FJORDS, FIDDLES, AND A FLUVARIUM

ST. JOHN’S, NEWFOUNDLAND,CANADA& East Coast or West Coast?  New York has but one, as does California. On the other hand, the Canadian Maritime Province of Newfoundland has one of each and its leading travel company, Maxxim Vacations, offers fly/drive tours to both.

The West Coast is about Viking landings more than 1,000 years ago and fjord country. The East Coast is about John Cabot (AKA Giovanni Caboto) and discoveries made for England in 1497—and the zesty appeal of St. John’s, the provincial capital.

If your idea of a vacation is to get away from urban areas and masses of people and the stress and pace of modern living, then Newfoundland may be exactly what you seek. You’ll find that the rhythms and pace of life are pleasantly slower. In fact, Newfoundland didn’t actually become part of Canada until 1949, and its people remain culturally distinct (and fiercely independent). Newfoundlanders are apt to point out that their homeland actually is closer to Europe than it is to Manitoba, Canada’s heartland.

East or West—a Maxxim Vacation travel specialist will help fashion an itinerary to meet your individual needs as you spend each night in a reserved room at a hotel, country inn or bed-and-breakfast inn. Then, traveling at your own pace, you’ll explore either the East Coast or West Coast of Newfoundland.

In western Newfoundland, you’ll discover one of the world’s most ruggedly scenic destinations, with fjords carved by ice-age glaciers. This is a land with thousands of miles of coastline, seemingly endless forest and ancient mountains.

Flexible itineraries allow ample time to visit Gros Morne National Park where fjords are hemmed in by ancient volcanic mountains, creating some of Newfoundland’s best mountain and ocean vistas. Explore this vast park by car, by boat and on foot.

Journey back in time more than 1,000 years as you follow in the footsteps of the Vikings, first European inhabitants of North America. This adventure along the rugged shores of western Newfoundland takes you to a working lifestyle village to experience life as it was during the Viking age.

You’ll listen to their music, feast on traditional Viking food and find yourself a guest at a Viking wedding. It all happens at L’Anse aux Meadows National Historic Site, the only known Viking settlement on the North American continent.

Learn about the Vikings at the L’Anse aux Meadows Visitor Center, which displays artifacts and a model of portraying how the site might have looked in 1000 AD when Leif Eriksson settled there. Tour three full-scale replicas of sod huts and then join latter-day adventurers aboard a replica of a Viking ship. Re-enactors help you experience the Viking lifestyle, presenting music, crafts, traditional food and boat building and navigation techniques.

Nearby St. Anthony is a good spot to buy whalebone carvings and hand-embroidered parkas—or perhaps visit the Mukluk Factory to shop for a pair of mukluks (fur-lined hide boots). High cliffs near St. Anthony provide ideal vantage points for watching whales and drifting icebergs.

Port au Choix is a fishing port that once was predominantly Basque and—long before that—a Dorset Eskimo community. The native Canadian community has been the focus of archaeological exploration and is a National Historic Site.

Choosing to follow the East Coast itinerary, you’ll spend time exploring the charming provincial capital, St. John’s, North America’s oldest and most easterly city. Visit Cape Spear, the easternmost point on the continent and site of the telegraph station where the first Titanic distress signals were received and Signal Hill where in 1901 Marconi received the first transatlantic radio signal. At Signal Hill, you’ll witness the pageantry of red-coated soldiers of the Royal Newfoundland Companies marching to fife and drums and firing muskets and cannons.

St. John’s also offers nightlife aplenty. Hear traditional Irish songs and Celtic folk music in pubs and bars along George Street. Close to 30 watering holes compressed into three short city blocks help give Newfoundland’s capital the dubious distinction of having the highest density of bars per capita in North America.

St. John’s also boasts the only public fluvarium in North America (an underwater viewing station with a series of nine panoramic viewing windows giving visitors a chance to see the secret underwater life of a river).  Ideal for kids, the fluvarium displays exhibits related to freshwater ecology -- live exhibits displaying frogs, toads, eels, freshwater fish and invertebrates.

Traveling north along the Atlantic Coast will bring you to Bonavista Peninsula and the picturesque town of Trinity, where much of the location filming of the 2001 movie “The Shipping News” took place.

During a two-night stay near this restored town that dates back to 1580 and is the site of North America’ first court (in 1615), there’s time to explore its narrow streets and visit its numerous museums and historic sites. Depending on the season, you can also attend a performance of its noted pageant. You’ll enjoy suppers of crab, lobster and freshly caught fish, just as folk do in the fishing village of “Killick-Claw” that is the focus of “The Shipping News.” Along Trinity Bay, watch for whales and visit a museum on whaling and sealing at Dildo. 

These fly-drive vacation adventures are value-priced from US$1,099 per person (based on double occupancy) for a 7-day/6-night package. Included is round-trip airfare on Air Canada or United between Chicago and St. John’s (Deer Lake, f
[Back to Press Releases Main]