Day 6: The Rock

Day 6: Blanc Sablon to St. Anthony, NFLD

It's so nice to be driving on paved roads now !

It is very cold at the east coast..even in August.  The morning temperature was around 5°C, so we needed to pull out our down jackets.  Our ferry left Blanc Sablon at 9:00 am, or 10:30am NFLD time.

We made reservations for the 28km ferry trip, and were glad we did since there were tons of people waiting on stand-by who didn't make it across without a reservation.  The ferry crossing took 2 hrs, arriving at St. Barbe, NFLD at 12:30pm, losing 1.5 hrs due to the time difference.  We had breakfast on the ferry, and ready for an exciting day at L'Anse aux Meadows

MV Apollo Ferry - As we leave Blanc Sablon, QC to St, Barbe NFLD

Waiting to load the car to the Ferry

 L'Anse aux Meadows is the location of the first Viking landings in North America.  The vikings first went to Iceland, then to Greeland.  Since there was not enough lumber and iron ore in Greenland, they ventured west towards Baffin Island, then to Labrador.  The vikings finally settled at L'Anse aux Meadows and made a basecamp for future exploration of North America.  They ventured south to find grapes, lumber, and butter nuts but eventually abandoned their camp for unknown reasons.

Aside from all the beautiful views, it was a truely exciting experience to see this in person.  Many of the previous building locations have been preserved as they were.  The raised mounds you see in the pictures below are the foundations of the buildings, and the 1 reconstructed building is an example of how the buildings looked.  After the fantastic guided tour, we ate dinner at a local restaurant.

Tomorrow we have to wake up early and leave for Gros Morne National Park

Apparently this could have been a Sauna

One of the reconstructed buildings

The fire pit in the chief's house

There's a nice walk along the coast at L'ans aux Meadows

Some viking and Marg