Tuesday 14 September
1:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Protected by a narrow, rocky entrance, St. John's harbor may seem like a quaint island village, but it is actually a modern city with plenty of cultural attractions. This vibrant port city is a nice contrast to some of the more rural outlying areas, and offers plenty of amenities for travelers and locals alike. Visit Signal Hill, the city's premier landmark, which boasts an impressive view of the harbor and a wonderful castle to explore.
| Temperature | Fahrenheit | Celsius |
|---|---|---|
| Average High | 60° | 16° |
| Average Low | 46° | 8° |
| Mean Temperature | 53° | 12° |
| Precipitation | Inches | Centimeters |
| Average Precip. | 4.9 | 12 |
Centered on a sizable commercial harbor, Saint John is New Brunswick's largest city, and the center of much of the province's industry. Spread over a low hill, the downtown boasts wonderfully elaborate Victorian flourishes on the rows of commercial buildings. (Be sure to look high along the cornices to appreciate the intricate brickwork.) A handful of impressive mansions lord over side streets, their interiors a forest of intricate wood carving?appropriate for the timber barons who built them.
There's a certain industrial grittiness to Saint John; some find this raw and unappealing, and others find in it a certain ragged raffishness. It all depends on your outlook. Just don't expect a tidy garden city with lots of neat homes. Saint John has a surfeit of brick architecture in various states of repair, and from throughout the downtown you'll get glimpses of industry: large shipping terminals, oil storage facilities, and paper mills, of the sort that was so popular with the Ashcan artists. (A 1978 book on New Brunswick put it diplomatically: "Saint John's heavy industries ensure that the city is not famed for beauty, but the setting is magnificent.")
Don't let this put you off -- make the effort to detour from the highway to downtown. And it does take some effort?the traffic engineers have been very mischievous here. When you finally arrive, you'll discover an intriguing place to stroll around for an afternoon while awaiting the ferry to Digby, to grab a delicious bite to eat, or to break up village-hopping with an urban overnight. The streets often bustle with everyone from skateboarders sporting nose rings to impeccably coifed dowagers shopping at the public market
One final note: Saint John is always spelled out, just like that. It's never abbreviated as St. John. That's to keep mail aimed for St. John's in Newfoundland from ending up here, and vice versa. Locals will be quick to correct you if you err.
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Located on Canada's Southeastern Atlantic Seaboard, where the Bay of Fundy meets the mouth of the St. John River, Saint John is a quaint harbor town of 122,000 residents. A 90-minute drive from the U.S. border in Maine, "the Fundy City" offers 400 years of history, exciting nature excursions and Canadian hospitality, with British and French influences. Cruise ship passengers, in particular, are made to feel welcome as they dock. A "greeting committee" of volunteers dressed in traditional costumes hands out Canadian flags, stickers and buttons.
Saint John is Canada's first incorporated city, a celebrated wooden shipbuilding center with a colorful history. A great fire in 1877 destroyed almost the entire city center. Today, the quaint "Uptown" area is laden with Victorian-influenced architecture, brick walkways, historic churches, town squares and flowers blooming around old-fashioned lamp posts. There's a storybook quality about the town that's a nice respite from bustling, overly touristy cruise ports. Saint John also has a bohemian flair, with lots of street musicians, funky galleries and independent record stores.
But the town is best known for its Bay of Fundy-related attractions. The Bay of Fundy is world-renowned for its extreme tides -- twice daily seawater rises (and then falls) about four stories high! As a result of the tides, the region is incredibly rich in scenic vistas (cascading waterfalls and cliffs carved out by water) and in sea-life, the latter of which draws folks interested in spotting rare whales and interesting shore birds.
The most exotic -- and fabulous -- experience that you shouldn't miss in this port of call is a look at the Reversing Falls. At low tide, the rapids are turbulent and there's a bottleneck gorge at the falls; at high tide the waters are pushed upstream -- and so the river runs in reverse.
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Not everybody knows that these wonderful dogs have gained their name Newfoundland due to the island where they originated from. Newfoundland is the fourth largest island in North America and it is the most distinctive and interesting among other islands. Labrador which is located on the mainland northeast of Quebec and the northern parts of the island are part of the Laurentian Shield. It is one of the earliest geological formations on earth. The interior portion of the island is well forested while the southern coastal plain is barren and rugged.
Most residents of this province live along the Avalon Peninsula. This area is rich with history and breathtaking coastal scenery. Conception Bay is lined with small communities and fishing villages. Argentina on the southwest portion of the peninsula is where the ferry crosses to Nova Scotia. Saint John is the capital city of the province and the most easterly city in Canada. This warm and friendly place is also the oldest city in North America Rising from the water front, stairs, steep streetsFree Articles, alleys and hills wind through pastel colored clapboard houses. There are many churches in town including the Basilica of Saint John the Baptist which was built in 1855 and it dominates the city with its Gothic façade.
The best view of Saint John is from Signal Hill National Historic Park. At the top of the hill the Cabot Tower honors John Cabot arrival in 1497. This is also the tower where Marconi received the first wireless transatlantic message in 1901 sent from Cornwall in England.
