St John’s harbour and the city around it
Following my earlier post, let me write more on the harbour and the city. The access to the harbour directly from the Atlantic Ocean, is through a narrow strip of water known as the Narrows. The Narrows is guarded by high hills on either side. On one side is the Signal Hill, which is much higher than the city and visible from many areas in the city. The Signal Hill provides a good view of the Narrows, the port and parts of the city. So, it was for a long-time part of the ocean front defence of the city.
A fortification was built here around mid-17th century. This hill was used for communication between land and sea by flag signals for centuries and hence the name, Signal Hill. Cabot Tower on the hill was built later, to commemorate the arrival of John Cabot in 1497.
This hill is also where Marconi received the first transatlantic wireless signal, transmitted as Morse code from Cornwall in the United Kingdom, in 1901. This is now a popular tourist attraction with hiking trails and amazing views of the Ocean. Fort Amherst lighthouse is on the hill on the other side of the entrance to the Narrows.
Cod fishing is what attracted many early settlers from Europe, England and Ireland to Newfoundland. And the trade related to fisheries was the major source of wealth in the early years of St Johns. The city therefore started and developed around the harbour over centuries. The port is even now in the centre of the city and part of downtown St Johns. To begin with, the part now downtown was an elevated expanse of meadows, and someone named it the Barren.
Downtown St. Johns is thus the oldest part of the city and probably the busiest. Waterstreet, one of the main streets with many souvenir shops, eating places, and other quaint shops was once a trading centre for the French, Spanish, English and others.
The older buildings were built in rows and painted in bright colours resembling jellybeans. Jellybean row houses is another unique feature of the city.
Numbers of buildings and people decrease as one leaves the downtown area, giving way to wooded parks and water bodies. There are many walking trails and almost everyone here likes the great outdoors. But good weather cannot be taken for granted. A track behind our house which we use to walk the dogs, has different looks during different parts of the year.
The trail leads to Quidi Vidi (pronounced kiddi vidi) lake also close to where we live. The lake is about 1.5 km long with a popular walking trail around it. There is also a dog park near the trail. The annual regatta is a big event held every summer. Quidi Vidi village has fishing houses, eating places, a brewery and artisan studios and is also a good spot to hang out.
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