The Basilica rivals any of the cathedrals I have visited and the stained glass was amazing.
Next, we took a day trip to Ferryland, which is about an hour south down the east coast from St. John's. This unassuming little village is actually one of the most important archaeological digs in North America, and is the former site of the Avalon Colony. This colony was built in the 1600's and was governed by Lord Baltimore of England. The original cobblestone streets have been uncovered, as well as over one million artifacts. Yes, one million! It continues to be an active site, and we saw 2 archaeologists working on it (one all the way from Ireland) along with several students. It was an amazing place to see and the tour was well worth the trip. The first photo shows a fireplace which was uncovered - everything is original.
This photo shows the 2 archaeologists hard at work.
This photo shows the room where all of the artifacts are counted and catalogued. It is mind-boggling how each tiny piece of pottery, glass, or what have you is accounted for. In the interpretive center, we saw ceramic bowls that were painstakingly put back together piece by piece. Plaster is added in for the missing pieces, but nothing is permanently fixed just in case the missing piece were to show up in the future.
This photo shows a view of the town of Ferryland. It is typical of the many villages we passed on the highway driving south from St. John's.
The highlight of today turned out to be a lighthouse picnic. From the village, we drove up a steep, winding road for about 5 minutes. At a certain point, there was no further vehicle access, so we had to hike up another steep portion for about 15 minutes. At the top of the cliff was the lighthouse, but the best part was that they had picnics for sale! There are different choices on the menu (lunch, afternoon tea, etc.) and once you have ordered, you are given your picnic blanket and you go outside to choose your picnic spot. In a few minutes, your picnic lunch is brought to you in a picnic basket. We had homemade bread, cheese, homemade dessert and coffee. The photo will show what an idyllic setting this is for a picnic!
The food was scrumptious, and amazingly it is all prepared by the ladies in the lighthouse, which has been set up with a full kitchen. In fact, the smell of freshly baking bread was wafting through the air as we entered! If you are ever in Newfoundland, a lighthouse picnic is definitely an experience not to be missed. As an added bonus, we actually managed to see whales (I think they were humpbacks?) diving in the bay. They were close enough that we could see the tail fin as they dove - which was pretty impressive considering the season is getting late for whale sightings.
No comments:
Post a Comment