1 The Best of Newfoundland & Labrador You’ve done the Florida sun, the European tour, the Caribbean cruise, and the all-inclusive resort, but what you really want is something different. You want to experience something natural and untamed, to relax and rejuvenate without resorting to laziness. You want to create your own vacation memories, not reenact someone else’s itinerary. You yearn for a place unlike any other, somewhere that hasn’t been sanitized and packaged for official tourist consumption. Well, now you’ve found it: Newfoundland & Labrador, the Far East of the Western world. Here, in Canada’s youngest and most easterly province, untold adventure awaits your discovery. What’s around the next bend in the highway? Could it be a double rainbow? A breaching humpback? A glistening iceberg? A beaming lighthouse? There’s no script or schedule here, so you never know what you’ll find when you start to explore. The key word here is “explore”—some of your most treasured memories will be found on the roads less traveled. The rustic majesty that is Newfoundland & Labrador can be summed up in two words: “people” and “place.” Both are unforgettable. The inhabitants of this isolated locale are as real as it gets. They are unpretentious, thoughtful, and witty. They’ll charm you with their accents and their generous spirit. Though their lifestyle is neither opulent nor lavish, they will never hesitate to help a per- son in need. It comes from living in a harsh environment where a helping hand can make the difference between survival and some other, ugly, alternative. Newfoundland & Labrador’s landscape and its animal inhabitants are equally remarkable. There are fjords and mountain vistas of stunning beauty. Places where sky meets horizon in blazing color, and where stands of spruce flow in an evergreen sea. Here, salmon launch themselves against the current and traffic slows for road-hopping rabbits. It is a place where howling winds have blown trains off their track and arctic air chills your backbone. As any local will tell you, this is the most blessedly cursed union of land, sea, air, and sky in creation. Come here once, and you’ll have a perpetual longing to return. Up until the last decade, Newfoundland was virtually undiscovered as a tourist destination. Even most Canadians hadn’t been to “the Rock.” But over the past 10 years, the province has put great effort into promoting itself through- out North America and on the global stage. Newfoundland & Labrador has only recently revealed itself to the world as an exciting destination. So be patient as you make your way throughout Newfoundland & Labrador, understanding that tourism is a new industry for the province and that services are not as abundant as they are in certain other locales. And really, isn’t that why you’re coming here in the first place? Note: The following pages are designed to give you a quick overview of the best Newfoundland & Labrador has to offer. Wherever possible, I have included at least one attraction per category for every region of the province. 2 CHAPTER 1 . THE BEST OF NEWFOUNDLAND & LABRADOR Moments A Contagious Spirit This is a true story about the potent influence of the Newfoundland character. While traveling on a Toronto subway, a family of four were chatting amongst themselves. Their lilting Irish-English accents signaled that they were obviously from Newfoundland, as did their friendly smiles and greetings to fellow commuters. Surprisingly, that jaded throng of usually sullen subway riders smiled back. Some even nodded in return. It wasn’t long before someone asked if they were from Newfoundland. The affirmative response encouraged the stranger to ask if they were on vacation, and if they had yet seen a Toronto Blue Jays baseball game. Hearing that they hadn’t, he explained that his company had season tickets set aside for its employees. He said no one was using the tickets for the next day’s game, and offered them to the Newfoundland family because they had brightened up his day. He then gave them his business card so they could arrange to pick up the tickets later that evening. A whole subway car full of people actually took the time to acknowledge each other as individuals, one of them even extending his hand in a spon- taneous act of generosity, all because a small group of Newfoundlanders had followed their natural instinct to greet their fellow travelers. 1 The Best Travel Experiences • Walk the streets of St. John’s: St. unforgettable marriage proposal. John’s is one of the most interest- Find your inner romantic; see ing and visually exciting cities I’ve chapter 3, p. 64. ever been to. The city is relatively • Put the wind in your sails on small, and many of the top sights board the Scademia: Head out can be found within a four-block through the Narrows of St. John’s radius of the harbor. See chapter 3. harbor on a 27-m (90-ft.), full- • Stand on top of Signal Hill: You rigged schooner. If that doesn’t literally have a city at your feet have you feeling like a true New- when you stand at the base of foundlander, the “screech-in” cere- Cabot Tower (walk around the mony ought to do the trick. See tower to the other side and you’ll chapter 3, p. 73. be gazing down at the broad • Dance the night away on expanse of the Atlantic Ocean). George Street: With the most It’s one of those must-see pilgrim- nightclubs per capita in North ages for any visitor to the capital America all clustered together on a city, and even for a good many two-block stretch, it’s like visiting local residents. See chapter 3, a northern New Orleans. There’s p. 67. something for everyone on • Watch the sun come up at Cape George Street (rap, jazz, tradi- Spear: On this, the most easterly tional, contemporary, and more). point in North America, a spec- Find your favorite nighttime tacular sunrise, swirling surf, and hotspot in section 10, “St. John’s picturesque lighthouse make Cape After Dark,” in chapter 3. Spear the perfect location for an THE BEST TRAVEL EXPERIENCES 3 Spirit of Newfoundland Value You’ll have an unforgettable evening of first-class food and entertain- ment with Spirit of Newfoundland Productions , the province’s best dinner theater experience. Talented singers and actors retain their comic characters throughout the night, even when pressed into service as waiters and waitresses. You may even find yourself spontaneously trans- formed from passive audience member to unsuspecting active partici- pant! Some of the shows are quintessentially Newfoundland, others, such as tributes to Frank Sinatra and Patsy Cline, have broader appeal. All this plus a delicious three-course meal for just C$45 (US$32). Spirit of Newfoundland Productions take place at two St. John’s venues, both located on Duckworth Street. To find out about the latest show, or to make a reservation, call & 709/579-3023, or go to www.spiritof newfoundland.com. • Find your lucky rock at Middle • Experience an active archaeolog- Cove Beach: Just outside St. ical dig at the Colony of Avalon: John’s, this stony beach is covered Walk the oldest cobblestone street with striped treasures. If you find in North America and see artifacts a stone with a complete white cir- from a 16th-century settlement. cle around it, that’s your lucky You’ll learn about ancient battles rock. If you find one with a dou- for property ownership, and skir- ble white circle (like I did), you’ve mishes with marauding privateers. got double the luck! It’s a cheap See chapter 4, p. 90. way to have some fun, and maybe • Dig into history at Bell Island: pick up a few inexpensive sou- It’s just a 30-minute boat ride from venirs for friends or family back Portugal Cove, but a giant step home. See chapter 3, p. 66. back in time when you explore the • Enjoy a bird’s-eye view of Bird abandoned iron-ore mines of Bell Rock: I felt as though I was sitting Island. Or step back even further on top of the world on that cliff with a scuba diving expedition to overlooking Bird Rock at Cape St. the wreckage of sunken ships that Mary’s Ecological Reserve. surround the island’s perimeter. Imagine gazing into the eyes of Find out how you can organize thousands of squawking gannets your own Bell Island adventure in nearly within arm’s reach! See chapter 4, p. 102. chapter 4, p. 92. • Explore Cape Bonavista: This • Get sprayed by the Spout: A nat- remarkable place at the northern ural geyser that shoots saltwater tip of the Bonavista Peninsula has more than 60m (197 ft.) into the something for everyone. You’ll find air. You’ll be wet, cold, and tired a colorful lighthouse with a striking by the time you get there . and view, learn some interesting mar- you won’t even notice. You’ll be itime history, and have a chance to too awestruck by every step along get close to Atlantic puffins. When this spectacular seacoast journey. your eyes have had their fill, head For directions, see chapter 4, to the nearby town of Bonavista for p. 81. lunch. See chapter 5, p. 116. 4 CHAPTER 1 . THE BEST OF NEWFOUNDLAND & LABRADOR • Race to the finish at the • Chart a course for the Aviation Clarenville Dragway: If you Museum: Experience the history enjoy the smell of burning rubber of Gander’s love affair with flight, and the sound of roaring engines, as depicted through storyboards, you’ll thrill over the full-throttle scale model displays, and actual antics of these hot rods, muscle decommissioned aircraft.