Quebec Provence, Part 1 of our Autumn Cruise
Montreal
We got in on a Saturday afternoon after a taxi ride that took for EVER - longest ride in a long time due to traffic. Our hotel is kind of close to the old town and close to a food hall called Time Out Market which is part of an international chain we discovered in Capetown, SA. We dump our luggage and headed for the food hall. Turns out it is in a shopping mall called Eaton Center. After a nice Spanish meal we wanderd the shopping center some and then headed out in the cold (40s and windy) to old town. After a longer than expected walk we are in the old town area. Unfortunately, some of the roads are being rebuilt so areas aren't that accessible, but we still find shops to explore. Starts to look like rain so we head to a bar/restaurant for a drink while the rain passes. It is now dark outside so time for another selfie! Back to the hotel where we eat dinner and head to bed. Next day we have a food tour with Secret Food Tours planned.
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| Host of the 1976 Olympics |
The starting point is over a mile away, so we grab an Uber and get up to the mile end neighborhood where the tour is. We meet in front of a bakery which is our first stop. There are 11 of us on the tour and surprisingly 6 of us are getting on the cruise ship the next day. The bakery is so good Jeff and I went back after the tour and bought more stuff. Our tour got us a white chocolate brioche mushroom - it is in the shape of a mushroom and is quite good. Then we are off for gnocchi. The gnocchi is nice but the real show at this spot is their sauce which is really good - kind of St Louis style with a hint of sweetness to it! The business produces 250-300 litters a day and opened the tiny storefront to introduce their sauce to people. From there we head to a bagel place which was started by a Holocaust survivor. These bagels are straight from the oven. I enjoyed it; Jeff who doesn't like bagels, not so much. Next off to a Chilean place for empanadas. I had a baked chicken one and Jeff had the fried cheese one which was much better. Then off to Poutineville for poutine which is something I had never had but wanted to experience. I enjoyed it, but definitely a cold weather food! For the uninformed, it is French fries (these were crisp on the outside) with brown gravy on top, then cheese curds and an option for a smoked meat on top. I enjoyed them, but it was a heavy dish. We ended with cannoli and a choice of a hot drink at our final destination. I had a traditional ricotta one since I wanted hot chocolate to drink. I was tempted by the lemon flavor but worried it and hot chocolate would not go together.
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| Left Guillaume Bakery Host of Feed Phil featured both: St. Viateur Bagel & Gnocchi Della Nona |
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| St. Michaels church has a dome based on 6th century Hagia Sophia Church The Irish community that built it included clover petals in the glass windows on front and dome. |
After the tour Jeff and I leisurely walked back to the hotel; checking out the occasional store along the way.
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Enfant-Jesus Montreal |
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| Street murals are popular here, like in Europe |
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| This mural incorporated statues on the ground in front of it. |
It’s time to board Oceania’s MS Insignia
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| Autumn Allure 11 day cruise |
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| Sunset over Montreal |
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| U.S. Pavilion at Expo 67 |
Chocolate Mousse Burger “a unique desert”Apricot for the cheese and Amoretto muffin for the bun
Quebec City
Our first stop is Quebec City, Jeff and I were here with
Cierra back in 2008 for the city’s 400 birthday celebration, so we have fond memories of the place. Originally,
we were going to just wander around the town on our own but happen to glance at
the shore excursions and saw that they were going out in the countryside, so we
chose one. We went to St Anne Canyon and
to a winery on the Beaupre coast. This
would start one of the themes of this cruise – last cruise of the season. It is not just the last cruise of the season
for this line but for these cities in general.
I point this out now because technically St Anne Canyon was closed. I had noticed that little fact when I had
researched the excursion, so I wondered how this was going to work.
Happy to report St Anne Canyon was opened just for us. The visitor center was open enough so that we had a warm spot and bathrooms. The rides they have, and other activities were closed, but the hiking route was open and of course the falls and river were running. The write up said there was a short route you could do if the stairs were too much for you – we did the long route which I thought at first was the short one. We walked across the stream and could see the falls right nearby and then we walked further down and crossed again where the falls were more impressive. We stopped and read signs about how the early settlers had used the river. Pointing out how they had done a couple of things since the logs had a tendency to jam the falls up – blasting the rocks at the opening to widen it and then later building a log flume at one point. We had bundled up since it was only close to 40 degrees outside. Walking up the hill from the stream we warmed up, and unzipped our outer jacket (puffy coat, puffy vest and long sleeve shirt). After an hour we hopped back on the school bus to head to our next stop, a winery.
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| Looking down from one rope bridge to the other |
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Along the way, our guide pointed out old houses, root cellars and outdoor bread ovens. He also told us that the roofs are angled upward at the end so that melting snow would not fall down on you – little room between the falling snow and the house. Also learned that mansard roofs became popular because if a house was built with a steep roof with dormers could be modified with a mansard roof providing more room inside for growing families. At one time in this area, it was common to have anywhere from 10 to 20 children in a family.
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| Bread Oven |
The winery was basically on the coast but went back away
from the coast for 7 miles. We tried a
white wine, a red wine and an ice cider.
The scenery was pretty, and the presentation was interesting. Iced cider is a variation of ice wine. Apples, which they grow, are picked and then
allowed to dry out some before they press them like you would for hard cider
but by this time the sugar content is higher just like an ice wine would
be. We also tried their fortified wines
and bought a bottle of that. Back on the
buses for the trip back to the ship.
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| These grapes will be used for Ice wine. The netting protects the grapes |
Along the way we went past Montmorency Falls. We had heard they were impressive as they are 30m taller than Niagara Falls. We had also heard they weren’t that great. Passing by them on the main road we were happy we had chosen to go to the canyon.
After we ate lunch on the ship, we went out to explore the city which was right on our doorstep so to speak. We walked along the old, fortified walls for a while and some nice views including their citadel which took us back to the riverside. There we happened upon a promenade which we both realized was where we had eaten birthday cake and watched fireworks the first night we were here back in 2008. We were right by the big old castle looking hotel – Chateau Frontenac (Picture at top) so we wandered in to warm up and explore a little. Then back to wander around the city some more before it was time to get back on the ship.
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| UNESCO World Heritage Site due To preserving 4.6 K of fortifications |
Saguenay
The port of Saguenay appears to be a small town. Sort of correct, but not really because a few years ago 3 towns merged to form a new Saguenay, so it is bigger than first appeared, but it is an aluminum producing and tourism region. The tourism because it is beautiful in this area. There is a fjord, mountains for skiing, a lake and of course the St Lawrence waterway. Around the fjord is a provincial park and part of the water itself is a national park. We did an excursion to a park to do a hike that included a warning that there were 400 or so steps on this hike. As one of my compatriots laughed, they were being generous when they called some of them steps!
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| These were like steps, they later turned into random rocks |
We again visited a place that had already closed for the season, and we were the very last hike that the park ranger would be doing this year. We were given hiking sticks since it had rained the night before and the trail would probably be slippery in places. We start the hike and go just a short distance before we stop, and we can get a nice view of the water. Water as in the fjord. Fun fact a fjord requires 2 things: a canyon that was formed by glaciers and sea water.
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| Trees growing on rocks always amazes us |
Start off again and this time we stop under a large rock outcropping. Our ranger/guide explains how this is really just a small part of a much bigger rock that is underground here.
Then onward to our stopping spot. Along the way we all start dropping or unbuttoning layers. Most people were overdressed because it was freezing cold and very windy at the dock so they dressed for that not for a strenuous hike as the write up called it. Jeff and I did better than most but we still need to unbutton our top layer. We climbed up wooden steps, uneven rock steps and walked uphill till we hit a clearing where we stopped, learned more about the area and took photos. Surprisingly this area can be full of different types of whales during the summer, but we can only hope to catch a straggler or two now. There is a type of beluga whales that live in this general area year-round and come to this part of the fjord during the summer to calve and raise the young. Humpback, blue whales and orcas come to the St Lawrence area we are in during the summer to eat - following the food chain.
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| A rare sighting of a photographer |
Then we head back down which is easier and faster than our way up. We hop on our school bus for the hour ride back to the ship. Our guide on the bus points out local sites of interest as we go by. We are very close to the Atlantic Ocean, so this area is affected by tides. I say that because he pointed out an island that can be walked to during low time but requires a boat at high tide. We are near a ski resort and a large ice rink set up that is used by the Canadian National short track speed team for practice. Very much a year-round tourist destination for many, but just a summer one for me! We get back to the dock just a few minutes before boarding so we head on it while a couple of people run to a store to buy some chocolate covered blueberries the guide had told us about. At these first couple of ports we have been accompanied by our sister ship Nautica. She is at tender and leaves while we are still at dock although we are scheduled to be gone. We are there over an hour while the local pilot and dock workers endeavor to get us away from the dock in the high wind. We are finally able to pinwheel out and are on our way, but too late in the day for us to see a couple of local sites along the shore. Oh well, we are about to start our sea day.
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| The pilot must navigate to avoid land and whale habitat |
Sea Day
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| Fantastic Jack o Lanterns |
