You enter through a stone gate. The Narrows, a tight passage between two cliffs, open just enough to let the ship slip into a perfectly sheltered harbour, and suddenly the city appears: rows of houses painted every colour, clinging to the slopes beneath the lookout of Signal Hill. Few ports offer such a theatrical arrival as St. John's, capital of Newfoundland and Labrador and one of the oldest cities of European origin on the continent.

Moored downtown

Ships dock along the edge of the harbour, right downtown. No shuttle needed: the shopping streets begin at the end of the gangway, and the lilting accent of Newfoundlanders does the rest of the welcoming. Water Street, one of the oldest commercial streets in North America, runs along the harbour with its pubs, bookstores and artisan shops. One street up, Duckworth Street lines up galleries and cafés, while the famous candy-coloured houses of Jellybean Row brighten every climb. Everything is explored on foot, accepting the hills from the start: your calves get a workout, your eyes a feast.

Signal Hill and Cabot Tower

At the top of the hill guarding the Narrows, Signal Hill National Historic Site crowns the city. It was here, in 1901, that Guglielmo Marconi received the first wireless transatlantic message, sent from Cornwall. Cabot Tower, built in 1898 for the 400th anniversary of John Cabot's voyage, overlooks a panorama that takes in the ocean, the jagged coastline and all the colourful rooftops. The more athletic climb by the North Head Trail, a spectacular path clinging to the cliffs above the Narrows; others go by taxi or excursion, then walk back down to the Battery neighbourhood, whose houses on stilts almost touch the water.

Museums, cod and traditions

Above downtown, The Rooms, a building inspired by the fishing rooms of old, brings together the province's museum, archives and art gallery. Its halls tell of millennia of human presence, from the Beothuk to the fishermen of the Grand Banks, and its glass wall offers one of the finest indoor views of the harbour. Back down by the port, you taste tradition: fish and chips made with fresh cod, pan-fried cod tongues for the curious, and perhaps a screech-in ceremony in a pub on George Street, a tiny street famous for its concentration of taverns where fiddles and guitars tune up as evening falls, and where visitors kiss a cod and become honorary Newfoundlanders amid collective laughter.

Cape Spear, at the edge of the continent

About twenty minutes' drive to the south, Cape Spear marks the easternmost point of North America. The 1836 lighthouse, the oldest surviving in the province, keeps watch over spray-swept cliffs. In season, whales and seabirds animate the open sea. The excursion combines easily with Petty Harbour, a fishing village nestled in a neighbouring cove, or with Quidi Vidi, a maritime hamlet tucked within the capital itself, where a microbrewery makes iceberg-water beer in a former fish shed.

Planning your hours ashore

Through the Narrows in reverse

At departure, the whole city seems to draw close for a final farewell: the cliffs close in, Cabot Tower passes above the deck, then the Atlantic takes over again. You leave St. John's with a memory full of colours and, often, a quiet certainty: this strong-willed island has offered only a foretaste, and the story deserves a sequel.