Newfoundland - Avalon Peninsula

 This is my third trip to Newfoundland and this time I'm focusing on only three places - Cape St. Mary's for the gannets, Elliston for the puffins and Fogo Island.   

Cape St. Mary's is at the southwestern tip of the Avalon peninsula, about 2 hours' drive from St. John's, but we made a detour to Bay Bulls on the east coast after arriving in St. John's early afternoon.  It was late June and the days were long so we were able to fit in a boat tour with Gatherall's in search of whales and puffins.  Bay Bulls is right next to the important Witless Bay Ecological Reserve.  There were quite a few whale sightings but nothing spectacular and except for a few in the water, the puffins were too far away for any meaningful shots.  It was cold on the boat but glad it was the only time I had to wear my packable down on the whole trip.

Humpback whales

Humpback with cub

Puffin flying over water

Plenty of Common Murres around

The colourful Gatherall's office

The one shot I got of Bay Bulls from the boat

 

We headed to St. Bride's with its one and only lodging, Capeway Inn which turned out to be a very nice well-equipped boutique establishment. Cape St. Mary's is only a 20 minute drive from St. Bride's and Bird Island, where the gannets are, was just a short 1.4 km hike from the parking lot.  We were lucky the island was not covered in fog as it was the last time I was there.  We spent a whole morning and part of the afternoon watching the gannets going about their business.  It was quite productive as you can see from the photos.  

Word of caution: bring some ready made food to St. Bride's.  We arrived too late for dinner as the one and only restaurant closed at 7 (we were lucky we had anticipated that and bought a roast chicken with us).  The following day we arrived at the restaurant at 5:30 and was told it closes at 5pm on Tuesdays.  The one convenience store was not open.  Good thing it was a big chicken!

The Cape St. Mary's headland with Bird Island (covered in white)

Closeup of Bird Island

Affectionate gannet couples

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Bickering ones too...

Bringing back nesting material

Other than these two stops and drive through impressions of small towns on the way, we didn't see much else on the Avalon Peninsula so can't really say I am providing a good picture of the Peninsula.  I am sure there are lots more to it than gannets and whales!

The following day we drove up the peninsula to Bona Vista in the rain - no problem for a travelling day. There were a few lookouts along the way - one that stood out was Seven Islands lookout off the Cape Shore Highway. Otherwise the four hour drive to Elliston was mostly flat.

Chile/Argentina - Buenos Aires Revisited

It was a short flight from El Chalten to Buenos Aires and since we thought we only have one morning in the city we had not planned anything.  But then we learned at the last minute that Air Canada had cancelled our flight home and we have an extra day in this city that I had visited for several days in 2017.  My travel companion had not really seen the city so we took a Hop-on Hop-off tour of the city.  Although we only really hopped off at La Boca we did get a quick tour of a good part of the city.  

I wasn't going to write a post on this because I thought I had covered a lot of ground in my first visit and had some leisurely intimate experiences at ground level, including a dance at a tango club.  But this time around, the bus tour gave me a bird's eye view that I didn't get when I walked the city in 2017, so there were not a lot of duplication other than in La Boca.  I was also able to dig up a lot of background on the images I took, thanks to Google  AI.  Technically this should be Buenos Aires 3.  I highly recommend that you check out the other two earlier posts:       https://travelswithrarecat.blogspot.com/search?q=buenos+aires

One thing I noted on the bus tour was the large number of corner buildings in the city.  Many of these are historical buildings.  I practically have a collection of them but only showing a few here - you can see the wide variety of architectural styles.  While I captured images of tango dancers in La Boca the last time I visited, this time we missed that as we visited in late afternoon and most of the tourists were gone - but I got a local kid playing basketball...😀  We were tired and eager to go home after 3 weeks on the road, but the extra day was still a treat in such a vibrant, colourful city.  

Monument of Julio Roca, former president

1926 building Edificio Sud America - Neo-Louis XVI style, austere lines and minimal decoration

Edificio Banco Comafi, formerly Palacio Italia America.  Venetian Neo-gothic by renowned architect Francesco Gianotti

An iconic art deco building - Edificio La Equitativa del Plata 1930s architectural landmark

Art nouveau landmark from 1916 also designed by Francesco Gianotti

SOMISA building - first building in the world constructed entirely of folded steel plate 1966-77

Obelisco de Buenos Aires

Ministry of Public Works with massive iron
mural of Eva Peron

Another historical building neo-classical and art deco blend by French Architect Eduardo Le Monnier 1928

Buenos Aires Metropolitan Cathedral with a distinctive neoclassical face columns that resemble a Greek temple rather than a traditional church, no spire, no dome - rather unusual

Casa Rosada - office of the President

Don Quixote sculpture - a gift from Spain for
Buenos Aires' 400th Anniversary

 We saw these all over the city - they look
like comfy benches but in fact are very hard
metal or concrete

Blue jacaranda tree with violet flowers

National Congress in a Neo-classical building

The stunning swing bridge Puente de la Mujer (Woman's Bridge) by architect Santiago Calatrava

     This is in the Puerto Madero district, with other contemporary buildings like the ones below

The historic ansporter bridge inaugurated in 1914 in the La Boca neighbourhood

La Bombonera stadium - homeground for the Boca Juniors football team

The corner buildings coninued in La Boca - below, the famous Caminitto Street area

Murals abound

This mural is on a public works pump station buildin with esgraffito (scratched relief).  The title etched on it "the neighbourhood I love" by artist Jose Palmiotti, Lalo Sussi.  This mural was referred to in the La Boca Museum

Typical La Boca buildings in vibrant colours

Three key figures depicted here - Eva Peron, in various poses with Charles Gardel, King of Tango  and Diego Maradona, legendary football player

First stop for tourists in La Boca - they all want to pose at the door!

A historical ting on the wall just on the street - Martin's Work day (at the docks)

Neighbourhood art

Lucky to catch this young player practicsing

This dazzling pasth takes you to a mix of shops and tenements

Argentina's 2022 FIFA World Cup victory memorialized 
in this mural of Lionel Messi kissing the trophy

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Caricature of Juan Carlos Altavista, famous Argentinian actor 

Immigrants at the docks - local history depicted by artist collective in La Boca

From the wilds of La Boca, we returned to downtown Buenos Aires and couldn't resist going into the Galerias Pacifico, just round the corner from our hotel.  The glitzy interior was a nice change after the urban grit of La Boca.

This wraps up our 3 week Patagonian Roadtrip.  It was exhausting but the variety of experiences we encountered was thoroughly worth it!  Thank you for coming along for the ride.