- This Canadian city is truly cosmopolitan, has a quite curious history, and even its own castle.

Welcome to Toronto.

(upbeat music) "Curious Traveler" is made possible by the following.

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(bright music) - [Narrator] When you travel with us, you are not the typical tourist.

(bright piano music) - This proudly cosmopolitan city has a population which speaks more than 200 languages.

It is known as Canada's downtown and it's got one really big tower.

It is time to get curious about Toronto.

(exciting orchestral music) Here's what I'm curious about in Toronto.

Who built a 98-room European fairytale castle in Canada?

And what do street lights have to do with it?

What does a windmill have to do with a Canadian empire?

Where can you find secret underground tunnels in Toronto?

Why is this shop and this synagogue so important to Toronto's history?

When did hockey become a Canadian obsession and what does this bank have to do with it?

And how did Toronto get its name?

And seriously, what's the correct way to say it?

Who, what, where, why, when and how?

So much to be curious about in Toronto.

(bright music) Toronto was first home to indigenous peoples for thousands of years.

Europeans first arrived in the 17th century, partly because of the lucrative fur trade.

That is why to this day you will see a beaver on the city crest of Toronto.

Then, Toronto becomes part of the British colonies.

For markers of those days, simply look up at the street signs.

There's Yonge Street for the 18th century British Secretary of War, and Simcoe Street for British Lieutenant Governor John Graves Simcoe.

And he was kind of important because he chose the location for the capital of upper Canada and named it Toronto.

Or did he?

Here is the famous Toronto sign here in downtown, of course, on top of an ice skating rink.

The name Toronto is believed to come from the First Nation's phrase for where you find trees in water.

But did you know that Toronto wasn't always named Toronto?

In fact, for a while there, it was called York.

But as we all know, New York had kind of staked claim to that name long before.

So here is the curious history of how Toronto became Toronto.

So yes, Simcoe did name Toronto, Toronto at first.

But then a few years later, he renamed it York.

Why?

Well for the Duke of York and basically to make the city more British.

- [Man] Hello.

- That's why today we have the neighborhood of Yorkville in Toronto and the York rose on that Toronto coat of arms.

But there was a teeny tiny problem.

There was this place in America called New York and it was kind of a big deal.

So by comparison, the York here in Canada started to be called Little York and, worst still, Muddy York, and nobody liked that.

So the original name of Toronto was restored in 1834 and has been thus ever since.

But there's one more thing.

A surefire way to let on that you are a tourist is to say Toronto.

Locals say Toronto.

They don't pronounce that second T. You can even get that pronunciation on a t-shirt.

(bright orchestral music) We begin our curious journey into Toronto at a giant symbol of Toronto.

You kind of can't miss it.

It was once the tallest freestanding structure in the world: the CN Tower.

At more than 1800 feet high, the CN Tower is a communications tower and a top tourist attraction.

But do you know what the CN stands for?

Well, for that, you have to look not at the top but at the bottom and see that the tower is surrounded by railways, the Canadian National Railway.

So that's where we get CN from, Canadian National.

And this also gives us a clue into Toronto's curious history.

In the 1800s, Canada was still considered the wilderness.

But all that changed when the railway came through.

Majestic railway hotels, like the Royal York, lured the Victorian well-to-do to take the daring trip across the wilds of Canada.

And just across from the Royal York Hotel is another beautiful piece of Toronto's railway history.

This is the beautiful Union Station looking more like a Greek or Roman temple than a train station.

Its origins go back to 1858 and once helped to connect Toronto with the rest of Canada through the Canadian Pacific Railway.

And way back before all these noisy cars and traffic were out front, this was quite the elegant and grand gateway into the city.

(bright orchestral music) Speaking of elegant, a few decades after the railway and Union Station were built, Toronto was developing into an economic powerhouse of the British empire, so it needed a city hall as sophisticated as it was.

So for that, we head back over to our wonderful Toronto sign.

Or is it Toronto?

For the sleek, ultramodern city hall, built in the 1960s, looking like two Crescent moons stretching up to the sky.

But strangely it's not the only city hall in Toronto.

It's not even the only city hall on this block.

Here in the heart of Toronto, you will find something quite curious; not just one, but two city halls.

This one behind me is known as Old City Hall and was opened in 1899.

It has this gorgeous architecture, a soaring clock tower, and my favorite part, all of these really wonderful gargoyles that are practically leaping off the side of the building.

The architect was a Toronto native named Edward James Lennox, and he is also known for another curious building.

Yes, E.J.

Lennox designed many of the important buildings of Toronto, mostly in the Richardsonian Romanesque style.

Say that three times fast.

(bright music) Next, from an old city hall to an old windmill that started a Canadian empire.

What began as a windmill in the wilderness went on to become one of the largest distilleries in the world.

Gooderham and Worts was founded in 1832 and at one point was producing more than 2 million gallons of whiskey right here in Toronto to then be exported around the world.

In the early 1800s, brothers-in-law William Gooderham and James Worts left England to seek their fortunes in the British colonies of Canada.

Why did they decide to make bread first?

They sort of flipped a coin and said, "We'll make money doing that."

- It was one of the things that was in need at the time.

They started to make flour and then a few years later they realized there's a lot more opportunity and money to make when they made the whiskey.

- That's right, all from a simple windmill which became the symbol of Toronto, kind of the CN Tower of its day.

From that windmill to the largest distillery in the British empire, their whiskey was shipped all around the world through the Saint Lawrence River and that railway that just happened to run right beside the distillery.

(train chugging) Today the Distillery District is a national historic site with a curious history that has something to do with flappers, gangsters, and all that jazz.

Prohibition.

I think a lot of people know or think they know the history of prohibition in the US, but it was happening in Canada as well, but just in a different way.

How was prohibition enforced or not enforced here in Canada?

- So we were still allowed to produce the alcohol because we were paying excise tax, right?

So the government still enjoyed the tax money from that production, but we just couldn't sell in the local market.

- So Gooderham and Worts could still export and in fact made a huge profit during prohibition.

So were there speakeasies and things here in Toronto?

- Oh, that's right.

- Same as Chicago and other places.

- And doctors could prescribe it as a medicine, so that was another way.

So people found ways to consume alcohol and- - People always find a way.

(laughs) - Right, exactly.

- And the Gooderham empire found a way to grow and grow, so big, in fact, they built a fancy new headquarters.

(bright music) So next, from secret speakeasies to secret underground tunnels, we now move from the Distillery District to the Financial District.

The Gooderham empire became so big that they built a new corporate headquarters.

It is this beautiful building behind me that was built in the 1890s.

Now the location was chosen because this used to be the heart of downtown Toronto and the Gooderham's bank was conveniently right across the street.

Now, if the shape of the building looks familiar, you're right.

It is the Flatiron building, and as people in Toronto like to remind us, the original Flatiron, because the one in New York City wasn't built until about a decade later.

Legend has it that there was a tunnel between the Flatiron and Gooderham's Bank.

That's right.

Gooderham became so wealthy from the whiskey business that he also became president of the Bank of Toronto.

His bank once stood right here.

But why the tunnel?

Legend says he simply didn't want to risk being seen carrying all his loot from his office to his bank.

Stroll around the backside and you will see the most beautiful curiosity of all, the Flatiron mural, with the wonderful trompe-l'oeil effect where the wall seems to be fluttering away.

(bright music) And just down the street from the Flatiron building is another bit of curious Toronto history, the St. Lawrence Market.

And this history is tasty.

(jaunty music) St. Lawrence Market is not to be missed.

While New York City and Chicago are known for their pizzas, Montreal for its poutine, here in Toronto, it's gotta be the peameal bacon sandwich at Carousel Bakery, a Toronto favorite for years.

- Let's just say it's a popular sandwich.

- (laughs) I bet.

But that's just the beginning of the tasty treats to be found here.

The bustling shops and stalls and tasty delights all carry on the tradition of the beautiful St. Lawrence Market, established here in the early 19th century.

Where we're standing, once upon a time we may have gotten our feet wet if we were standing here.

Where are we standing right now?

- We are standing in the landfill of Toronto.

We would've been on a shipping dock and this dock would've been right in Lake Ontario.

And it was on this dock back in the 1840s, you would've gone to Rochester across the lake and gone down to New York City.

You would've taken the Erie Canal.

You would've gone from here to get to Europe.

- I love that we're talking about this spot in the waterways because it's the geography of Toronto and the fact that it's on the waterfront and how you get out to the Atlantic Ocean that really made the history, shaped its prosperity, its everything.

- Absolutely.

And then I think our American cousins, they always talk about how the Erie Canal changed your history.

It changed our history also.

- Next, from mighty waterways and tiny tasty treats to, wait.

Is that yet another city hall?

You say that was city hall?

Now we've seen Old City Hall, 1899, same block as the new city hall.

- Oh my goodness.

- This is a third?

How many city halls?

(laughs) - Well, this was actually the first one.

- Oh, okay.

The very first one.

- First built city hall.

- This whole facade here.

- And there would've been a big clock tower on top and two wings on either side, but that was demolished.

- Fortunately, the entrance was spared and was incorporated into the market.

It's a grand entrance.

- Beautiful, absolutely.

Because they never saved anything a hundred years ago.

They rarely save anything historic today.

But back then, that was a real thing was to save the old city hall.

- And isn't it wonderful that they did.

(jaunty music) Next, for St. Lawrence Market and in many food markets throughout Toronto's history, it was the immigrants who often worked the shops, provided unique cuisines, and preserved their cultures in their own neighborhoods.

In fact, Toronto to this day prides itself on being a truly multicultural city.

Its motto is Diversity is Our Strength.

And all you have to do is look at a map to find the proof, with neighborhoods like Little Italy, Little Portugal, and Little Tibet.

(upbeat music) One of the largest cultural neighborhoods in Toronto is Chinatown.

This is actually Toronto's second Chinatown.

In the 1950s, the original was torn down to make way for that new city hall.

Then this one, also known as Chinatown West, developed soon after.

And is this kind of a typical- - Yeah, so this is Hua Sheng.

It's one of the supermarkets that's located here in Chinatown.

And what I love about the supermarkets in Chinatown is that, again, you get a lot of really eclectic fruits and veggies, things that aren't in typical North American supermarkets, so it's a lot of fun to shop here.

This is a typical jackfruit.

There we go.

- Oh my goodness!

- Right?

- Where in the world does this grow?

That's heavy.

- That is heavy.

(both laughing) - I can do my squats while I'm standing here.

When Chinatown was first established in 1900, these items would've been considered quite exotic.

All right, sweetsop.

- Yeah, so a sweetsop- - Sweetsop.

- Has a nice, kind of like creamy texture to it and it tastes like a custard.

So once you peel all of that away, you get right to the core of it and that's where you get all your flavor from.

- And I love learning about these things, whether it's food or something else and you think who was the first person in ancient times that said, "Ooh, this thing that looks like a pine cone- - Oh, totally, right?

- I'm sure it's delicious.

- Yeah.

Let's dissect that and get right to the heart of it, yeah.

- Throughout Chinatown, there are wonderful restaurants and curious little shops.

But there seems to be one very important thing missing.

Other China towns we visited.

I don't wanna say all of them, some of them have a really grand gate, like the Millennium Gate, I think, in Vancouver.

Here it's a little twist on it.

It's still gate, but it's a little twist.

- Correct.

So we have a statue that's right behind us here and the characters of the statue spell out the gate.

So it's actually called The Gateway and that's our entrance to Chinatown.

- That's right.

Look closely and you will see that these two winding dragons form the Chinese characters that spell out gate.

(upbeat music) Just next to Chinatown is another unique neighborhood.

Today it kind of looks like hippie headquarters, with bright and brilliant murals livening up narrow streets.

But it is really known for having just about every type of restaurant you can think of.

You, as a foodie, and being in the great foodie neighborhood.

- There's so much in Kensington Market.

So when it comes to food, really it is a representation of everything that Toronto stands for.

- But as tasty as all that is, that is not what makes Kensington Market so curious.

These lovely Victorian houses are the clue to Kensington's rich history.

First, this area was a 100 acre private estate.

Then small plots were sold to British and Irish immigrants who gave British names to these streets, like Oxford and Kensington.

(upbeat music) Later, Eastern European Jewish immigrants moved in and it was those Jewish families that really left a stamp on this beautiful neighborhood, creating an old world marketplace of sorts by opening shops out of the first floor of their homes.

It's kind of perfect that we're standing in front of a good old fashioned food market, 'cause that kind of speaks to the origin of the area.

How did this all start?

So it was originally known as the Jewish Market, and it was kind of a work-live space.

They weren't able to really do commerce with other people outside of their own community.

And so a lot of the houses, the lower level of them, were converted into stores and that's how the market sort of started from there.

- And over time, Kensington Market became the home for many immigrants from around the world.

It was finally named a national historic site in 2005.

Going back to its origins as a Jewish neighborhood, do we still have any temples or synagogues that are still here today?

- Yeah.

So originally in the heyday there were about like 30 synagogues and now there are still two that are remaining.

- This is one of those two, the Kiever Synagogue, built in 1927 by Ukrainian immigrants.

It still holds services today and stands proudly as a reminder of Kensington Market's rich history.

(bright music) Next, from an important synagogue to a cathedral of sorts dedicated to Canada's favorite pastime.

Or should we say favorite obsession?

So as we've learned, Toronto is known for its history, its multi-ethnic neighborhoods, and its tasty peameal bacon sandwich.

But a true Torontonian has a near obsession with a certain winter sport, which makes it no surprise that I'm standing inside the cathedral of hockey.

This gorgeous stained glass dome tells us that this must have been a church, right?

Nope, it was a bank.

But now it is something even more curious: The Hockey Hall of Fame.

(audience cheers) The Hockey Hall of Fame stores the world's largest collection of hockey memorabilia.

Hockey is in Canada's DNA, I think.

But who really invented it?

The origins possibly go back to ancient Greece.

Later, the Irish used a shepherd's crook to whack a ball.

And doesn't a crook look pretty darn close to a hockey stick?

In fact, the word hockey comes from the French word Hoquet, meaning shepherd's crook.

Much later, when the Irish and British came to Canada, the game took to the ice and by the late 1800s, ice hockey was fast becoming Canada's most popular sport.

Here at the The Hockey Hall of Fame, so many wonderful different bits of memorabilia and things to see.

Nothing really beats the Stanley Cup.

- No, it is something special.

I mean, even when you see it for the first time, I've seen grown men walk up into the- - They probably cry.

(laughs) - They do.

They tear up.

When you see it for the first time, it's a magnificent trophy.

- I love it.

And where this Canadian treasure is stored is very fitting: the original bank vault.

But why is it called the Stanley Cup?

Well, it was named for Lord Stanley, the sixth governor general of Canada.

But it wasn't because Lord Stanley himself played this uber macho manly game.

- His daughter Isabel really took to the game of hockey when it was new in Canada, but it became very popular very quickly.

So she said to her dad, "Wouldn't it be neat to have a cup to play for?"

- [Host] And this is that original cup.

- If you look really closely into the grooves and into the edges, you'll see players start to scratch their names into it.

- Oh, that's what that is.

- Yeah.

So they scratch their names into- - So it's like graffiti almost, even though they earned it.

From a humble cup to all this.

To even have a Hockey Hall of Fame, obviously hockey had to have grown to what it is now.

Why is hockey such a big deal here?

- I think it's just ingrained in our history somehow, in our daily life.

- And it's sort of like, well, you can walk.

Now here.

(laughs) Put some skates on and there you go.

(bright music) For our final curious stop, remember E.J.

Lennox who built Old City Hall?

Well, he certainly didn't stop there.

He also built a castle.

Yes, a castle.

And he built it for one curious Canadian named Sir Henry Pellatt.

Sir Pellatt helped to light the streets of Toronto for the very first time.

He made his fortune in electricity, the railroad, and in many other areas.

Then he spent that fortune on his dream home, this castle named Casa Loma.

Casa Loma has 98 rooms, 30 bathrooms, even its own internal telephone system.

- [Man] Hello.

- And it was said to be the largest house in all of Canada for a time.

And Sir Pellatt built it all for his wife, Mary.

Mary must have enjoyed the feminine and glamorous conservatory, with one-of-a-kind cast bronze doors.

While Sir Pellatt would've enjoyed the Scottish baronial style hall and both must have loved this 10,000 book library.

And no castle would be complete without an underground tunnel of course, and this one connects the castle to the horse stables across the street.

And wouldn't you know it?

Even the horses lived in luxury.

One story says that the horses' names were etched into their stalls in 18 caret gold.

No horses here today though, just some really beautiful vintage cars.

The magic lives on here at Casa Loma with thousands of visitors every year imagining what it would've been like to live in this curious castle.

And today it is a treasured Canadian landmark, a monument to a man who helped bring the light to Toronto.

(bright music) So from Toronto to York, to Muddy York, then back to Toronto, to a tower so high, named for a train track below that brought in industry and wealth to a once muddy city, that was lit and sparkled thanks to the ingenuity of a man who dreamt of a castle that was designed by another Toronto man who also designed a glorious city hall, on to a humble windmill which was the beginning of one of the mightiest and tastiest industries in Canada.

And there is more tastiness in a Chinatown with a curious gate, a Victorian market with a French name, and a flower powered neighborhood with a rich global history.

And finally, to top it all off a trophy that was started by a British Lord's daughter and is kept safely inside a bank vault and is revered by every true blooded Canadian.

Toronto has so much to be curious about.

Thank you for joining us on our educational journey, and hopefully now you're even more curious about the who, what, where, why, when and hows of curious Toronto.

As they say here, not goodbye from Toronto, but goodbye from Toronto.

(bright music) Curious traveler is made possible by the following.

(uplifting orchestral music) - [Narrator] At Regent Seven Seas Cruises, we believe that personal space is essential to the luxury travel experience.

With no more than 732 guests, our ships allow you to explore the world and discover the freedom of having space at sea.

- [Narrator] Over 300 tours across all seven continents.

Over 40 years of serving travelers.

You can experience effortless, fun vacations and authentic experiences with GET.

GETours.com.

- [Narrator] Windstar Cruises.

Intimate, private yacht-style cruises to the Mediterranean, Caribbean, Tahiti, and more.

We look forward to seeing you on board.

Windstarcruises.com.

(bright music) - [Narrator] When you travel with us, you are not the typical tourist.

- [Narrator] And closed captioning provided by TAP Air Portugal.

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