As you know last week I was away on a trip to the East Coast of Canada, for a good friend’s wedding. The wedding itself was in Labrador, but we took the opportunity to travel to Newfoundland prior to the wedding day. Here’s a map to help orient you, Newfoundland is the most eastern province of Canada and is about 2 hrs and 30 mins by flight from Toronto (A):
We spent 4 days in Newfoundland (B) and then 2 days in Labrador (C) for the wedding, in quite a remote place. Today I’ll share photos from the 4 days we spent in parts of Newfoundland.
Firstly, I’ll address the fact that most of the photos will be grey and gloomy, that was the kind of weather we experienced the whole time we were there. Unfortunately, Newfoundland caught the tail end of the Tropical Storm Henri so it was pouring rain and very windy… but we made the best of it.
Monday: Cape Spear
It is the most easterly point in North America and well worth a visit – firstly for its iconic lighthouse, but the real draw of this place are the cliffs. They are breathtaking – caution is needed since there are no barriers between you and the Atlantic Ocean!
Tuesday: Signal Hill
It was super foggy on this day, along with major downpour. We persevered and trekked up to Signal Hill for some amazing views of the St John’s harbour.
Wednesday: Bonavista
We arrived in the town of Bonavista to weather warnings of 120km/h winds. We could not trek very far from our B&B due to the sideways wind. The B&B we stayed at though, was absolutely fantastic! The hosts were so genuine, and they have a nightly “lunch” at 9:15 pm where they served crab legs, fruits, cheese & crackers and dessert (ooh those little blueberry tarts!) Here’s a little collage of what our B&B room looked like (it had a huge ensuite bathroom – the house shown is through the bathroom window):
These pictures were taken Thursday morning on our way out of the town.
Thursday: Sherwink Trail
This was definitely the highlight of our visit – a masterfully designed 5km trail which took us high on seaside cliffs and into the brush, with views that are honestly surreal. There were no barriers on the cliffs – just you against nature: massive boulders that jut out of the ocean – they make me feel so little and insignificant! There were wild blueberries everywhere too.
Places we didn’t get a chance to visit but would like to in the future: Quidi Vidi, The Battery, Petty Harbour (we drove through but did not stop – there’s an amazing fish & chips place there), Gander… but those will be for a future trip!
Food: No trip is complete without sampling the local cuisine! I didn’t take pictures of what I ate but here are the highlights along with photos I found online:
• fresh fish for fish & chips (I ate fish & chips twice while I was there, and some form of fish, be it cod or salmon, for the other meals)
• fish & chips with gravy and stuffing made with savoury – stuffing with savoury is a Newfoundland exclusive since it’s a spice that isn’t grown elsewhere, it’s a crumbly breadcrumb mixture that you put onto fries
• cod tongue with scrunchions (scrunchions are diced up pork fatback) – not my favourite but worth it just for the scrunchions
• seafood chowder – now, we’ve had our fair share of seafood chowder from various trips but we agree that Newfoundloand chowder is the best! It has chunky bits of fresh seafood in a cream base that isn’t too thick or heavy (some chowders are a meal in itself and we needed naps afterwards) with a bit of potatoes. Just perfection!
• toutons (essentially fried bread dough) with molassas – this is eaten like pancakes for breakfast
Hope you enjoy this little vacation post! 🙂
I love hiking Signal Hill, and wandering around Cape Spear. *sigh* I miss being able to go to the ocean.
The stuffing (aka “dressing”) with savoury is also used to stuff the turkey. My grandmother made the best dressing and toutons. 🙂
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I didn’t know you were from the east coast! 😀
We brought back several packages of savoury for friends and one to keep for us – not sure if we can recreate the same flavours!
Yes the ocean air is quite refreshing – we love visiting coastal places!
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I’ve lived in Nova Scotia (born there), and lived in Newfoundland as well before moving to Quebec.
My aunt in Nova Scotia grows savoury, so I have access to an almost unlimited supply, haha!
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Oh wow! We visited Halifax last year, that was our first time out east. There’s so much culture there… we definitely want to go back and explore other places!
Oh luck you with the unlimited supply of savoury! 😀
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I love Halifax, my aunt lives across the street from the Public Gardens – which you probably visited if you were in Halifax. My parents live about an 1 to 1.5 hour drive from Halifax (depending on traffic).
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Your B&B’s exquisite. I don’t why I’m so fascinated with the vintages. The scenery although gloomy gave such a dramatic representation. And the food, thanks for sharing toutons. It interests me much to look for the recipe.
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Here’s a recipe for Toutons!
http://www.food.com/recipe/newfoundland-toutons-136412
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Thanks stashy! 🙂
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Wow this looks so amazing 🙂 I actually love all the fog and gloom, adds some real character to your photographs 🙂
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Canada is absolutely beautiful!!!!! It looks like you had so much fun!!
Also, I just nominated you for a tag! Check it out: https://ryanezamorabeauty.wordpress.com 🙂
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Everything looks so beautiful and the food looks so delicious! I seriously can’t wait till the day I can explore more of Canada, it’s so beautiful and I love it so much!
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OMG ………………..
you just gave me a big proud moment of being Canadian –
G O R G E O U S XO
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Go Canada!!! 🇨🇦
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did You ever see “One week ” xxxx
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Nope, what’s that aboot? 😆
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqD9Dm_DMN8n serious undertones – but great soundtrack and lots of Canadiana xxxxxx
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Ooh ok! Shall check it oot! 😝
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❤ Guarantee You will love IT XO MUAH
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Great post. Really enjoyed reading about your trip, and I’m glad you had fun. How beautiful the views are!
I would love to go to the East Coast, and gorge on seafood…haha. Your pictures of food there are making me hungry!
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Thanks! Yes, the seafood was a big draw for us to go to the east coast. 🙂
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Great photo album! I’ve never been to Newfoundland & Labrador (just Halifax and New Brunswick). Looks beautiful. I love that gloomy kind of weather. Just looking at the food pics made me put on about 10 lbs, I think. Thanks for sharing your vacation shots!
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We went to Halifax last year and it was really nice too – I found St John’s a lot more “maritime-y” if that makes any sense. We definitely want to do PEI next. Yeah I think my jeans felt tighter when I got back lol.
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The maritimes are definitely on my list of short trips to take! Mmm seafood.
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Great pictures and I want to try all the foods!
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Haha, yes I knew you’d be all over the food! Wear stretchy pants!
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OMG how fun! I’ve always wanted to stay in a B&B it’s totally on my bucket list and the one you stayed in is everything I imagined one would be. Plus that breakfast… who doesn’t love fried dough!!??
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Yes, you have to stay at a B&B. We only quite recently started trying them out and we love them! I find them so much more relaxing than being at a standard hotel. I had the toutons (fried dough) TWICE in a row for breakfast lol! 😛
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I’m glad you had a good trip!
These are great pictures, those cliffs are intense. For some reason I always think of the North East coast as foggy, I’m not really sure why because I’ve never really been to the NE coast. It just is always foggy in my mind.
I didn’t realize that Savory is a Newfoundland exclusive! I received a bottle of dried savory as a Christmas gift a few years ago and had never heard of it but it quickly became one of my favorite spices.
Man, now I’m really hungry 🙂
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Oh wow, so neat you got a bottle of savoury! I had never actually HEARD of it until someone told me about it and told me to try it while I was there (there are lots of Newfie expats here).
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It’s near except now I’m hoarding the last crumbs like Gollum because I can’t really find replacements 🙂
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Been to the Eastern Township PEI, Nova Scotia and Halifax but not Newfoundland, Would love to revisit again with Labrador in mind. I enjoy looking at those amazing pictures and great travel post. 🙂
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PEI is definitely on our list to visit – seems so quaint! It’s so good to explore our own country. 🙂
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Yes. it is! 🙂 xo
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God, I’ve been wanting to pack a bag and drive out to the East for so long. These pictures are making me itch for a roadtrip!
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You totally should! It’d be a fun adventure!
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Something to consider! Especially after seeing your pictures. 😉
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Such great pictures! That’s too bad the weather wasn’t completely in your favour, but it looks beautiful nonetheless! I should really think about going to Newfoundland at some point! I should put it on my Canadian bucketlist, along with going up north to see the Northern Lights! I love the food pictures *drool*.
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Yeah there was some talk about maybe seeing the Northern Lights one day but the thought of going to the Yukon is quite scary. My friends just came back and said there’s literally nothing to do there, lol.
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Yeah I know of people that have been there and lived there….everyone knows everyone hahah
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Looks like an awesome trip!
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Yes it was! 🙂
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It all looks beautiful despite the weather.
And that B and B seems so charming! I loved clawed bathtubs!
Fish and chips is always my go to meal 🙂
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We still went out despite the rain – we had our rain gear so it wasn’t too bad. I wish I’d taken advantage of the bathtub but I was so tired that night!
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This was so lovely to read! Great pictures 🙂 everything looks so peaceful!
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Yes they have a more relaxed pace of life there, definitely. There are also quite a strong artist community there – I can imagine how such landscape would inspire lots of creative pursuits!
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Cape Spear looks amazing!
o & btw summer savoury is a Maritime thing, not exclusive to NFLD 😛
East Coasters use it in everything where you would use sage 🙂
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Oh good to know about the savoury. I was told by certain Newfies (AMW! and my boss) that it was only from Nfld! 😛
We bought a pack for ourselves to try out. I will tell the bf to use it in place of sage.
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well stuffing on fries is definitely exclusively newf!!! I’ve never seen that before 😛
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Looks beautiful! Hope you had a great time 🙂
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