Day 8 - La Ville de Quebec

The living area of the Airbnb

It was raining when we left the B&B.  We had had a comfortable night although I did worry about the squeaky toilet door as there was a person sleeping right next to it.  Out the back door we could see a huge pile of snow.  The little flat had been renovated and was warm and comfortable.

Snow out the back

It was a shock to go outside, firstly it was only about 7 degrees and secondly there was steady rain.  Undeterred we drove up the cliff side to Vieux Quebec, found a place to park, wrapped up warm with jacket, cap, gloves and raincoat and off we went exploring.  Vieux Quebec is a walled city like you would find in France.  It was founded as the capital of New France and was French until the Briish defeated them on the Champs de Abraham (Plains of Abraham).  It is better translated as the Fields of Abraham and refers to an area which an early farmer grazed stock and grew things.  It is now a lovely park where the natural features have not been disturbed.  At the highest point of the area there is a citadel that the British built as there was war against the Americans in the early 19th century.

Our accommodation on the bottom floor

Outside the walls of Vieux Quebec is the Parliament which is a beautiful building.

Vieux Quebec very much reminds one of older part of a village or town in France where part of the town has the old part surrounded by the wall. The buildings were very similar and where they have put new buildings up they have kept the style.

Normally there are many tourists but the weather and time of the year meant the streets were relatively empty as were the restaurants and shops. In fact it was mainly school groups who were around.   After a walking tour of the city we walked down towards Vieux Port where we found a nice place to have lunch.  We were meant to go to something cheaper but it was wet.  It was clearly a local haunt as most of the people in it looked like locals.  We had a rather lovely meal; I had Taboulé to start and then Moules Frites.

It's wet and cold

Château Frontenac

Vieux Quebec from the Champs du Abraham

Rue Petit Champlain

just the right stuff for the day.  Bev had a rather yummy moroccan style soup and then Tagliatelli Cabonara.

Local Church

After that we went back to the car and drove to some falls called Chute Montmerency.  They were quite spectacular with a huge volume of water going over them due to the spring thaw..  During winter they are frozen and we saw a postcard of them later in a rather nice shop that we found in the park.

Top of the Chute Montmorency

Bottom of the falls.  Note the ice still there

The trip back to Montréal was as boring as the trip to Quebec.  Flat with little of interest and hardly a corner to drive around.

When we arrived at the Montagne Romaine, the host was outside waiting for us and indicated a place where we could park the car.  That involved driving across two lanes of traffic so that I could get into the right lane and then parking in a spot that required the assistance of two people.  It is amazing into what spaces one can get if there is another person around.

Michel, the B&B host gave us the same room as we had had last time we were in Montréal.  We finsihed the evening with a rather nice crepe from a little restaurant nearby.