Quebec City

 29th September 2022

Breakfast this morning was a repeat of yesterday's paper bag edition with the only variation being the substitution of yoghurt for the old peoples fruit mush.

Before leaving Quebec we decided to have a walk back down the street that we dined in last night to see what else was there in daylight. 

Ave Cartier in daylight

Before travelling on to Montreal, we intend to call in to see the Montmorency Falls, which is sort of on our way. It is only 10 or so km from Quebec on the Northern side of the St Lawrence seaway, which is the path we have chosen to take to Montreal as it is more scenic than the Southern road.

Soon we were in the car park near the top of the falls and are pleased to report that the sun is shining, and today looks like it may be fine weather all day. T.he falls are quite spectacular with a huge volume of water flowing over them and many lookouts to get great views of the falls.

Map of the Falls Park

A suspension bridge crosses over the top of the falls giving a different visual perspective.

Looking back at Quebec City from the top of the falls

Our visit to the falls completed, we head back on to track to Montreal. We have decided to take a slower road that tracks along the Seaway as we are told it is a much more scenic drive. That is certainly the case, but it is also very slow. 

Driving along the roads here you are occasionally reminded that things are a bit different here, especially when you pass a ute with a mooses head on the roof racks. The rest of the moose appears to be in the back of the ute

By the time we got to Louseville for lunch at 1.45pm, we decided we would take a faster route to complete the journey after lunch.

Louiseville is a large agricultural based town along the seaway with a bit of a scarcity of lunch spots that were of interest to us, so eventually we decided on Restobar Brassette l'Ami, in the middle of town.

We managed to order our meal in broken French/English and were surprised with both generous serves and good quality food. I had the best hamburger I have had on tour so far.

It is still 2 hour to Montreal and the time is just past 2 pm, so we divert to a major road for the completion of our journey. We head to Montreal with mixed reports about whether it is worthwhile to visit. The lady at the last information centre told us that people currently avoid going there because of the massive road works, others have said there is little to see when you get there. Anyway, we have 2 nights booked so will make the best of it.

As we approached the city outskirts the traffic slowed to a halt. Our GPS offered a few different routes to our hotel to avoid congestion, but they we just confusing and of little help. Montreal is a huge construction site, there is hardly a road that we travelled on that did not have detours or several lanes closed and at peak hour on a Friday afternoon this was most unwelcome. John was driving and he was almost a nervous reck by the time we got to our hotel. Finally as we were approaching, we turned into the street where our hotel was located and were confronted with a roadblock, and our road appears to be a pedestrian mall allowing no traffic. We ended up parking in a side street and I took off on foot to try to find the hotel, how we could access it and where we could park our car. Eventually we sorted it out and checked in to Hotel St Denis in the Latin Quarter of Montreal.

Hotel St Denis

We temporarily park out the front to unload our bags and then have to park in a public carpark, not far away. Hotel St Denis is old, but renovated. the rooms are a bit bigger than the hotel in Quebec, it is typical of a European old city hotel. It is well located to take in the few highlights that Montreal has to offer.

This district is dominated by the University of Quebec and Montreal, with many annexes and campuses in the neighbourhood, including the University Hospital which is enormous. Students dominate the streetscape and restaurants and bars are focused on fast food and drinking.

Near our hotel, rue St Denis is wall to wall bars and restaurants catering to students

Our hotel with the barricaded mall just down the street.

Dinner is an approaching priority and John and I went for an investigation of the area to see if we could find somewhere to eat from a food perspective, and whether we would fit in, as we are just on the edge of one of the biggest gay communities in the World we are told.

None of the passed the food test, so after consultation with the front desk at the Hotel, we walked down to the old town around the Port area where we were told there were many restaurants better suited to our needs. Like all old towns, there are nice cobbled streets, lots of interesting old buildings and plenty of restaurants, as promised.

Old town

We chose the Pincette Restaurant at Auberge du Vieux-Port

The Scallop and Octopus appetisers were standouts

The streets were pretty quiet for a Thursday night as we left the restaurant and walked back to our hotel. One early impression we have of Montreal is the increased number of homeless people on the streets.

Tomorrow we looked like having more fine weather and therefore a good chance to really look around Montreal

Sightseeing in Quebec City

 28th September 2022

Today we had a previously booked activity that we decided to cancel. We were supposed to go to a Huron Village and spend around 4 hours including lunch, getting the history of the First Nations People. However, the rain severely curtailed our efforts to see the highlights of the city yesterday so we figured we need most of today to cover the lost time.

As promised yesterday when checking in, our breakfast appeared in a paper bag outside our room door at 8 am.

We took it downstairs to the "dining" room where coffee and tea were available and we could sit at a table. Unpacking the parcel was a bit of a voyage of discovery. Here is what we found.

There was a paper plate and plastic knife , fork and spoon with serviette, pepper and salt. An orange fruit pulp in a plastic container, obviously designed to be easily eaten by old people with few teeth. There was a hard boiled egg, a croissant, some strawberry jam, a popper of fruit juice and a muffin made of high strength concrete which rapidly found its way to the bin. We look forward to tomorrows selection with some trepidation.

Not to be deterred we set out ant 9.30am, have consumed various parts of the offering, depending on personal taste and depth of hunger.

The sun is shining and the forecast is for that to be the case until early afternoon when we may experience some showers. 

Once again we headed out on foot towards the Old City, looking forward to taking in the sights in daylight and without rain.

The main road down to the old village houses many of the sights of Quebec.

Ministry of Culture and Communications

Quebec Parliament House is very impressive

Carole and Sharon outside Parliament House

 

Part of the remains of the City Wall (under which we sought shelter yesterday)

Maison Jacquet , one of the oldest houses in the upper town, built in 1675-76

There are many beautiful old buildings along Grand Allee Est, and  St Louis before we ultimately arrive at the Chateau Frontenac, this time in daylight. It dominates the skyline at the edge of the upper town before the steep decline down the cliff face to the lower town.

A look towards the port confirms that both the Celebrity and Aurora Ships are still in port, and are now joined by a third cruise ship, the Viking Star. Naturally the streets are awash with tourists from these ships.

Harbour cruises are available a few times a day on this vessel

There are 2 options to get down to the lower town, a short funicular rail, or a series of steps. We opt for the stairs. The stairs lead to Le Petit Champlain district which is the main tourist area, packed with restaurants, gift stores, art galleries etc

Stairs down to Le Petit Champlain district

Funicular rail from the upper to lower town

The fine weather and cruise ships has increased the activity in town

Halloween decorations are everywhere

At the bottom of the stairs the road leads down to the port

The ferry from Levis that we tried to catch yesterday

Like in many cities we have visited there are some great murals

We had lunch in a nice tavern down in the port area which seemed to be popular with locals and some tourists. Most of the cruise ship passengers appear to have gone back on board for lunch.

Sharon and John at Louise Tavern

Unbelievably, the rain returned quite heavily during lunch. We stayed inside until it abated, then to have fine weather for our climb back up the hill and walk back to our hotel. Along the way it was hard not to take a few more photos of some of the many lovely buildings and sculptures.

By the time we get back to our hotel, we have walked around 13 km and everyone seems ready for a rest. It is just after 3.30pm, and we resolve to reunite at 5.30pm to have a look through the museum of fine arts across the road before our 7.30 pm dinner booking at a restaurant just around the corner.

Some of the art was a bit out there for me, but there were other parts of this exp=tensive gallery which had some great exhibits. It was pretty much all Canadian artists work on display.

Dinner was at Bistro B, nearby. The streetscape was interesting, I guess in keeping with art district we are in. The street lights were quite a feature.

Bistro B , behind the impressive street lights

Ave Cartier where our restaurant was one of many

It was a good menu, and we opted for the Guinea Fowl or Artic Char (fish). I had the Guinea fowl which was excellent.

Guinea Fowl

Tomorrow we are off to Montreal. We have now done around 4,000 km and still have a way to go.

Next Destination Quebec City

 27th September 2022

The sun is out again this morning, hopefully the rain will stay away. However, the forecast is for rain this afternoon.

A much nicer vista from Auberge Sur Mer

We have chosen to drive along the Route of the Navigators, a tourist drive that  follows the St Lawrence Seaway. It is not the quickest route to Quebec, but it is the most scenic.

It is low tide this morning exposing the rocky shore, this island in the middle of the seaway is obviously a favorite for the birds, and a future source of fertiliser

Our route takes us through a number of small and very scenic villages along the coastline, as well as some very good looking agricultural land with a few dairies and quite a lot of cropping.

We even saw a few goats

Navigation throughout our trip has been GPS on our phones, but wherever we get and opportunity, we try to get a large scale map. Our first opportunity on this leg of our trip was at the small town of Saint-Jean-Port-Joli, where we found a tourist information centre. 

Since entering Quebec Province, virtually nothing is written in English. If you are a tourist and don't read and speak French, then you are not catered for.

Fortunately the lady in the information centre spoke good English, but had run out of maps of Quebec Province. She gave us a number of other helpful isolated maps and brochures, all printed in French which should help us to Quebec and through to Montreal.

Information Centre Saint-Jean-Port-Joli

Actual time booked to stay in Quebec City is only 2 nights and there is a lot to see, so we decided to try to see the Montmorency Falls on the outskirts of Quebec to fill in time before we can check in to our hotel. The information centre advised that we could catch a ferry across the river at Levis, to avoid having to go all of the way into Quebec. It took us a while to find the ferry terminal and then we seemed to be the only car there wishing to catch it. Once we were informed it would be another 45 minutes before the next ferry we decided to give that option a miss and go through Quebec.

It was lunch time, so we called into a shopping centre along the way to get a light lunch in a food court. 

Emerging from the shopping centre we were greeted with rainfall. Whilst it was overcast when we entered we did not expect the weather to turn on us so quickly. Plans changed quickly and we set our course for our hotel in Quebec, hoping we would be able to book in early.

Whilst well located, the Hotel was not quite what we expected.

C3 Hotel art de vivre

The rooms are compact, more like what you would find in the older hotels in European cities and the decor is interesting. 

There is a common area downstairs where you can help yourself to tea, coffee and can sit down.

Breakfast is to be delivered in a paper bag outside your room, but you can then take it down to this area to eat it if you do not wish to eat in your room ?

The hotel is located across the road from the Museum of Fine Arts, so John is happy, and we are adjacent to one of the major tourist attractions, The Plains of Abraham where the major wars for control of Quebec were fought in the mid 1700's.

A quirky exhibit outside the Fine Arts Museum was and old CRT TV with a flame burning inside it.

It is fine at the moment but the risk of rain is high, so we head over to the Plains of Abraham for a quick look and point ourselves in the direction of the old town which is a walk of around 1.5 km, downhill.

There are two further annexes of the museum of fine arts on the Plains, so it is a big museum.

This is one of the Annexes

We will be back tomorrow to investigate in detail as it is already approaching closing time, and there is some urgency to get to the shelter of old town before it rains.

The Plains of Abraham is a huge park perched on the top of a steep coastal cliff, seemingly difficult to assault from the sea, but that is exactly what the British did to defeat the French in one of the battles of the seven years war. In the Battle of Quebec in 1759, the British were victorious, in one of the pivotal battles of the seven years war.

Plains of Abraham

It is an absolute haven for sqirrels

Joan of Arc Garden

The rain has started and there is some urgency to seek shelter. We are still quite a long way from the old town, so hopefully the rain will not get too heavy.

John seeking some respite under the trees

Whilst the rain was light at first it soon turned very heavy and we were pretty devoid of shelter so with only "waterproof" jackets and a couple of flimsy umbrellas we soldiered on. By the time we got to the arch of the city wall and joined all of the others seeking shelter, we were all pretty wet from the feet up.

It is only 5.30pm, sightseeing is not an option under these conditions, so we seek out a bar. Not as easy to find as you would think, but eventually we found a bistro that was happy to give us a table for an hour or so, so we could have a drink and relax.

Our watering hole for a few hours

By about 6.45 pm, the rain had abated and we headed off in the general direction of our restaurant, Bistro St Malo where we have a booking for 8 pm.

Chateau Frontenac, no doubt Quebecs most photographed building

From the viewing platform at the top of the funicular rail that takes you down to the old city, we can see the port. We are currently at the upper level of the old town with Chateau Frontenac just behind us.

There is a large Celebrity Cruise Ship in port and a smaller one "Aurora"

Walking towards our restaurant the crowds are thinning out and the streets quite bare. The ground is still very wet from the heavy rain earlier.

Parc Montmorency

Our dinner restaurant

We all enjoyed our meals, which were simple food cooked very well. Three of us had cassoulet and Carole has a seafood "stew", which was more like a bisque laden with seafood. A few deserts were also consumed.

We caught a taxi home from the restaurant, as the thought of taking on the steep climb back up to the upper town with full stomachs and the fear of further rain was too much for the team.