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travel / great places / cg recommends / stjohns
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St. John's, Newfoundland: Where it all begins
St. John's, Newfoundland, is where it
all begins. It is where the sun first rises over the continent. It is
also where I spent more than a dozen childhood vacations. In the summer,
we'd all pile into the car and make the three-day drive to Newfoundland
to see friends and family. Last fall, I rediscovered that St. John's
is truly a fabulous city on the edge.
The city, and North America for that matter, begins at Cape Spear (ABOVE),
the most easterly point on the continent and the closest you can get
to Europe. The cape's red and white lighthouse, once a beacon for ships
nearing the treacherous rocky shore, now stands marking the exact location
where you'll be almost literally blown away by the sight and sounds
of the waves crashing below.
In town, as
Newfoundlanders call the downtown area, there are museums, great fish
and chips, great bands, great theatre, and, of course, great people
-- probably the friendliest bunch in Canada. A stroll up one of the
city's old residential streets (I say "up" because the hilly
roads rival those of San Francisco) reveals rows of brightly coloured
wooden houses (RIGHT) and great vistas of the
harbour. And then there's Water Street, the oldest street in the oldest
city in North America, where you'll find pubs, book stores, antique
shops and stores selling CDs of Newfoundland's great musical acts.
Overlooking the city atop a 150-metre cliff is its most prominent landmark,
Signal Hill. You can drive to the top of Signal Hill from the visitors'
center below, but I always like to hike it, sometimes sneaking a few
black berries from the craggy ground below. There's a sense of accomplishment
as you make that wind-battered climb to where Marconi received the first
transatlantic radio signal and where local couples go for more than
just the view. When I was younger, I swore that I could see Ireland
from the top of the hill's Cabot Tower. Now, I simply marvel at the
magnificent city below.
Mary Vincent, Researcher
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