L'anse Aux Meadows, Newfoundland, Canada

After leaving Red Bay on the Canada and Greenland cruise, our next port of call was L'anse Aux Meadows in Newfoundland. It is on the Great Northern Peninsula, i.e. the northern tip of Newfoundland island. The L’Anse aux Meadows National Historic Site is a World Heritage Site .

We anchored in the bay and took the tenders to Norstead.

By the jetty is the statue of Leif Erikson. Also known as Leif the Lucky, he was a Norse explorer who is thought to have been the first European to set foot on continental America -

Norstead is about 1 mile down from L'anse Aux Meadows National Historical Site and is a reconstructed Viking port of trade, with a replica of the Viking boat that sailed from Greenland. I went to the Norstead centre ticket office to use the wifi but it was very poor, so decided to walk around outside the site and to my surprise it led into the back door of Norstead. The replica Viking boat -

Exhibits highlight the Viking lifestyle, artifacts, locals are dressed in traditional Norse costumes -

The buildings are wood-framed covered with peat-turf, similar to those found in Norse Greenland and Iceland. The church -

Looking across to the tender, and some eider ducks -

I followed the trail which led up the hill to a view point over the bay, though it was foggy at times. Really soft underfoot, but dry. A nice walk. Many people were plastered in insect repellent and using nets, but I didn’t see a single fly of any kind.

Our ship in the foggy bay -

In the afternoon I didn't fancy going out to L'anse Aux Meadows, as I'd seen enough in Norstead. The settlement of L'anse Aux Meadows has been dated to approx 1000 years, so is an 11th-century Viking settlement. The site was discovered 1960 and includes the remains of 8 buildings, made of sod over a wooden frame. They were dwellings or workshops. Now there are 3 reconstructed Norse buildings. The archaeological remains at the site were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1978.

I went to have a look at the bay

The hill I walked up, as seen from the ship -