 |
| Cape Spear from the water. |
Look up things to do in St. John's, and on most of the lists you'll find on the 'Net will tell you to go to Cape Spear and watch the sun come up. I can imagine that's great advice, and I actually thought about doing it. Unfortunately, we were often so tired that we slept until well after sunrise. I did manage to wake early enough one morning to catch a picture of the sun topping the mountains behind our hotel.
What's that you say? I could have set an alarm. Why, yes, I could have. But in the end, I'm glad I didn't. We used Google maps to find our way there, and the instructions were convoluted, to say the least. Even assuming Google was giving us the most direct and fastest route, you have to drive through the old part of town, where Google directs you to take what it generously calls roundabouts, which bear little resemblance to the roundabouts towns are so fond of trying to bring back in the states or to the ones we've encountered in other countries we've visited.
No, these roundabouts are more like the town squares you encounter in small, Texas (and I'm sure other states) towns where roads converge at the courthouse or a park built in the center of town and one-way roads ferry you to the road you need. Some of these St. John's roundabouts had been created by installing those large concrete barriers you see used in road construction to reroute traffic. The newer parts of town do have actual roundabouts, though.
You eventually arrive at the road that takes you to Cape Spear, which reminded me of the Kentucky backroads I drove on too many decades ago, going up and down, twisting one way then the next, often at posted speeds of 30 kph (about 19 mph) or less, signs Canadian drivers tended to ignore.
Given that I hate driving unfamiliar routes, driving in the dark, and driving twisty roads, the idea of combining all three so I could see a sunrise didn't appeal to me, and I was glad we'd skipped it. Later, a woman sitting in front of me on the plane was reviewing her trip photos, and she had some spectacular sunrise shots from Cape Spear. She also had some great shots of puffins along a shore, while we only saw the birds in flight. I was a bit jealous, but I got over it.
 |
| Marker proclaiming Cape Spear to be the easternmost point in North America. |
This latter path is studded with signs warning visitors to stay away from the edges and be careful during dodgy weather because waves crashing against shore can come up high enough to sweep them to their doom. Cheery way to start a visit. I read later about a woman who'd ventured to close to the edge in June of that year, had fallen off and had to be rescued. That article mentioned that several people have died after falling.
 |
Stairs lead to the "new" lighthouse. The sign in the lower left warns visitor's
of the risk of falling off the cliffside.
|
Anyway, as I mentioned in a previous post, Greenland belongs politically to Europe and most folks don't tend to think of it as part of North America. But geologically, the island is attached to the North American tectonic plate, making it technically part of the continent. But who wants to quibble with tourist marketing?
 |
World War II bunker built into the hillside. From inside, a tunnel branches
off to the left leading to an exit near the stairs shown above.
|
We began at the lookout and started the climb to the newer lighthouse. Before we arrived there, we came upon a military installation from World War II. Two large guns had been placed there to guard the entrance to St. John's, and a bunker providing ammunition storage and quarters for soldiers on duty had been built into the side of the hill..
 |
Gun emplacement, without the lifting mechanism to raise the gun above
the concrete wall in front of the barrel.
|
 |
| A poster inside the bunker shows the gun with its lifting mechanism. |
The guns were placed behind large, concrete structures that hid them from view. They were mounted on risers that allowed them to rise about the concrete barriers and bear on traffic in the ocean. A circular track allowed them to be pointed wherever needed along the expanse from Signal Hill in the north all the way to the southern approached to the cape. The guns are displayed in place without the lift mechanisms. And yes, German U-boats had come close enough to the harbor to justify the gun placements
 |
The original lighthouse. For some reason, I did not take pictures of the
interior where the lighthouse keepers and their families lived.
|
The entrance to the bunker from the guns leads to a hallway that exits on the side of the mountain, from which you can take stairs up to the second lighthouse, which was built to replace the original lighthouse. The original lighthouse served from 1836 to 1955, and its light, by then converted to an electric light, was placed in the new lighthouse. I believe this second lighthouse does not still operate, but I don't know for sure.
You'll notice in the picture that the lighthouse is square. The government built a lighthouse and then surrounded it with the square part, which provided living quarters for a keeper and his family and workshop space. The building is set up using furniture and equipment from the mid-1800s, all very familiar to anyone who has visited museums featuring items from the period. Because the building surrounds the lighthouse, the interior walls are curved.
Other buildings on the site were being renovated, so I'm not sure what their purposes were.
More of the sights:
 |
| Looking back toward Signal Hill, which is the promontory to the left. You can almost see Cabot Tower. |
 |
| The clerk who checked us in at the hotel specifically mentioned the red chairs at the cape as a good place to watch the sunrise. |
 |
| Click this picture to see it bigger and you'll see numerous birds trailing after these fishing boats. |
 |
| Sail northeast from the new lighthouse, and you'll arrive in Ireland. |
No comments:
Post a Comment