Arriving at a port on a Sunday is always an iffy
proposition when it comes to what you might see. St. John’s, Newfoundland, in
Canada was very quiet. While there were quite a few shops and restaurants open,
the residents in this small city were not out in droves and the streets were
pretty much taken over by the passengers of our cruise ship the Crystal
Serenity.
While waiting for clearance from immigration so we
could go ashore, we scoped out the town as much as possible from the top deck
of our ship. Up on a hill we could see a large basilica. We set our goal to
climb up to that spot, check it out and then see what the shops might have to
offer on the main street in town. After
all, we figured, if nothing else was open, at least the church would be. Not
so.
We made it all the way up the hill stopping to
take a few pictures of nothing in particular along the way. If you stop for
pictures as you climb, people are less apt to notice how out of shape you are.
You can claim the breathlessness is from taking in a beautiful view. When we
reached the Basilica of St. John the Baptist, a cathedral founded in 1841, we
found several other hardy (and breathless) souls who informed us that it was
closed. The good news was that the walk back to the ship would be all downhill.
St. John’s, the city not the cathedral, is a
fishing town. There were dozens of fishing boats in the harbor. It’s wealth at
one time was built on salted fish. The weather there so far north is often cold
and harsh. To compensate for so many gray days, the homes and buildings are
brightly colored. The city is said to be one of the oldest in North America
dating back to the time of the Vikings. It is also said to be the most easterly
city of North America.
There is much history to be garnered here but
unfortunately a lot of historical places were lost to a large fire in the late
1800s. Still, there is Signal Hill, the site of Marconi’s first transatlantic
signal, a 17th/18th century French fortress called Castle Hill and Cape Spear
Lighthouse in nearby Avalon, and several other points of interest that will
have us coming back to visit when we can spend more time.
Our gray day turned sunny just in time for the
sail away. We were amazed when our ship was able to turn in the very small
harbor and head out through one of the narrowest channels we have ever
encountered. This was almost as narrow as the one in Bermuda when we docked in
the old town. Once out of the channel, we could see what we had missed in the
fog of the morning—a breathtaking view of the coast and even a couple of lost
icebergs that had gotten hung up along the shore and were quietly melting away
in the warming seasonal weather. 
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