Tallinn, Estonia

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A cotton candy confection of pastel hues, the Old Town of Tallinn is a city right out of a fairy tale. Pink and yellow and green and blue buildings around every corner, it bubbles and sparkles with charm. Golden crosses atop onion shaped domes shimmer in the sunshine. The medieval passageways are a labyrinth of well trod cobblestones. An old Russian barracks turned prison, imposing towers and a pretty pink palace hint of the presence of a colourful and sinister villain - a must in every good fairy tale.

We arrived by sea, crossing the Gulf of Finland from Helsinki aboard a large cruise ship. On our arrival, we caught a cab to the top of the old town to view the city from above. We strolled slowly down the winding streets to the large market square, bustling with vendors and shoppers alike.

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Eastern Canada road trip - St. Anthony to Gros Morne

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The drive from Newfoundland's northernmost tip along the western coast to Gros Morne National Park is gorgeous. Dotted with fishing villages, lighthouses and hiking trails, we dawdled our way down, enjoying the peace and beauty of the region.

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Elora and St. Jacobs

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Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, "Life is a journey, not a destination." The same could said about our recent trip - our final destination was a complete bust so the day became about the journey. 

The day was about two sisters spending time together, giggling, getting lost and discovering new and interesting places.  We visited Elora, a sleepy and enchanting town that lies on the banks of the Grand River. We walked along the river in the early morning sunshine, enjoying the peace and quiet. A man with his dog walked past and two little boys fished under the branches of a giant tree. In town, we explored broken down buildings, interesting shops and an old mill.

Our excursion continued in the surrounding countryside, which was dotted with sprawling Mennonite farms. We shared the dirt roads with horses and carriages transporting Mennonite families. We stretched our legs at the West Montrose Covered Bridge, also known as the Kissing Bridge, and ended our day with a bit of shopping at the St. Jacobs Farmers' Market.

Eastern Canada road trip - L'Anse aux Meadows

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In the last decade of the 1400s, two Italian explorers set off to chart a new route to the Orient, seeking their fortunes in the trade of spices from the East. Financed by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain, Christopher Columbus was the first to set sail, departing from Palos de la Frontera in 1492 with three ships and the promise of great wealth and power over land and sea if the voyage was successful.

In early October, after spotting land for the first time in five weeks, Columbus made landfall in the Bahamas. While on the island, which he named San Salvador, Columbus caught a glimpse of one of the great treasures of the New World - gold. No route to the East was found, however, Columbus returned three times to explore the islands and coastlines of Central and South America. 

A fellow Genoese navigator, John Cabot, was the second explorer to set sail across the unknown. Departing from Bristol, England with a royal patent from King Henry VII, Cabot's first voyage to discover a route to the East was a failure and he was forced to return after battling bad weather and running low on supplies.

Sailing on the Mathew on his second voyage, however, Cabot went ashore on June 24, 1497 on the coast of North America. The location of Cabot's landfall is disputed - it could have been Newfoundland, Labrador, Nova Scotia or the United States - and it lasted only a brief moment. After standing on land in the New World one time, the rest of Cabot's exploration was made from aboard the ship as his crew traveled along the coast. Cabot made a third journey to North America but little is known of the trip.

And so, for more than four centuries, credit was given to a pair of Genoese explorers for the discovery of the Americas despite Norse sagas, which claimed the Vikings were the first Europeans to reach the New World some 500 years before Columbus.

In 1960, in a small fishing village on the tip of the Great Northern Peninsula of Newfoundland, resident George Decker led Helge Ingstad to what the locals believed to be an 'old Indian camp'. Helge, an explorer, and his wife Anne Stine, an archaeologist, were searching for Vinland, a place mentioned in Norse sagas as the settlement established by Leif Erikson around the year 1001.

Seven archeological excavations, led by Anne Stine Ingstad, unearthed the remains of eight buildings at L'Anse aux Meadows, including dwellings, workshops and a smithy. It is believed that the intriguing and fierce Vikings lived and worked in sod buildings for a short period of time.

Presently, L'Anse aux Meadows is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the only conclusively proven Norse settlement in North America and the place where the first noted presence of Europeans is found in the New World.

Although the original excavations were reburied to protect the site, you can tour a recreated version of the Norse settlement and view the ruins of the original camp. Visit the Interpretation Centre to learn more about Leif Erikson and the Vikings who lived at L'Anse aux Meadows more than 1000 years ago.

The original ruins, reburied to protect the site

There is a beautiful coastal hiking trail at L'Anse aux Meadows. Although it drizzled during the tour of the settlement, our guide promised that the rain would soon stop. He was right. As we headed out on the hike, the clouds scattered and the sun came out. The wind was brisk. A stunningly gorgeous afternoon emerged. In the beginning, the trail followed the rugged coastline, over rocks and hills, up stairs and then down again. Eventually it turned inland and boardwalks led over bogs and marshes, where we enjoyed fresh cloudberries and a close encounter with an enormous moose. 

In the mountains of France

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Somewhere in the French Alps there is a small village.  Situated between the Mediterranean Sea and the city of Grenoble, it lies nestled under the shadow of ancient ruins and along the shores of a river with turquoise waters. Away from the bustle of city life, forgotten by time, its charming streets ramble between old buildings, alongside doorways, beneath the flapping of laundry drying in the spring breeze.

Window shutters and doorways are a pop of colour on the sun bleached stone buildings. The river water moves swiftly, the kayakers are there for a moment and then gone. The views from the top unparalleled - waving grasses, towering stone ruins, fields of green, tiled rooftops and distant mountains.

Photos also taken by Gary and Victoria.

Eastern Canada road trip - Churchill Falls to Blanc Sablon

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There is almost 1000km of road from Churchill Falls to the ferry crossing to Newfoundland at Blanc Sablon, most of which is dirt packed.  A lot of focus was placed on road conditions during this part of the trip - for good reason. Driving on winding gravel roads is a challenge and not for the faint of heart!

Trucks rush past at more than 100 km/hour, sending enormous rocks flying in all directions. Stones as large as small mountains stick out of the ground, just waiting to puncture the tires. Gigantic potholes the size of small lakes rattle the car and the nerves. Gravel that seems to think it knows where you want to go, desperately grips your tires and pulls the car towards enormous cliffs on both sides of the road.

A couple of tips we picked up along the way:

  1. Drive fast. Seems counterintuitive but it works (somewhat). The car seems to fly over the rocks and holes instead of taking air over each stone and crashing through each pothole.

  2. Slow down when a truck approaches, especially in Quebec where they seem to drive extra fast, in order to lessen the impact of the rocks hitting the windshield.

  3. Don't try to speed up too much on an uphill as the gravel becomes especially tenacious and grippy.

  4. Don't make too many sound effects. The passengers almost certainly feel like they are on a roller coaster ride that just might go off the tracks and discomforting sounds from the driver are likely to add a heightened sense of danger.

 

The most beautiful stretch of road in all of Labrador

North West River

At the Labrador Interpretation Centre in North West River we learned about the Innu and Inuit aboriginals, who have resided in Labrador for over 6000 years. In 1743, fur trader Louis Fornel established the Northwest River settlement. This was the beginning of the fur trade between Europeans and aboriginals in the area and it encouraged new settlers and Métis to populate the region.

Beautiful scenery at a lookout in North West River

North West River Beach

Happy Valley-Goose Bay

We spent the night in a campground in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, where the kind landlady warned us of wandering bears. Her advice for what to do if a bear started sniffing around? Get into the car and lean on the horn. Yes, we thought, but first you have to get from the tent to the car, past the hungry bear. Needless to say, we didn't sleep too well that night.

The scenery between Happy Valley-Goose Bay and Blanc Sablon changed dramatically as we drove south along the coast. From a sea of trees, the landscape changed to include open fields of grasses and later to undulating hills of green. The ocean began to appear in brief glimpses. The first iceberg we'd ever seen drifted slowly in the current.

Red Bay

A storm began to roll in as we entered Red Bay, an historic whaling community where Basque whalers returned year after year to exploit the abundance of whale oil, a source of light in Europe at the time.

A shipwreck, the ‘San Juan’, a Basque whaling ship, can be seen off the coast of Red Bay. At the Red Bay National Historic Site, artifacts from the shipwreck and the whaling community prove that Basque whalers did live and work in Canada at one time.

Blanc Sablon

Although the sun was shining by the time we left Red Bay, we followed the storm south to Blanc Sablon. We managed to catch the last ferry of the day to Newfoundland. A good thing too - the weather was so bad the next few days that all ferry crossings were canceled.

Read part one, part two, part three and part four of our trip.