Newfoundland Turns 50Happy Birthday!
"Soiree '99" is a coast-to-coast, yearlong celebration the kind of lively, neighborly party that Newfoundlanders take pride in throwing. For visitors who want to join in the celebrations, a special fly-drive package allows them to spend 11 days exploring Newfoundland and Labrador. They'll dance to lively fiddle music, dine on freshly caught lobster, and put their heads down at night at quiet country inns. They'll visit a Viking village that is North America's first European settlement and sail fjords carved by glaciers hundreds of thousands of years ago. Also included are 10 nights' accommodations, "Soiree Dinner Theatre," two boat excursions, and car-drop charges (for return flight from Deer Lake), as well as breakfasts at some properties. There also are departures from other Air Canada gateway cities in the United States (at slightly higher prices). Extra days are priced at $79. The adventure begins with a flight to St. John's for a two-night stay in North America's oldest city. St. John's is where the sun first rises on the New World and the waves of Europe crash onto the shore. It's a town steeped in history where at Signal Hill in 1901 Marconi received the first transatlantic radio signal. Coves along the rugged coastline shelter secluded beaches and tiny fishing villages that haven't changed in centuries. As you drive along the coast you'll want to stop frequently to admire ever-changing seascapes and fill your lungs with fresh ocean air. St. John's also is a town full of fun, with lively fiddle and accordion music and pub-crawls along George Street to clubs featuring high-energy Newfoundland Irish music. You can dine almost anywhere on the abundant fresh-boiled lobster and pan-fried cod that Newfoundland is noted for. While in St. John's, bird watchers can take a boat excursion to view thousands of kittiwakes, osprey, and gannets, as well as the always-entertaining bright-billed puffins. Or sail aboard the two-masted schooner Scademia, past North America's most easterly point, Newfoundland's Cape Spear. This is the site of the telegraph station where the first Titanic distress signals were received. Eventually, a life preserver from the doomed liner washed up on Newfoundland shores. The itinerary takes you to Brigus, home of the National Historic Site Hawthorne Cottage, residence of world famous northern explorer, Captain Bob Bartlett. Then you head for Terra Nova National Park for two nights and experience one of the province's most scenic environments. Continuing to Gros Morne National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, there are two days set aside to tour a region offering some of Newfoundland's best mountain and ocean vistas, where landlocked fjords are hemmed in by ancient volcanic mountains. The park, open year-round, offers more than 65 kilometers of mountain hiking, with trails to meet the skills of the novice as well as those of the experienced long-distance walker.
Take a ferry ride from St. Barbe to Southern Labrador for a drive to the Basque Whaling Station at Red Bay, another National Historic Site. Finally, drive back south to Gros Morne for a night in Newfoundland before departing from Deer Lake for the flight home. The package is priced at an affordable $1,239 per person (double occupancy) including round-trip airfare on Air Canada scheduled service from Boston and a rental car for 10 days. Reservations and additional information from courtesy of Maxxim Vacations Edited by Dave Shultz |
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Newfoundland is both Canada's youngest province and one of its most historic. During 1999 it will celebrate its 50th birthday and it will do it in style.
Then comes a coastal drive up the Northern Peninsula to the historical Viking settlement at L'Anse aux Meadows. Uncovered by archaeologists in the 1960s, it is believed to be the settlement of Lief Eriksson. It features recreated sod houses and an interpretive center.