Toronto: Truly global

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View of downtown Toronto.
View of downtown Toronto.

Walking up one of Toronto’s many tree-lined avenues and gazing at a skyline of towering glass buildings, it’s easy to get an impression that this modern city of 4 million – and growing – is a testament to resilience and tolerance.

Toronto is an accommodating metropolis, home to many peoples and cultures, who immigrated to Canada and chose this city over so many others as their home in North America. Many came here fleeing injustice overseas, others worse still, conflicts and discrimination.

An example of resilience and the enterprising sprit of Torontonians is Chinatown, extending along Spadina Ave. and only a few blocks from the provincial seat of Ontario’s parliament, Queen’s Park. In Chinatown, storefronts are stacked high with exotic fruits and vegetables, market stalls trading in South Asian rice, and even the country’s leading banks have their names boldly displayed in Mandarin and Cantonese.

Even though the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) counts with 8 million inhabitants, the central parts of the city are more of a cluster of small villages, each with their ethnic diversity represented in markets and specific places with lots of “Little” adjectives, such as Italy, Greece, Poland, Korea, among so many others. Of course, all these neighborhoods offer the best gastronomy from their lands of origin. You have choice: from cooked on the premises recipes to high-end cuisine, such as the Moroccan themed Sultan’s Tent and a nouveau Mexican, El Cantrin (18 Tank House Ln.), run by one of Mexico City’s top chefs, Olivier Le Calvez. Dining out is an especially popular pastime for Torontonians, often before heading out on the town to hear an indy concert on Bloor Street or classical at the acoustically rich Roy Thompson Hall. Then, you have a diverse sports culture, with Toronto based teams, Raptors for basketball and Leafs for ice hockey.

Given the marked seasons, Toronto is a city that strives to keep tourists and locals entertained. With major urban renewal underway in the eastern docklands, near the Don Valley, ahead of the 2015 Pan American games, many once abandoned areas, are home to trendy coffee shops, artisanal chocolate makers and designer boutiques. One such district, the Distillery District, is a very popular meeting place for city dwellers as well as out-of-towners, who can spend an afternoon sipping on lattes or going for a Mill Street Ale at one of the city’s niche microbreweries (21 Tankhouse Ln). Or test you skills maneuvering a two-wheel Segway (Segway Tours of Ontario), as your dart from interior design shop to art gallery.

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As a world-class city, Toronto has built a world-class reputation with its hospitality industry. From business professionals visiting Canada’s largest city and staying in the many five star hotels which grace the downtown such as the senatorial Fairmont Royal York, to the Hollywood celebrity seen dining at ‘Remys’ in the very Victorian enclave of Yorkville, and the upscale neighbor- hood, where many of the Toronto Film Festival (TIFF) after-screening parties are held. A few blocks from trend- setting Yorkville are the gothic Col- leges of the University of Toronto, the sharped-angled Daniel Libeskind addition to the Royal Ontario Museum and some of the city’s best shopping. For big brands and labels, head to the city’s Time Square equivalent, Dundas Square next to the glass enclosed Eaton Center.

No trip to Toronto is complete without visiting the imposing landmark and one of the tallest man-made structures in the world: the CN Tower. Looming over the city, and seen from almost every vantage point, the CN Tower skyrockets visitors up in 58 seconds to the Look Out level, with breathtaking views of the downtown core, the Toronto Island as well as the blue waters of Lake Ontario. After walking, if one dares, across a glass floor, pull up a seat at the CN Tower’s 360 Restaurant, where Canadian dishes are served with Maple-inspired culinary flair.

From conservative to casual, to down right alternative, Toronto is a city with an edge. Queen Street West bustles with its bohemia while the nearby Entertainment District on John Street offers the after work executives an energetic club scene with eclectic venues such a ping pong bar Spin Galactic, and for beer with bowling, the Ballroom Bowl.

With the origin of its name rooted in the Mohawk phrase for the “meeting place,” Toronto has stayed the course, evolving in its short, and inspiring history, into a global powerhouse of ideas, invention and cultural expressions. Few cities can tell a story like Toronto’s story. Even fewer still, one so grounded in respect for peoples and heritage. But above all, Toronto is a city one will always, proudly, call “home.”

* This article was made possible thanks to an invitation from Air Canada and Toronto Tourism. Air Canada offers direct service with 4 flights a week between Bogotá and Toronto. 

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