21 Dec My trip to Newfoundland
Every year Vince (my boyfriend) and I try to travel at the end of October to fun locations. Our birthdays are only 3 days apart so it’s a lot of fun celebrating them together at different spots around the world. This year we went to Newfoundland to visit my family. My grandmother, my cousin, and her son all live in Lewisporte, Newfoundland. I was excited to introduce Vince to my mom’s side of the family. We decided to visit other landmarks before ending our visit in Lewisporte. There are a lot of beautiful spots to see in Newfoundland. We landed in St John’s and spent our first two nights there. Our first destination was Signal Hill, with its famous citadel overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. The first day we were there, it was super foggy and the conditions were terrible for photography so we returned the next morning.
It was another gloomy day, but the skies were clear enough for some amazing moody landscapes. We did a bit of hiking this spot, climbing down the steep rock face towards the peninsula overlooking the harbour. The nice thing about Newfoundland is that the island isn’t super big and many of the tourist spots are located in and around the city of St.John’s.
I’m gonna apologize in advance – many of the personal photos I took were from my phone. The landscapes were all with my beautiful Canon 5D mark IV but I was on vacation, so I didn’t bring fancy lighting or anything like that.
The first night we were there we went to this really nice pub called The Ship Pub. It had a newfie feel to it. There were very friendly people having a night out with Celtic music. We had a really fun time there but went to bed relatively early because we had travelled early that morning.
The next day we visited another landmark, the Quidi Vidi Brewery. We were traveling outside of Newfoundland’s tourist season so most places we visited were pretty quiet in St. John’s. In the more rural areas (pretty much everywhere else) most places were closed for the season. Most restaurants that we planned to stop into were closed, but we made the best of our trip and still had a great time.
We took a photo of the wall of beers you can try and bought some t-shirts as well. I don’t usually buy souvenirs but these t-shirts were cute and I knew I would actually wear them outside of our trip.
Vince tested a few beers while visiting the brewery. I had a glass of wine because I’m gluten intolerant. As a joke, we took photos of his reactions to the beer samplers along the way. Vince gave the beers and the place two thumbs up. Definitely check this spot out if you travel to St.John’s.
Next stop was Cape Spear. The ocean view is incredibly beautiful there, and we were fortunate to arrive at sunset as the clouds finally started to break. I have 1001 photos of the ocean here but haven’t processed them. There is a boardwalk that leads to a lighthouse. There are many signs warning travellers not to get close to the water. The waves are unpredictable and many people have died there. I don’t remember seeing fencing being in certain spots the first time I went almost a decade ago but my memory isn’t the strongest in my old age.
I tried crab in a spinach cheese dip for the first time at St. John’s Fish Exchange and Wet Bar. It was absolutely amazing. Vince had to protect his last few bites from me. The seafood in Newfoundland is so fresh and amazing. I am not a huge seafood person but when you are in Newfoundland you need to try new things. Vince tried cod tongues while we were there. I couldn’t because it was breaded. He’s wasn’t a fan of the texture. I am not surprised and not sad I missed out on that.
My favourite spot was Bonavista, a small community on one of the northern peninsulas. It’s the only spot on this trip that I had not been before. We went there on my birthday and I had a birthday glass of wine on the boardwalk outside of our AirBnB. It was chilly out but the scenery was absolutely beautiful. Next time I visit I plan on spending more time in this town. We only spent one night here but it was my best birthday so far.
The rest of my trip was spent with my family. We went to Twillingate to visit my relatives. It was a pretty cold and windy day, so it was nice to get into the warmth of the restaurant afterwards. We had a really nice visit with my grandma, cousin and second cousin. We went out the local bar for halloween which was right beside our AirBnB. We had many meals together and lots of catching up to do. Overall, it was a great trip.
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