Momboisse Family Adventures, Saint John, New Brunswick

Bar Harbor, Maine
175 Nautical Miles from Boston

Well, Bar Harbor wasn't to be.  Our ship arrived at 5:45 to thick fog.  With this being a tender port, the captain aborted the call and we pulled up anchor and set sail for New Brunswick.  Above is our best picture of Bar Harbor, Maine.  On to Saint John...

Thursday, September 28, 2017

Saint John, New Brunswick
127 Nautical Miles from Bar Harbor, Maine

View of Saint John Harbor Bridge & Crown Princess from Carleton Martello Tower

Saint John is the port city for the Bay of Fundy in the Canadian province of New Brunswick. Native people inhabited the Bay of Fundy and Saint John River area for thousands of years. In 1604, Samuel de Champlain of France was the first European to discover the mouth of the Saint John River.

For the next 120 years, control over this area constantly switched between France and Great Britain. At the close of the Revolutionary War in 1783, American loyalists of the British left the colonies and established two settlements at the mouth of the Saint John River.  Two years later the two were incorporated by Royal Charter and named the City of Saint John.   
  

It was an overcast morning on our first day in Canada.  The Crown Princess docked alongside the Marco Polo Cruise Terminal and we set off on a three hour bus tour booked through Princess Cruise line ($65 per person). 

Dressed as a Loyalist, our guide remained in character the entire tour.  Our first stop, Canadian National Historic Site, Carleton Martello Tower.

During the 19th century, the British built martello towers to defend their coastlines.  In1812, British Captain Gustavus Nicolls concluded that Saint John was vulnerable to a land attack from the west, so he recommended a martello tower constructed on Carleton Heights.  The War of 1812 ended before the tower could be completed.  It did however play a role in conflicts from its completion in 1815 until 1930 when it became a Canadian National Historic Site.

2017 marks the 150th anniversary of when the British colonies of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick united into one to create the Canadian Confederation, called the Dominion of Canada.  

So during the entire year of 2017 all historic sites in Canada are free to the public. Unfortunately, the martello tower was undergoing restoration and no one was allowed inside.   

We enjoyed an overcast view from Carelton Heights back toward the Marco Polo Cruise Terminal, 

a nice view of Our Lady of the Assumption Church (Catholic), and a musket demonstration.     

 

Our next stop  Falls View Park, considered the best vantage point in Saint John to view the phenomenon called Reversing Rapids. 

Our tour guide explained that the Bay of Fundy reverses the flow of the St. John River around  Reversing Falls Bridge twice each day. 

And that there is a deep underwater ledge below the surface of the Saint John River that causes the water to fall over 175  feet when the tides are at full flow.  Apparently this looks something like a reversing falls, hence the name.  

Though this is one of Saint John's big attractions, when we were there it was pretty calm. 

We did however have a very good view of the Irving Pulp & Paper mill that has been at this location since 1946. 

Our next "stop" was Fort Howe.  This was built by the British shortly after the American Siege of Saint John in 1777. Our tour did a drive by - so here is Fort Howe as seen from our bus window. 

Back on the edge of Old Town Saint John, our tour stops at the 140 year old City Market, 

Canada's oldest working farmers' market. It is currently undergoing renovation.  This is what it looks like without the scaffolding. 

At this location we were given 45 minutes to shop.  

With a cup of coffee in hand we walked outside the Market to 

King's Square, a public garden surrounding the King Edward VII (British) Memorial Bandstand.

 Monument to the Canadian Merchant Navy  

Monument of Sir Samuel Leonard Tilley
one of the Fathers of the Confederation 

Back on the bus we drove down historic Prince William Street

 past quaint homes and 

churches. 

Back on the Crown Princess we felt that if we had the opportunity to do this all again, we would not have taken the cruise tour, but a self-guided walking tour of Historic Saint John using our tinyURL, and this map put together by Discover Saint John.  

 

Dinner by the window watching
 Saint John fade away while we enjoyed 

our dinner of Surf & Turf (petite filet mignon, prawns, and asparagus) with wine from Chile.

Tomorrow Halifax, Nova Scotia. 

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For an interactive map and guided walking tour covering many of our tours please be sure to download the GPSmyCity App from the iTunes store. The App covers an extensive library of articles and walking tours from over 470 cities worldwide, and now features articles from Adventures of a Home Town Tourist covering Carmel and Monterey (with more cities on the way).

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Photography (with iphone 5s) by L.A. Momboisse and R.M. Momboisse unless otherwise listed below:

Interior of the Carleton  Martello Tower Wikipedia
Picture of the City Market without scaffolding Wikipedia