Founded in the late 16th century, St. John’s was already a settlement when New York City was a mere gleam in the eye of European colonisers.
Squint a little and you could be in San Francisco. The brightly painted “jelly bean row” of crayon-coloured Victorian houses on the hills around St John’s Harbour often draws comparisons between the capital of Newfoundland and Labrador province and the Californian city. Yet that’s where the similarities end, as cultural crossovers are a little closer to home — from a distinct Irish brogue in the local accent to St John’s geographical location as the most easterly point in North America: closer to Europe than it is to parts of Canada.Rugged and beautiful, the island of Newfoundland is great place for exploring the Avalon Peninsula. Day trips to Cape Spear, Witless Bay Ecological Reserve and Ferryland are popular. With its steep streets, devotion to the arts and stirring views of the harbour and surrounding hills is home to artists, musicians, cutting-edge eateries, inflated real estate and young, iPad-using millennials.
