According to travelationary, Saint John is the second largest city in the eastern Canadian province of New Brunswick, a major port on the coast of the ice-free Bay of Fundy with the highest tides on the planet. For centuries, this land belonged to the Mi’kmaq and Malesite tribes, until in 1604 the French traveler Samuel de Champlain, the future founder of Quebec and the first governor of New France, arrived here. It happened on June 24, the day of John the Baptist, after whom Saint John was named.
In 1755, the French, who took the land from the Indians, were in turn asked by the British, and soon the Americans landed in the city harbor to the heap – at once 14 thousand people who fled from the hungry post-revolutionary Massachusetts. It is no wonder that the culture of Saint John is a bizarre mix of many national traditions. On its streets, colorful wooden houses, red-brick mansions and stone temples coexist, but the most impressive thing is nature: rocks, long beaches, river valleys, lakes and waterfalls.
How to get to Saint John
It is most convenient and fastest to fly from Ottawa or Montreal. Aeroflot and Air Canada are brought to the Canadian capital from Sheremetyevo (15 hours, transfer in New York), from there to St. John – 1.5 hours of flight with Porter Airlines. TAP Portugal delivers to Montreal from Domodedovo (16 hours via Lisbon), then – 1 hour 15 minutes with Air Canada.
According to usaers, Saint John Airport is located 15 km northeast of the center, you can get there by taxi (from 30 CAD) or bus number 32 in 15–20 minutes. The prices on the page are for June 2021.
Transport
The city bus network consists of 23 routes, buses run from Monday to Saturday from 6:00–7:00 to 22:00–23:00. Tickets can be purchased from the driver, travel cards and cards for 10-20 trips are sold at the carrier’s offices, kiosks and supermarkets.
All taxis are metered, the standard fare is 5 CAD per landing plus 1-1.60 CAD per kilometer.
Cuisine and restaurants in Saint John
Favorite local dishes are fish (especially salmon), oysters and lobsters. Old Acadian recipes are also popular: friko stew with chicken, carrots and celery, crispy potato crepes, venison pie, deep-fried clams, sea scallops in wine-cream sauce, apples in dough with raisins and cranberries. Plus, a side dish of boiled and fried in butter fern shoots – the legacy of the Mi’kmaks.
The local “putin” (emphasis on the second syllable) is not at all French fries with cheese and gravy familiar to other Canadians, but for some reason boiled potato dumplings stuffed with spicy pork.
Saint John has many cafes and restaurants with Canadian, Italian, American, Asian, Arabic and Mediterranean cuisine, as well as craft family breweries. The average check for lunch in a cafe is 20-30 CAD per person, for dinner in a restaurant – 40-60 CAD, excluding alcohol. In October and February, as part of the Chop-Chop Gastroweeks, eateries offer sets at a fixed price from 12 to 35 CAD.
Attractions Saint John
The central square is Royal Square with an elegant fountain, gardens and a historic Loyalist graveyard. Nearby is the keel-roofed, red-brick market dating from 1785, the oldest continuously operating market in Canada. And the Carlton Tower (1812) is one of the 9 martello defense structures that survived in the country.
The Anglican Church of the Trinity (1783) is an example of the Gothic style with stained-glass windows and a weather vane in the form of a gilded fish.
The most famous theater is the Imperial, where Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Greta Garbo performed. The Loyalist House, once owned by the wealthy Merritt family, retains its original Victorian furnishings. Museum of New Brunswick (off. site in English) – 6 thousand square meters. m with exhibits from the field of biology and geology, the hall of whales and an impressive collection of arts and crafts from the coastal provinces. Also noteworthy are the Center for the Arts (off. site in English), museums of the Police and Jewish culture.
But still, the main treasure of St. John is its incredible nature. For starters, it’s worth taking a boat tour of the Bay of Fundy, home to 15 species of whales (including beluga whales, killer whales, blue whales and humpback whales) and 34 species of birds. Irvine Park, which stretches along the bay, with beaches, rocks, forests and swamps, you can watch birds, seals and porpoises (not to be confused with pigs).
At Reversible Falls, the St. John River reverses during high tides. Stonehammer Geopark is protected by UNESCO, and Rockwood Park with lakes and an exotic zoo is one of the largest and most picturesque in Canada.
