"Newfoundland – a world of its own!" Top 5 Page for this destination North America Things to Do Tip by Bwana_Brown

Newfoundland & Labrador, ‘where the land meets the sea’ is Canada’s easternmost province, and what a unique spot it is! In summer 2001, my wife and I decided that it was high time we made a trip to the island of Newfoundland to see what all the fuss was about. With fantastic rugged scenery, whale watching and two UNESCO World Heritage Sites very close to each other, we decided that a trip up along the westernmost shores of the island's Northern Peninsula would make a great holiday.

On our way up the west coast we spent some time in Gros Morne National Park, one of the UNESCO sites and home to the fjord of Western Brook Pond, carved by glacial action during the Ice Age. This is the view as our tour boat began to enter the 2300-ft (700-m) cliffs of the fjord and the 2nd photo gives another perspective as one of the boats heads back out, after passing a floating dock where hikers in the park can be picked up.

A few hundred miles further north and we reached the tip of the peninsula where the second UNESCO site is located, at L’Anse aux Meadows, an area first visited by Europeans when a 30-man Viking ship from Greenland, captained by Leif Eriksson, landed there during a voyage of discovery to the west (1000 AD). Eventually the settlement consisted of 8 wood-framed huts overlaid with sod roof and walls (3rd photo). There are even records of the birth of the first European in the New World taking place at this location (a boy named Snorri). However, this area had also been used by the native Inuit and Beothuk aboriginal population (called 'Skraelings' by the Vikings) since about 6000 BC. The result was eventual conflict and deaths, culminating in a retreat back to Greenland by the heavily out-numbered Vikings. There are still plenty of whales and icebergs floating around in these cold northern waters, so we took advantage of a Humpback whale watching expedition while we were in the area (4th photo)!

Directions: The large island of Newfoundland on Canada's Atlantic coast and the Labrador coastline stretching north toward Greenland