From the ferry port, we had an hour and a half drive to St. John's, one of the oldest cities in North America. (A couple of qualifiers on this claim, it was not officially incorporated until 1888 and the city was rebuilt after the 1892 fire which destroyed most of the buildings)
The fog we had encountered as we approached the harbour had partly dissipated and by the time we got to St John's it was partly sunny. We found the place we have rented for three days and parked nearby (too early to check-in). It is walkable to the downtown core and the harbour. There sure are some steep hills here!
In the older part of the downtown, there are streets of what they call the Jelly Bean Houses. Have a look at these photos and it's easy to see why.
We stopped for lunch at a bagel place that seemed to be packed with locals. Some good local flavour in this all day breakfast eatery!
We quickly concluded that St. John's has the highest pub density index of any city I have ever been in! The George St. area reminds me of what Pt. Dalhousie in St. Catharines used to be like x10.
The downtown streets are all torn up for a modernization project and it should look good once its done.
We wandered around the waterfront and found a park to take a rest in. A nice view of the harbour and Signal Hill.
There were a couple of bronze statues of the Newfoundland and Labrador dogs along with a description of their history as a breed.
It was nice just watching what was going on in the harbour. This is one of several supply ships we saw.
The weather was really variable, one minute it was 22C and then the wind would shift a bit and it was 15C!
We walked back up the hill to the place where we will be staying for three nights. An old mansion that has been thoroughly renovated into suites. Very nice after spending the night on the ferry.
We were pretty tired after walking around all day and not much sleep on the ferry so we decided on a nearby pub (top rated on Yelp) and early bed. Best Fish & Chips ever.
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