Fisgard Lighthouse, Esquimalt Harbour, Colwood, British Columbia, Canada

© davemantel/Getty Images

House of lights

Canada is the second-largest country by landmass after Russia, and every corner abounds in natural treasures—like the Great Bear Rainforest, the Northwest Passage, the Columbia Icefield or the Haida Gwaii archipelago—with 80% of its land being unoccupied. Looking out at the pleasant waters of Colwood's natural harbour is the Fisgard Lighthouse, seen here. The tower was the first lighthouse on the west coast of Canada, built on the Fisgard Island in the Esquimalt Harbour, British Columbia, in 1860. Automated since 1929, it displays a white isophase light with a 2-second period in a sector from 322° to 195°, at a height of 21.6 metres above mean sea level. In other directions, it features red shutters. The lighthouse, with its white tower standing 14.6 metres tall, is floodlit below the balcony level.