Eastern
Regions
Throughout the east coast of Canada are four provinces:
Terranova, the Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia and New
Brunswick. Excepting this last one, of clear French influence,
the other three regions were the first to receive the
British settlers. The common denominator here is the attractive
sea and a coast full of natural attractions, specially
the magnificent beaches of the Prince Edward Island, the
smallest province in Canada, located in the Saint Lawrence
gulf and accessible by a ferry service departing from
Nova Scotia or New Brunswick.
Charlottetown is the Island’s capital. It’s
necessary to visit the Province House and the Centre of
the Arts of the Confederation, where it is celebrated
every year the Music and Theatre Festival. Also several
sections are interesting by their coast and beaches, like
those of the Prince Edward Island National Park, Northwest
of the island.
Terranova has its own customs, folk music and a very particular
society that has little to do with the rest of Canada.
This island, of triangular shape and located to the Northeast
of the country, is little inhabited and its only source
of income is the fishing, thanks to its immense fish banks
coveted by all the fishing powers of the world.
Terranova’s main attractions are its Natural Parks,
like those of L'Anse aux Meadows National Historic Park,
the first place of the world recognized as "Patrimony
of the Humanity" by the UNESCO and the Gros Morne
National Park, in the western coast and with near 2,000
km square of mountains and fjords. The Newfoundland National
Park can also be visited, a suitable place to sail and
fish.
To the east of this park it’s the peninsula of Bonavista,
the first mainland point of North America that John Cabot
sighted in 1497. The capital of Terranova is St. John's,
one of the oldest cities of North America. It is worth
the trouble to visit his St John Baptist basilica.
The Labrador peninsula, in front of the Newfoundland Island,
is a land extension practically uninhabited, whose fishermen
towns can be visited by taking different ferrys that depart
from St. Barbe to Blanc Sablon, in the border with Quebec.
The province of Nova Scotia has in Halifax its capital,
opposite to Yarmouth, the second population in importance
of the region. The two cities are communicated by two
suspended bridges.
Halifax is the cultural and economic centre of the east
coast of Canada and has the second greater natural harbour
of the world, making it one of the most important commercial
and military bastions during the last centuries. In his
citadel, raised in the 19th century in a star shape, are
the remains of the rest of the old forts that were constructed
in order to defend the city. The St Mary basilica can
also be visited to see its polished granite needle, the
highest in the world, and the church of St. Paul. The
other city, Yarmouth, have its roots in a fishermen community.
This is the place where many of the tourist trips begin
by this region of Canada, because here is where the regular
ferries lines coming from the United States arrive.
The province of New Brunswick borders the States of Quebec
and Maine (USA) and is united to Nova Scotia by the Chignecto
itsmo. It was a territory that caused numerous confrontations
between English and French, until the British crown took
control of it in 1763. It has several interesting places
like Fredericton, a population that are the cultural and
social centre of the province, and St. John, the oldest
city of Canada, located in the Bay of Fundy.
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