#50 Signal Hill and more St. John's

#50  Signal Hill and more St. John's

Sunday   September 1, 2019

Signal Hill sits high on the hill overlooking the entrance to St. John’s Bay and across the entrance from Fort Amherst.  The guys hiked the North Head Trail in the morning ascending 500 feet over stairs, boardwalks and footpaths, then hiked back down.  Great views and glad they did it. 

After they came home and cleaned up, we all went to see Cabot Tower on Signal Hill.  The tower construction began in 1898 to commemorate the 400^th anniversary of John Cabot’s discovery of Newfoundland and Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee. The views were spectacular!

Tour buses, Hop on Hop Off buses and a variety of tour groups visit here.

 The park also honors Marconi and his contributions to communication.

 The old Cabot Tower building now houses a nice gift shop.  You could go upstairs, but we declined.  The wind blew so hard that walking was difficult and hats were blown off heads..

We did hike up the Lady’s Lookout trail.  This is where woman went to watch their husbands and sons either leave port or return home.

This map shows St. John’s harbor and describes its dimensions.

We could also see the trail from various points on the hill.

Nice view of St. John’s.

The beautiful Newfoundland dog loved to be petted and could pose with people, like the lady here, for photos.  Derrille and I went back up on Monday and the dog was still there.  It appears that is how the owner spends his days, letting people admire his dog.

Quidi Vidi ‘s claim to fame is that it makes beer with the water off icebergs.  It is brewed in a distinctive blue bottle.  Jay was particularly anxious to see this.  When we arrived the tap room was closed for a wedding, they did not have the beer Jay wanted in the cooler and most of the tee shirt collection was wiped out.  A bit of a disappointment!

Of equal renown and hype were the artisans in Quidi Vidi Village.  Lynn and I were thinking “village” with artsy shops.  We were wrong.  This “village” consists of one two story building with artisans inside selling pricey item. We were not impressed!

The next item on the tour guide as something to see was the Murray Premises right in downtown St. John’s.   As it turned out the Premises do sit within an historic district, but only a hotel remains.  There were no gift shops or restaurants as advertised.  Or…maybe I read the tour blurb incorrectly.   We did find the local gift shops, which we found well stocked and left our donations. 

The best thing, besides the gift shops, was finding a free parking place.  Derrille went up to this policeman to check if it was really free…and it was!   This was the horses first day on the job and was being trained to pee on the grass. 

It was a bit of a bummer touring today, but we did find some great gift  shops!