Still, the provincial capital of Newfoundland and Labrador (population 110,525) may be best discovered in fall and winter, when the absence of cruise ships means the crowd is more local. I stayed at the Alt Hotel, part of a Canadian chain that seems oriented toward hipsters. Think communal lobby space and contemporary decor. The real attraction, however, is outside the window. Some rooms have floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the harbor, which very much remains a working port.
The location is equally useful. Just about everything you’ll want to do and see is within walking distance, including the arena where the Newfoundland Regiment hockey team plays. Just be sure to pack comfortable shoes, as walkable doesn’t mean flat. In fact, the cityscape reminded me of San Francisco. Streets lined with colorful houses ascend and descend hills at steep inclines.
Many of the homes date from around the turn of the last century and recall San Francisco’s famous Painted Ladies. The comparison extends beyond paint and topography. Both cities were extensively rebuilt after catastrophic fires. In St. John’s, the defining disaster was the Great Fire of 1892.
Water Street, the main street in all but name since the 16th century, has mostly brick buildings with a slightly gritty patina that gives the downtown character and a sense of place. The Anglican Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, designed by famed architect Sir George Gilbert Scott, is one of North America’s finest examples of what A.W.N. Pugin called “true Gothic” architecture — the pointed arches are more than decorative.
After the 1892 fire devastated the cathedral, Scott’s son oversaw its remarkable reconstruction according to his father’s design. Had the fire come half a century later, a hideous postwar replacement would have been erected.