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Poor old SYDNEY , sprawling along the east bank of the Sydney River 430km from Halifax and 80km from Baddeck, was once the industrial dynamo of eastern Canada. From the late nineteenth century to the 1950s its steel mills processed Newfoundland iron ore with Nova Scotian coke, but as gas and oil came on stream this arrangement became uneconomic and the subsequent decline has been severe and long-lasting: the city has regularly recorded an unemployment rate twice the national average. It's hardly surprising, therefore, that the town lacks charm, though brave efforts have been made to reinvigorate the North End waterfront, along and around the Esplanade , downtown between Prince and Amelia streets. This is the district to head for and it's here you'll find Sydney's oldest buildings, including the early nineteenth-century St Patrick's Church , 87 Esplanade, a broadly Gothic structure that now holds a local history museum (June-Aug Mon-Sat 9.30am-5.30pm, Sun 1-5.30pm; donation). Nearby, the Cossit House , 75 Charlotte St (same details), was built for the town's first Anglican minister in 1787. Arriving from Baddeck and Halifax, long-distance Acadian Lines buses pull in to the bus station at 99 Terminal Rd off Prince Street, a good ten- to fifteen-minute walk from the Esplanade. There are several hotels along the Esplanade, with two good options being the Delta Sydney (tel 562-7500 or 1-800/268-1133; $100-125), a large and well-equipped chain hotel at no. 300, and the more basic Pauls Hotel (tel 562-5747; $40-60), in an old building on the corner of Pitt Street. The tourist office (tel 539-9876), on the edge of town beside Hwy 125 (Exit 6), has the list of all the town's accommodation and can also advise on local minibus services to the Cabot Trail. The leading company is Cape Breton Tours, 24 Kings Rd (tel 564-6200), who also shuttle visitors out to Louisbourg for $30 return. For car hire , contact Avis (tel 564-8341), who have a Sydney branch. Sydney's airport offers the shortest and least expensive (1-3 weekly; $290 return) flights from the mainland to St-Pierre et Miquelon : for details, contact Air St-Pierre (tel 562-3140) or Air Canada, its international partner. Finally, NORTH SYDNEY , 21km west of Sydney along Hwy 125, is the harbour for the Newfoundland ferry (tel 794-5254, www.marine-atlantic.ca ). Acadian Lines buses drop passengers near the ferry terminal on their way to and from Sydney and usually run to meet sailing times. Inside the ferry terminal building, there's a Newfoundland tourist office , which operates a room-reservation service for that province and has armfuls of free literature. North Sydney is itself unremarkable, but if for some reason you get stuck here there's a comfortable chain hotel, the Best Western North Star Inn , on the hill next to the ferry terminal at 39 Forrest St (tel 794-8581 or 1-800/561-8585; $80-100).
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