L'anse aux Meadows
Terje was very excited at the thought of visiting L'anse aux Meadows, being a Norwegian of Norse descent.
To be fair so was i, it certainly is one of the places to visit on my "bucket list".
As i mentioned before we had sailed passed it earlier on our trip from Ship Cove to St. Anthony.
The site is run by the Canadian National Trust, or their equivalent.
Only rediscovered by Anne Stine and Helge Ingstad in 1960, after a they did a great deal of research into the Norse sagas.
The archeaelogical digs carried on until 1967.
It is now certain, Norsemen were in the area (they called it "Vinland", because they found wild vines growing in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick) from around 900 to 910, the first Europeans to land on the North American continent.
They only stayed for a short period, there are a few theories for this, the most accepted being, that the Norse came into conflict with the indigenous peoples in the area.....the "Mik Maq" and others.
It is thought they made the hazardous journey (the first boat took 87 days to find Newfoundland) from Greenland to "Vinland" to find a new source of timber............they certainly found plenty of that !!!!!!
Approaching the visitor centre we came across a bust of the two site founders
Then we were into the centre.
I noticed it was £20 to get in (for all of us), some dispute followed......we carried on walking into the centre and started looking at the exhibits. I have to say at this juncture, the lady behind the desk at the entrance was being harrassed by a stream of noisy school children. Onward and upward .......we casually moved on deeper into the centre. A large sign said......"Guided tour starts at 13:00 with Clayton". A discussion followed, should we....... should'nt we ??? ( i must add here our friends from Adventure - Brad & Lorraine had kindly lent us their hire car for the afternoon to visit the site, but wanted it back by 16:00).
We decided no, we have'nt time......especially as we wanted lunch on the way back from L'anse.
So, of we trundled, out of the doors down onto the timber decking that leads to the site by the ocean. Next minute up pops a Moose and her calf wandering through the bushes.
Carrying on through the scrub it opens out on the re-constucted bulidings they believe were here in 900 AD. A large amount of objects and artifacts have been discovered over the years, some of these have been copied and placed into the display.
The Settlement
Inside the reconstructed dwelling covered in turf
A statue on the beach near the settlement
Along every road in this part of Newfoundland are these massive stockpiles of logs.Speaking to our friends on the Whale watching boat, these piles are owned by individuals, they just pick up some more up whenever they need them. They never get stolen !!! Tim eat your heart out ......LOL
Terje was very excited at the thought of visiting L'anse aux Meadows, being a Norwegian of Norse descent.
To be fair so was i, it certainly is one of the places to visit on my "bucket list".
As i mentioned before we had sailed passed it earlier on our trip from Ship Cove to St. Anthony.
The site is run by the Canadian National Trust, or their equivalent.
Only rediscovered by Anne Stine and Helge Ingstad in 1960, after a they did a great deal of research into the Norse sagas.
The archeaelogical digs carried on until 1967.
It is now certain, Norsemen were in the area (they called it "Vinland", because they found wild vines growing in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick) from around 900 to 910, the first Europeans to land on the North American continent.
They only stayed for a short period, there are a few theories for this, the most accepted being, that the Norse came into conflict with the indigenous peoples in the area.....the "Mik Maq" and others.
It is thought they made the hazardous journey (the first boat took 87 days to find Newfoundland) from Greenland to "Vinland" to find a new source of timber............they certainly found plenty of that !!!!!!
Approaching the visitor centre we came across a bust of the two site founders
I noticed it was £20 to get in (for all of us), some dispute followed......we carried on walking into the centre and started looking at the exhibits. I have to say at this juncture, the lady behind the desk at the entrance was being harrassed by a stream of noisy school children. Onward and upward .......we casually moved on deeper into the centre. A large sign said......"Guided tour starts at 13:00 with Clayton". A discussion followed, should we....... should'nt we ??? ( i must add here our friends from Adventure - Brad & Lorraine had kindly lent us their hire car for the afternoon to visit the site, but wanted it back by 16:00).
We decided no, we have'nt time......especially as we wanted lunch on the way back from L'anse.
So, of we trundled, out of the doors down onto the timber decking that leads to the site by the ocean. Next minute up pops a Moose and her calf wandering through the bushes.
Carrying on through the scrub it opens out on the re-constucted bulidings they believe were here in 900 AD. A large amount of objects and artifacts have been discovered over the years, some of these have been copied and placed into the display.
The Settlement
Inside the reconstructed dwelling covered in turf
A statue on the beach near the settlement
Along every road in this part of Newfoundland are these massive stockpiles of logs.Speaking to our friends on the Whale watching boat, these piles are owned by individuals, they just pick up some more up whenever they need them. They never get stolen !!! Tim eat your heart out ......LOL
Awesome job on the blog Dude. Really enjoying following your fun and games. Enjoy it all and tell us all about it over a few pints when you make it over to us. Cheers mate!!!!!
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