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Home - City Guide - Calgary - Sightseeing | ||
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Sightseeing No matter how tall Calgary's mirrored-glass skyscrapers are built or how dense the modern city centre becomes, the snow-capped, jagged Rocky Mountains in the distance seem always to steal Calgary's thunder. Situated at the confluence of the Bow and Elbow Rivers, Calgary strikes the visitor as a place of natural beauty with the mountains to the west and rolling fields of wheat to the east - a better location for a city seems almost unimaginable. Calgary's most identifiable man-made attraction is the Calgary Tower, a space-age sightseeing structure built in 1968 and located at the heart of the city centre. Across the street is the Glenbow Museum, three floors of galleries celebrating the Canadian west, including an excellent exhibition on Native Canadians. A short distance northwest, Eau Claire Market is a refreshing mall with cafÉs, bars, an IMAX theatre and craft market. To the east, St George's Island stands in the Bow River and is home to Calgary's most popular tourist attraction, the Calgary Zoo, Botanical Gardens and Prehistoric Park. North of Calgary's downtown, the city's conservative façade is broken by the more alternative Kensington, a place where interest shifts to trendy bars and restaurants, health-food stores, cafÉs and bookshops. Tourist Information Calgary Convention and Visitors Service Centre Calgary Tower, 101 Ninth Street Southwest Tel: (403) 263 8510 or (800) 661 1678. Fax: (403) 262 3809. E-mail: destination@visitor.calgary.ab.ca Web site: www.tourismcalgary.com Opening hours: Daily 0800-2000. Passes Discount coupons are available in the VIP Book distributed at tourist information centres and at the Calgary Tower. |