaverTails' Kiosk (Corner of William & George Streets) & The 'Obama Cookie': using a family recipe handed down from Grant Hooker's German-Canadian grandmother, BeaverTails launched at the Ottawa fairgrounds in 1978 and opened its very first permanent kiosk right here on William Street in 1980. Order the classic Killaloe Sunrise, a hand-stretched, whole-wheat pastry fried crisp in canola oil and dusted with cinnamon, sugar and a squeeze of fresh lemon. Then step inside the central 1927 ByWard Market Building (55 ByWard Market Sq) to visit Moulin de Provence Bakery, where President Barack Obama stopped impromptu in February 2009 to buy a shortbread maple-leaf cookie while praising the country (now sold by the thousands as the 'Obama Cookie').
2. The Giant Block-Letter Ottawa Sign (On York Street at Sussex Drive): take your photo at the giant colourful block letters, cleverly designed so that when you photograph them from the west looking toward the market they spell Ottawa, and from the east they read in mirror-image.
3. The Hidden 19th-Century Stone Courtyards (Clarendon Lanes, Tin House & Jeanne d'Arc): between Sussex Drive and Dalhousie Street run four secret, pedestrian-only limestone carriage passages connecting historic 1840s stone buildings. Look up in Tin House Court to see the gleaming hammered-sheet-tin folk-art facade created by metalsmith Honoré Foisy.

2. Walking 'Sussex Drive' ('The Mile of History') to Newly Reopened 'Kìwekì Point'

Bordering the western edge of ByWard Market runs prestigious Sussex Drive, home to the Royal Canadian Mint, the US Embassy, the National Gallery of Canada, the Prime Minister's residence (24 Sussex) and Rideau Hall. Right behind the National Gallery, walk across the soaring new Pìdàban Pedestrian Bridge onto newly transformed Kìwekì Point (formerly Nepean Point): perched high atop the riverside cliff beside the statue of Samuel de Champlain holding his astrolabe, its Whispering Point shelter commands the top elevated sunset view over Parliament Hill, the Alexandra Bridge and the Ottawa River.