Maggie in Newfoundland Again 2016: Day 23 Fogo Island

Today was another glorious sunny day! While we have had all four seasons in any given day, overall, the weather has been spectacular! This morning we had booked a tour of the Fogo Island Inn. We had tried to get lunch reservations but apparently we need to book that a week in advance!

As I’ve said, the Inn hasn’t won me over despite my want to like it. We approached the tour with an open mind and although I can’t say I LOVE it, in some ways I was a little more a fan on the way out than on the way in.

I can’t imagine what anyone could do for me in a hotel that I would be OK with paying them $5,000 a night. I did learn that the Inn is run more like an “all-inclusive”. All meals are included. They have local ambassadors who wait in the lobby to introduce guests to any and all of Fogo Island and all of that is also included in the cost. They provide a driver and will bring you wherever you want to go. If you want to go into Joe Batt’s Arm and eat at Nicole’s Café, they will bring you there and pick up the tab. It really is a full-service experience that supports the local economy. Now the little voice in my head kept insisting, “And well they should for $5,000 a night”, but I shushed her, and remained open to the tour. There were plenty of luxuries like remote control toilet seats (not kidding!! Who in the name of God can’t manage to put down their own toilet seat??), towel warmers and white noise generators (apparently guests were having difficulty sleeping because it was too quiet!!). Every detail was considered and local flavor comes through. Every piece of furniture, piece of art and handmade quilts on the bed are made locally and for sale. The Inn isn’t air conditioned but a wool shawl hangs beside every door, locally knit of course! The cushions on the chairs and couches in the common areas and rooms are the crocheted, round throw pillows, with the big button centres that graced every Newfoundland home of my youth. Here you are welcome to take one home for $350!!! I almost choked! But more power to them if they can sell them to tourists for that! Who am I to talk? I bought a rock! Even the wallpaper on the bedroom walls was specially made for the Inn and printed with local scenes.

The architect was a local man from Gander. We learned that he now lives in Norway but came back to complete this project. That actually made a great deal of sense when you looked around the Inn. The overall impression of the Inn was Ikea comes to Newfoundland. Clean and simple lines, funky but unobtrusive lighting, storage and decorative features all screamed Scandinavian influence.

There were some very interesting and effective architectural features in the floor to ceiling windows that take full advantage of the spectacular north Atlantic scenery, the vanishing point stairway that draws you to upper floors. The hallways that appear to go on forever in this surprisingly small Inn with only 29 room. The ceiling gets higher as you move down the halls and the tall thin windows actually get shorter. You really don’t notice until it’s pointed out, but it creates an optical illusion that makes the hall appear much longer than it is – very cool! My favourite feature though was the shape of the Inn. Not apparent until you see the fire escape map at the elevator, the building was designed as an X. It is intended to represent a cross-roads. A point where old ways meet new ways. Where locals welcome strangers. Pretty cool really!

I’ve often said that something was so much greater than the sum of its parts. I think this is the first time I have ever thought that something wasn’t as great as the sum of its parts! The Fogo Island Inn has loads to recommend it. Having visited it and each of its remote studios, there are things that I like and things that I think are clever and cool. I love that it is helping to resurrect a community. I just don’t think it fits into the local landscape as it might have, and I certainly can’t justify the cost with anything I’ve seen. Clearly its intended audience is the rich and famous.

Following our tour we had a few hours before our reservation with George and Valerie at Nicole’s Café. There was a hiking trail we hadn’t checked out on the other side of Joe Batt’s Arm so we were off to Etheridge’s Point and the hiking trail that leads past The Longhouse Studio, the only one we hadn’t seen. It was a great hike but by the time we returned to the truck it was hot enough to kill ya!

We are on vacation, and supposedly we’re adults, so we decided to have dessert before we went to dinner and went to Growlers for ice cream! On the ferry over the girl at the coffee shop told us we had to go to Growlers. She wasn’t wrong! I have never tasted ice cream so good! We had a grand chat with lady behind the counter who offered samples to help us decide. She brought out the woman in the back who makes the ice cream daily. In the end, despite her great help, I couldn’t decide and had a mixed cone with caramel in the bottom and rhubarb/strawberry sherbet in the top! Talk about worth the calories!!

When we met George and Valerie for dinner at Nicole’s we heard all about their day cod jigging and we talked about our experience of the Inn. The menu was problematic in that I could have ordered anything but finally settled on pan fried cod on a bed of split peas, cabbage, carrots and celery in a butter broth – ambrosia!! David chose a fresh pasta with pulled salt beef! Wonderful company, delicious food, shared wine – a perfect ending to our amazing time here on Fogo Island!