QUEBEC EAST (Quebec City, Montmagny, Sept Îles)
I entered Quebec from New Brunswick at the start of the Gaspe Peninsula. There was no border control and I simply drove in.
The architecture of the houses is very uninspiring – plain one story homes with vinyl siding, little colour, few flowers, no flower boxes.
GASPE PENINSULA
This is a peninsula along the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River to the east of the Matapedia Valley in Quebec. It is separated from New Brunswick on its southern side by the Baie des Chaleurs (Chaleur Bay) and the Restigouche River. The name Gaspé comes from the Mi’kmaq word gespe’g, meaning “end”, referring to the end of the land.
The Gaspé Peninsula is slightly larger than Belgium, at 31,075 square kilometres (11,998 sq mi). The population is 140,599 as of the 2011 census. It is also noted as being the only region outside the Channel Islands to contain native speakers of Jersey Norman.
Sea cliffs dominate the peninsula’s northern shore along the St. Lawrence River.
Cap Gaspé, jutting into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, is the easternmost point of the peninsula. Percé Rock (or Rocher Percé), an island pierced by a natural arch, is located just offshore of the peninsula’s eastern end. The peninsula’s interior is a rugged northward continuation of the Appalachian Mountains called the Chic-Chocs, with Mont Jacques-Cartier at 1,268 metres (4,160 ft) the peninsula’s highest peak.
Mount Albert (Mont Albert) at 1,151 m (3,776 ft)[6] is another high mountain in the Chic-Chocs. Its summit, an alpine area above the tree line, is a nearly flat plateau about 13 km (8 mi) across composed of serpentine bedrock and supporting a quite unusual flora. The ascent of Mount Albert from near sea level is challenging, but popular with hikers, offering a view of the St. Lawrence and the Côte-Nord, the river’s north shore, part of the ancient bedrock of the Canadian Shield.
The interior portions of the peninsula are dominated by the Chic-Choc Mountains, part of the Notre Dame Mountains, an extension of the Appalachian Mountains.
The town of Murdochville, at about 660 metres (2,170 ft) above sea level, has had a varied history, and is now home to several wind turbines. It is reached by Route 198, which extends inland from the northern shore of the peninsula, soon climbing into the mountains and entering vast forests, crossing several small rivers before reaching the town. From Murdochville, Route 198 follows the York River to the city of Gaspé on the peninsula’s eastern tip.
The economy of the peninsula has historically been focused on fishing, agriculture and forestry. However, primary resource based industries are suffering due to overfishing, overexploitation and fewer numbers of farmers in business, forcing the region to move towards tourism and the services industry.
The peninsula is one of Quebec’s most popular tourism regions. The Gaspé National Park (Parc national de la Gaspésie) is located in the Chic-Chocs, and Forillon National Park is at the peninsula’s northeastern tip. A section of the International Appalachian Trail travels through the peninsula’s mountains. Bonaventure National Park is located here. As of September 2018 the area also hosts Canada’s 3rd UNESCO Global Geopark – Géoparc de Percé.
Miguasha National Park. Miguasha National Park is considered to be the world’s greatest palaeontological record of fossils from the Devonian Period, known as the ‘Age of Fishes’. Five of the six main fossil fish groups from this period (dating from 370 million years ago) can be found here. A great quantity of some of the best-preserved fossil specimens of lobe-finned fish, ancestors to the tetrapods (believed to be the first four-legged air-breathing terrestrial vertebrates), were found here.
Miguasha was designated a World Heritage Site in 1999 in recognition of its wealth of fossils, which display a crucial time during the evolution of life on Earth. The museum’s collection includes over 9,000 specimens of fossil fish and plants.
The coastal cliffs are Upper Devonian strata of grey sedimentary rock. They are composed of alternating layers of sandstone and shale, which are 350–375 million years old. The area today supports mainly birch, aspen, and fir forests. Some of the fish, fauna, and spore fossils found at Miguasha are rare and ancient species. For example, Spermasposita is thought to be one of the oldest flowering plant genera on Earth.
Percé is a small city near the tip of the Gaspé Peninsula. Within the territory of the city there is a village community also called Percé. Percé, member of the association of Most Beautiful Villages of Quebec, is mainly a tourist location particularly well known for the attractions of Percé Rock and Bonaventure Island.
The area was within the traditional homelands of the Mi’kmaq people, who called the place Sigsôg (“steep rocks” or “crags”) and Pelseg (“fishing place”). In 1603, Samuel de Champlain visited the area and named the famous rock Isle Percée (“Pierced Island”). During the 17th century, the place was used primarily as a stop-over for ships travelling to Quebec.
Used as a seasonal fishing centre during the New France era, permanent settlement began in the early 19th century with the arrival of Irish, French Canadian, and Jersey natives. Percé became the most important fishing location on the Gaspé Peninsula after Charles Robin, a native of Jersey, began his fishing establishment. Old buildings of the Charles Robin Company can still be seen there.
Percé Rock is a natural rock formation located close to the shore facing the town. It is a natural tourist attraction for its size, colour, and unusual door-like hole at one end of the rock. It can be seen from any of the belvederes in the area including Mount Joli, Mount Sainte-Anne and Pic de l’Aurore. Tourists can walk up to the hole in the rock at low tide.
Bonaventure Island occupies an area of 4.16 square km facing the town of Percé. It is populated by one of the most important gannet colonies in the world and many other species of birds such as puffins, cormorants and murres also use the island as a home and breeding ground. In 1951, a second arch collapsed leaving the separated rock at the end.
Whale watching is also a popular attraction in local area, and most notably, North Atlantic right whales, one of the rarest whales, have concentrated off Percé in 1995
Forillon National Park is located at the outer tip of the Gaspé Peninsula and covers 244 km2 (94 sq mi). Created in 1970, Forillon was the first national park in Quebec. The park includes forests, sea coast, salt marshes, sand dunes, cliffs, and the Eastern End of the Appalachians.
This area was once used for its rich supply of wood. People living in L’Anse-au-Griffon were once involved in the lumber industry here. The creation of the park in 1970 was preceded by the removal of 225 families through expropriation.
This national park includes nesting colonies of sea birds and whales, and seals as well as woodland mammalian species which are red fox, black bear, moose, lynx, mink, coyote, woodchuck, porcupine, snowshoe hare, beaver, and ermine. Raptors that inhabit this park are great horned owls, northern harriers, peregrine falcons, kestrels, bald eagles, rough-legged hawks, and ospreys.
The Grande-Grave National Heritage Site attests to the way of life of fishing families. Forillon encloses the site of Fort Péninsule, near the Penouille beach. This fortification was built during World War II to protect the Gaspé bay, as was Fort Prével on the other side of the bay; had Germany conquered all of Europe, these forts would have sheltered British warships seeking refuge from German submarines. Visitors today can enter a tunnel to see cannon in place since that time.
The Cap-des-Rosiers Lighthouse is the tallest lighthouse in Canada at 34.1 metres (112 ft) tall. It is situated on the south shore of the Saint Lawrence River at the top of a steep cliff. Built in 1858, this lighthouse is one of a series of tall, tapering towers erected on the Gulf of St. Lawrence and on Lake Huron. The 112 foot structure is the tallest lighthouse in Canada; its stone tower faced with firebrick has walls over seven feet thick at the base, tapering to three feet at the top, with foundations extending to eight feet beneath the surface. A powerful light 136 feet above high water served as a major coastal aid for shipping headed int the estuary of the St. Lawrence from the Gulf.
Phare de Pointe-à-la-Renommée. This lighthouse is 20 meters above sea level, on a rocky point, called “Pointe à la Renommée”, which dominates the St. Lawrence River, south of Anticosti Island .
This formerly abandoned lighthouse was relocated in 1977 to Quebec City but was repatriated to its original site in Gaspésie in 1997.
Belvedere Jean Drapeau. I stopped at this lovely wayside park with gazebos and tables fronting a small lake.
Métis-Sur-Mer (pop 604). The name “Métis” is said to come from a Mi’kmaq word meaning “meeting place”; “sur-mer” refers to its location on the Saint Lawrence River.
From 1818, John MacNider, the Scottish Seigneur of Métis started settling the area with Scottish immigrants. This small one-street town parallels the shore. The Town Center dating from 1890, serves as the community hall.
Sainte-Flavie. Sainte-Flavie is the westernmost point of Route 132’s loop around the Gaspé Peninsula; it is here where the highway intersects with itself. This one-street town sits on the water with the 1878 grand stone Catholic church a highlight.
It is best known for The Grand Gathering, a changing group of over 100 crude wooden figures on the banks of and extending into the St Lawrence River.
Sainte-Luce-sur-Mer (pop 2,851). The parish was established in 1835. The name of Sainte-Luce was given in honour of Luce-Gertrude Drapeau (1794–1880), wife of the local notary, Thomas Casault, one the persons that established the seigneurie when the parish was canonized. The patron saint was Saint Lucy.
Because it had one of the nicest beaches in the area, it had the nickname of Sainte-Luce-sur-Mer. A long boardwalk runs the entire length of the town – beach and water on one side, parking, restaurants, shops, colourful houses on the other. There is a public piano at one end, a bathroom in the middle and parking at the church at the other end. The water is cold so people go for the view, water and sand.
Pohénégamook, Quebec / Estcourt Station, Maine. This is the northernmost point of the US outside of Alaska. Accessed from Canada, the “village” consists of one street of 11 houses, several for sale and some boarded up. Cross the pedestrian “International Bridge” over. the St Francis River to Canada and then back to Maine to drive around back to Canada.
Notre-Dame-du-Portage. One of the most beautiful villages in Quebec, the Roman Catholic Church was constructed in 1859. This village was distinctly different from any other in rural Quebec. Instead of drab architecture, this place is full of high end lovely houses.
Saint-Pacôme. Another village sitting on the St Lawrence.
Moulin à vent Vincelotte, Cap-Saint-Ignace. One of the last 18 windmills of Quebec and the only one between Bécancour and Gaspé . Date of construction 1690 made of field stone masonry with a diameter of 6.5m and a height of 7.4m. It has two levels. The door was wide open but there was nothing inside – so little that I doubted it had ever been a windmill. 
QUEBEC CITY
Old Quebec Funicular
Marché du Vieux-Port de Québec
Castles, Palaces, Forts: L’ilot des Palais
Basilique-cathédrale Notre-Dame de Québec
Cartier-Brébeuf National Historic Site
Plains of Abraham
The Fairmont Le Chateau Frontenac Hotel (Sight)
Passerelle des Trois-Soeurs
NOMAD MANIA Quebec East (Quebec City, Montmagny, Sept Îles)
World Heritage Sites
Historic District of Old Québec
Miguasha National Park
Sights (Temporarily Reinstated)
Les Iles de la Madeleine
Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean
Islands
Anticosti island
Ile d’Orleans
Rene-Levasseur island
Borders
Canada (Quebec)-United States
Canada except Newfoundland (sea border/port)
XL
Iles de la Madeleine (Quebec)
Pohénégamook/Estcourt Station
Railway, Metro, Funiculars, Cable Cars
Charlevoix Railway
Parc de la Chute-Montmorency Cable Car
VIA Rail Ocean (Montreal-Halifax)
Museums: Wendake: Huron-Wendat Museum
House Museums/Plantations: Lévis: Maison Alphonse-Desjardins
Religious Temples: Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré: Basilique de Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré
World of Nature
Forillon
Saguenay-St. Lawrence
Festivals
Festival d’ete de Quebec
Quebec Winter Carnival
Experiences: Taste Poutine
Botanical Gardens: Grand-Métis: Jardins de Métis (Reford Gardens)
Lighthouses
Phare de Pointe-à-la-Renommée, Quebec
Cap-des-Rosiers Lighthouse
Windmills
Cap-Saint-Ignace: Moulin à vent Vincelotte
Île aux Coudres: Moulin Desgagnés
Waterfalls: Montmorency Falls (Sight)
Caves: Grotte de Saint-Elzéar-de-Bonaventure
Hospitality Legends
Quebec – La Malbaie: The Fairmont Le Manoir Richelieu Hotel
Pedestrian Bridges
Quebec – Canyon des Portes de l’Enfer Footbridge
Maritime/Ship Museums
Havre-Aubert: Musée de la Mer des Îles de la Madeleine
L’Islet: HMCS Bras d’Or
Rimouski: Site historique maritime de la Pointe-au-Père
Aviation Museums: Sainte-Marie: Aviation Museum
Villages and Small Towns
Baie-Saint-Paul
Havre-Aubert (Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine)
Les Éboulements (Saint-Joseph-de-la-Rive)
Métis-Sur-Mer
Notre-Dame-du-Portage
Percé
Saint-Michel-de-Bellechasse
Saint-Pacôme
Sainte-Luce-sur-Mer
Tadoussa
Cities of the Americas
QUEBEC CITY World Cities and Popular Towns
Airports: Quebec City (YQB)
Railway, Metro, Funiculars, Cable Cars: Old Quebec Funicular
Museums
Musee de l’Amerique Francophone
Musee des Ursulines de Quebec
House Museums/Plantations: Maison Henry-Stuart
Castles, Palaces, Forts: L’ilot des Palais
Religious Temples: Basilique-cathédrale Notre-Dame de Québec
Entertainment/Things to do
Cartier-Brébeuf National Historic Site
Plains of Abraham
Aquariums: Aquarium du Québec
Maritime/Ship Museums: Naval Museum of Quebec
Hospitality Legends: The Fairmont Le Chateau Frontenac Hotel (Sight)
Markets: Marché du Vieux-Port de Québec
Pedestrian Bridges: Passerelle des Trois-Soeurs
SAGUENAY
Museums
La Pulperie
Musee du Fjord
House Museums/Plantations: Le Musée de la Petite Maison Blanche
GASPE PENINSULA
XL: Gaspe Peninsula (Sight)
Museums: Gaspe: Musee de la Gaspesie
CANADA – QUEBEC WEST (Montreal, Saint-Jérôme, Trois-Rivières, Sherbrooke)
St. Regis. The Canadian side of the Mohawk Nation at Akwesasne territory that straddles the intersection of international (United States and Canada) borders and provincial (Ontario and Quebec) boundaries on both banks of the St. Lawrence River. Most of the land and population are in what is otherwise present-day Canada. A small portion is also in the United States. Although divided by an international border, the residents consider themselves to be one community. They maintain separate police forces due to jurisdictional issues and national laws.
The community was founded in the mid-18th century by Mohawk families from south of Montreal along the St. Lawrence River. Today Akwesasne has a total of 12,000 residents, With settlement of the border between Canada and the United States in the early 19th century, a larger portion of the territory was defined as being within the United States. The portion in New York state is known as the federally recognized St. Regis Mohawk Reservation. The portion in Ontario is referred to as Akwesasne Reserve No. 59, and the portion in Quebec as Akwesasne Reserve No. 15.
Neuville (pop 3,888). A village on the north shore of the Saint Lawrence River, just west of Quebec City, it was founded in 1684, and remains picturesque. Neuville has an excellent marina for pleasure sailboats and yachts.
In 1653, the area was granted as a seigneurie and after 1716, the seigneurie was known as Neuville.
Cap-Santé (pop 3,000). The name of the town means “Cape Health”. Cap-Santé is on the northern bank of the Saint Lawrence River, 40 kilometres (25 mi) west of Quebec City. The first settlers arrived around 1679, and in 1714 the village became an official parish. The present-day church, a historical-registered building, was built from 1754 to 1767 and is one of the last buildings to be constructed under the French regime. The church has a facade and two towers and a baroque interior.
The Place de l’Église square is crowned with old wells dating back to 1799. Vieux Chemin street was built along the same geographical line as that Chemin-du-Roy, the first road linking Montreal and Quebec City in the 18th century. Wooden and stone homes dot the narrow and shaded street that borders the cape. The quay is on the Saint Lawrence River.
Champlain (pop 1,566). This is a municipality named in 1632 by Samuel de Champlain, founder of New France. A seigniorie was granted in 1644.
North Hatley (pop 750). Located at the north end of Lake Massawippi, it is part of the Eastern Townships region of Quebec, also known as Estrie or Cantons de l’Est in French. Locals usually have to drive to the nearby towns of Magog or Sherbrooke to find big-city amenities, although there are smaller stores and cafés in the town which are open year-round. It is also home to many artists and craftspeople, including Naisi LeBaron known locally for her “art naive” paintings of village life in North Hatley and environs, as well as local graphic artist Mellanie Beauchamp. Several Canadian Modernist poets, including F. R. Scott, Louis Dudek, Ralph Gustafson, Ronald Sutherland, and D. G. Jones, have lived in North Hatley.
Many of the first settlers around North Hatley were United Empire Loyalists, mostly farmers, who left New England in the years following the American Declaration of Independence in 1776. The village owes most of its great houses and particular architecture to its first aristocrats, and mostly Americans from south of the Mason–Dixon line.
Presbytere de St-Gregoire. This imposing grey black stone front has two bell towers. The main church is rough stone.
Île Perrot, Victoriaville. This island sits in the middle of the river that flows through Victoriaville. I could find no access.
Stanstead. Located on the Canada–United States border across from Derby Line, Vermont, it was created in 1995 by the merger of the former villages of Stanstead Plain and Beebe (formerly Beebe Plain) and the Town of Rock Island. Not only is Stanstead home to the Haskell Free Library and Opera House—the only heritage building deliberately constructed straddling the border between both countries—it also features Canusa Street, one of a number of streets in the world where the country border corresponds to the middle line marker, effectively making across the street neighbours residents of two countries.
Started in 1796, the town grew in the 19th century due to the influx of United Empire Loyalists and the development of the granite industry. The railroad reached Stanstead in 1871. Today its tracks have been transformed into bike trails owned by the regional government.
It is also the home of the Dairy Association Company, the manufacturers of Bag Balm.
Access to homes on Canusa Street is made through the Canada–US border. U.S. citizens residing there have to report to their customs if travelling south, and to the Canadian customs if travelling elsewhere in Beebe.
The Tomifobia River runs through the town of Stanstead, dividing the Canada–US border at times. Along portions of Canada’s Canusa Street, houses on the southern end of the street lie entirely within Vermont, while their driveways direct northward, and connect to the street in Quebec, as the northern portions of their properties are within Canada. These residents’ backyard neighbours are American, while families living right across the street are Canadian, though no noticeable boundary exists between the two (the street itself is entirely within Canada). In other places, the international border runs through individual homes, so that meals prepared in one country are eaten in the other. An entire tool-and-die factory, once operated by the Butterfield division of Litton Industries, is also divided in two by the border.
Rock Island is known for the Haskell Free Library and Opera House, deliberately constructed on the Canada–US border and opened in 1904. The original owners were a couple with dual nationality; Mr. Carlos F. Haskell was an American businessman from Derby Line who owned a number of sawmills, while Mrs. Haskell was born in Canada. The intent was that people on both sides of the border would have use of the facility, which is now a designated historic site. Visitors today may still enter the facility from the Canadian or American sides, though those who use it as a border crossing must report to their respective customs office.
It is a neoclassical building that straddles the international border in Rock Island (now part of Stanstead), Quebec and Derby Line, Vermont.
The library collection and the opera stage are located in Stanstead, but the main entrance and most opera seats are located in Derby Line. Because of this, the Haskell is sometimes called “the only library in the U.S.A. with no books” and “the only opera house in the U.S.A. with no stage”. There is no entrance from Canada; however, there is an emergency exit on the Canadian side of the building. All patrons and visitors must use the U.S. entrance to access the building. Patrons from Canada are permitted to enter the United States door without needing to report to customs by using a prescribed route through the sidewalk of Church Street, provided that they return to Canada immediately upon leaving the building using the same route.
A thick black line runs beneath the seats of the opera house and diagonally across the center of the library’s reading room to mark the Canada–United States border. The stage and half of the seats are in Canada, the remainder of the opera hall is in the US. The building has different postal codes (93 Caswell Avenue, 05830 and 1, rue Church (Church Street), J0B 3E2) and different telephone area codes (+1-802-873-3022 and +1-819-876-2471) in its two respective countries.
The library has a collection of more than 20,000 books in French and English, and is open to the public 38 hours a week.
I parked near the car crossing post, crossed the footbridge and turned right walking directly to the library. A row of flower pots mark the border. A guy in a truck flipped his siren when I stepped between the pots. The library is apparently closed because of covid. 
Province island (Quebec/Vermont) is an island mostly in the Canadian province of Québec, but 9% in the U.S. state of Vermont. It is situated in Lake Memphremagog. The island’s area is 0.31 km². The southern point is part of the United States (Town of Derby, Orleans County in the state of Vermont), the greater part belongs to the municipality of Ogden, Quebec.
At the end of the 18th century a pioneer named Martin Adams and his wife built a house on the island, where they grew flax and vegetables. It is under private ownership; a pheasant hunt is organized annually. The Canada–United States border is marked by a five-meter strip cut through the forest.
Lake Memphremagog is a fresh water glacial lake located between Newport, Vermont, United States and Magog, Quebec. The lake spans both Quebec and Vermont, but is mostly in Quebec. Most of the watershed that feeds the lake is located in Vermont, and is a source for accumulated phosphorus, sediments and other pollutants. Cleanup efforts since the late 1980s have improved the water quality. The lake furnishes potable (drinking) water for 200,000 people.
The lake is 31 miles (50 km) long with 73 percent of the lake’s surface area in Quebec, where it drains into the Magog River. However, three-quarters of its watershed, 489 square miles (1,270 km2), is in Vermont. The lake elevation is approximately 682 feet (208 m) above mean sea level.
Both ends of the lake are fairly shallow but takes a dramatic drop in Canada, with a maximum recorded depth of 351 feet (107 m). It contains 21 islands. Province Island, the largest, is divided by the international border.[10] The lake is irregular in shape, and along its shores are several striking indentations, in some places low, and in some other parts high and rocky. Along the western shore of the lake are several mountains, prominent among which are Owl’s Head, Elephantis, and the Hog’s Back.
In the middle of the winter, the ice on the lake can become 3 feet (0.9 m) thick. The Magog River, in Quebec, drains the lake towards the northeast. The hydroelectric producing Memphemagog Dam, on the Magog River, regulates the water level of the lake.
The lake is within the larger territory originally inhabited by the Abenaki tribe. The lake’s name, Memphremagog, is derived from the Algonkian language: from the word Memrahabegek, which means “where there is a big expanse of water”.
Saint Benedict Abbey, Saint-Benoit-du-Lac. Founded in 1912 by the exiled (Fontenelle Abbey) of St. Wandrille, France under Abbot Dom Joseph Pothier, liturgist and scholar who reconstituted the Gregorian chant. Father Paul Bellot was the architect 1939–41. The new priory later became independent within the Solesmes Congregation.
Today it numbers a little more than fifty monks living under the Rule of Saint Benedict. Cloistered from the world, they are enjoined to seek God in the celebration of the liturgy of the Church, in private prayer accompanied by meditation of the Bible and in manual as well as intellectual work. They form a community under the direction of an Abbot.
Mont-Orford NP. The park is located immediately north of Magog in the Eastern Townships tourist region of the province. It encompasses several mountain peaks, among which are Mont Orford, Mont Giroux (Pic aux Corbeaux), Mont Alfred Desrochers, Mont Chauve, and the Massif des Chênes.
The park is open year-round. Popular summer activities in the park include camping, hiking, swimming, cycling, canoeing, kayaking, pedalos, row boating, rock climbing, paddle surfing, and wildlife watching. The most popular winter sport in the park is alpine skiing, with cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, snow walking, and Ski-Vel (wheelchair skiing).
Saint-Jean-Sur-Richelieu (pop 95,000) is a city about 40 kilometres (25 mi) southeast of Montreal. It is situated on the west bank of the Richelieu River at the northernmost navigable point of Lake Champlain.
Historically, the city has been an important transportation hub. The first railway line in British North America connected it with La Prairie in 1836. It also hosts the annual International Balloon Festival of Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, a hot air balloon festival which attracts thousands of tourists who come to see the hundreds of balloons in the sky each August.
The Chambly Canal extends 20 kilometres (12 mi) north along the west bank of the river and provides modern freight passage to Chambly and the St. Lawrence River. The canal has one lock near the downtown core of Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu. In the winter, the city builds a skating rink on the canal near the lock.
The French built Fort Saint-Jean (Quebec) in the seventeenth century, it provided an important communication link during the French and Indian Wars. During the American Revolutionary War control of the town changed hands several times as British and American forces moved through the area.
Today St-Jean is a manufacturing centre for textiles, food and wood products. It hosts an Area Support Unit (ASU) of the Canadian Forces, which functions as a primary recruit and officer training establishment.
Fort Chambly, Chambly. Built by the British between 1812-14, it housed 6,000 infantry, cavalry and artillery troops.. It was active during the War of 1812, Rebellion of 1837-8 and the US Civil War. It is a square with square corner bastions.
MONTREAL (pop 1,704,694, urban 1,942,247, metropolitan 4,098,247.
Montreal is the most populous city in Quebec, the second-most populous city in Canada and the second-largest primarily French-speaking city in the developed world, after Paris.. Originally founded in 1642 as Ville-Marie, or “City of Mary”, it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-peaked hill in the heart of the city. The city is centred on the Island of Montreal, which got its name from the same origin as the city, and a few much smaller peripheral islands, the largest of which is Île Bizard. The city is situated 196 km (122 mi) east of the national capital Ottawa, and 258 km (160 mi) south-west of the provincial capital, Quebec City.
French is the city’s official language and in 2016 was the main home language of 49.8% of the population, while English was spoken by 22.8% at home, and 18.3% spoke other languages. In the metropolitan area 65.8% of the population spoke French at home, compared to 15.3% who spoke English. Montreal is one of the most bilingual cities in Quebec and Canada, with over 59% of the population able to speak both English and French.
Historically the commercial capital of Canada, Montreal was surpassed in population and in economic strength by Toronto in the 1970s. It remains an important centre of commerce, aerospace, transport, finance, pharmaceuticals, technology, design, education, art, culture, tourism, food, fashion, gaming, film, and world affairs. Montreal has the second-highest number of consulates in North America, serves as the location of the headquarters of the International Civil Aviation Organization, and was named a UNESCO City of Design in 2006. In 2017, Montreal was ranked the 12th most liveable city in the world by the Economist Intelligence Unit in its annual Global Liveability Ranking, and the best city in the world to be a university student in the QS World University Rankings.
Montreal has hosted multiple international conferences and events, including the 1967 International and Universal Exposition and the 1976 Summer Olympics. It is the only Canadian city to have held the Summer Olympics. In 2018, Montreal was ranked as an Alpha− world city. As of 2016 the city hosts the Canadian Grand Prix of Formula One, the Montreal International Jazz Festival and the Just for Laughs festival.
Verdun is a borough of the city of Montreal, Quebec, located in the southeastern part of the Island of Montreal on the St. Lawrence River. The settlement of Verdun was founded in 1671, making it one of Canada’s oldest cities. It also includes Nuns’ Island (Île des Sœurs). Verdun proper and Nuns’ Island are joined by the Pont de l’Île-des-Sœurs on Aut. 15, part of the Champlain Bridge complex that crosses Nuns’ Island and links it to Brossard on the south shore of the St. Lawrence.
The city was chiefly (59% in 1931) English-speaking. Improved access to downtown Montreal meant a decline in local commerce. A program of subsidies and revitalization starting in the 1990s reinvigorated the rue Wellington commercial corridor.
Habitat 67 or simply Habitat, is a model community and housing complex in Montreal, designed by Israeli-Canadian architect Moshe Safdie. It was originally conceived as his master’s thesis in architecture at McGill University and then built as a pavilion for Expo 67, the World’s Fair held from April to October 1967. It is located at 2600 Avenue Pierre-Dupuy on the Marc-Drouin Quay next to the Saint Lawrence River. Habitat 67 is widely considered an architectural landmark and one of the most recognizable buildings in both Montreal and Canada.
The development was financed by the federal government, but is now owned by its tenants, who formed a limited partnership that purchased the building from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation in 1985. Safdie still owns a penthouse apartment in the building.
Habitat 67 comprises 354 identical, prefabricated concrete forms arranged in various combinations, reaching up to 12 stories in height. Together these units create 146 residences of varying sizes and configurations, each formed from one to eight linked concrete units. Each unit is connected to at least one private terrace, which can range from approximately 20 to 90 square metres (225 to 1,000 sq ft) in size.
The development was designed to integrate the benefits of suburban homes—namely gardens, fresh air, privacy, and multilevelled environments—with the economics and density of a modern urban apartment building.
Housing was also one of the main themes of Expo 67. Habitat 67 then became a thematic pavilion visited by thousands of visitors who came from around the world, and during the expo also served as the temporary residence of the many dignitaries visiting Montreal.
Royal Bank Tower is a 22-storey 121 m (397 ft) neo-classical tower skyscraper at 360 Saint-Jacques Street. When completed in 1928, it was the tallest building in the entire British Empire, the tallest structure in all of Canada and the first building in the city that was taller than Montréal’s Notre-Dame Basilica built nearly a century before.
In 1907 the Royal Bank of Canada moved its head office from Halifax to Montreal. In 1962, the Royal Bank moved its main office to another famous Montreal building, Place Ville-Marie, however kept a branch in the impressive main hall of the old building, situated in Old Montreal. /cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/48670793/rbctower.0.0.jpg)
Aldred Building is an Art deco building on the historic Place d’Armes square in the Old Montreal completed in 1931. With a height of 96 metres (316 ft) or 23 storeys. The building’s setbacks at the 8th, 13th, and 16th floors allow more light on the square and create a cathedral-like massing, reflecting the adjacent Notre-Dame Basilica. The building uses limestone, common to other buildings in the area.
The building resembles New York’s Empire State Building, completed the same year, and was built for Aldred and Company Limited, a New York City-based international finance company.
Notre-Dame Basilica of Montreal is in the historic district of Old Montreal facing the Place d’Armes square. The interior of the church is amongst the most dramatic in the world and regarded as a masterpiece of Gothic Revival architecture. The vaults are coloured deep blue and decorated with golden stars, and the rest of the sanctuary is decorated in blues, azures, reds, purples, silver, and gold. It is filled with hundreds of intricate wooden carvings and several religious statues. Unusual for a church, the stained glass windows along the walls of the sanctuary do not depict biblical scenes, but rather scenes from the religious history of Montreal. It also has a Casavant Frères pipe organ, dated 1891, which comprises four keyboards, 92 stops using electropneumatic action and an adjustable combination system, 7000 individual pipes and a pedal board.
Approximately 11 million people visit Notre-Dame Basilica every year, making it one of the most visited monuments in North America.
Chapel of Notre Dame de Bon Secours is a church in the district of Old Montreal. One of the oldest churches in Montreal, it was built in 1771 over the ruins of an earlier chapel. In the 19th century, the chapel came to be a pilgrimage site for the sailors who arrived in the Old Port of Montreal and the chapel is often called the Sailors’ Church. The chapel now also houses the Marguerite Bourgeoys Museum, dedicated to the life of St. Marguerite Bourgeoys and to the early history of Montreal and the chapel site. The church’s prominent spire can also be climbed, offering views of the Old Port and Saint Lawrence River
Sir George-Étienne Cartier National Historic Site is a historic house museum in Old Montreal commemorating the life and accomplishments of Sir George-Étienne Cartier. This reconstitution of the adjoining homes of the Cartier family features the architectural heritage left by the upper middle class of 19th-century Montreal, along with interpretive activities and theatrical performances.
Sir George- Etinne Cartier (1814 – 1873) was a Canadian statesman and Father of Confederation. In the years leading up to Confederation, Cartier was a dominant figure in the politics of Canada East as leader of the Parti bleu. In 1838 he returned to Montreal after a year in exile for his role in the Lower Canada Rebellion. He officially entered politics in 1848. During his long career he promoted the establishment of the Civil Code as the formal law of Canada East, instead of sole use of common law as was present in Canada West. He also promoted the introduction of primary education in the province. Cartier had several reasons for supporting Confederation, notably his fear of American expansion. He died in London, England, on May 20, 1873.
Château Ramezay is a museum and historic building on Notre-Dame Street in Old Montreal, opposite Montreal City Hall. Built in 1705 as the residence of then-governor of Montreal, Claude de Ramezay, the Château was the first building proclaimed as a historical monument in Quebec and is the province’s oldest private history museum. Over the years, the Château changed owners and functions several times, with Ramezay’s descendants selling the manor to the fur-trading Compagnie des Indes.
From 1775, it became the Canadian headquarters for the Continental Army when it seized Montreal. Benjamin Franklin stayed there overnight in 1776. After the conquest until 1849 the house was used by the British governors and known as Government House. In 1878, the building opened its doors to host Université de Montréal’s first Faculty of Medicine. A museum and portrait gallery since 1894, today, the museum’s collection is composed mainly of gifts from private Montrealers and is estimated at 30,000 objects, including manuscripts, printed works, numismatic items, ethnological items, works of art, paintings, prints and furniture.
Fontaine Park is a 34 ha (84 acres) urban park located in the borough of Le Plateau-Mont-Royal in Montreal. Named in honour of Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine, The park’s features include two linked ponds with a fountain and waterfalls, the Théâtre de Verdure open-air venue, the Calixa-Lavallée cultural centre, a monument to Adam Dollard des Ormeaux, playing fields and tennis courts. Its outdoor swimming pools are a popular attraction during Montreal’s hot summers, with outdoor ice skating in winter. Bike paths run along the park’s western and northern edges.
Marché Jean-Talon is a farmer’s market in Montreal located in the Little Italy district, It is the largest market in Montreal and the largest open-air market in North America.
The market was opened to the public in 1933. The market’s single building (the chalet) quickly became the focal point for development of the area around it – as a terminal for buses, a municipal library and a social services centre.
The market is open year-round, even during Montreal’s severe winters, although during this time walls are placed around the central section of the market while outdoor areas remain vacant. During the peak summer period, between May and October, its open-air arcades are occupied by about 300 vendors, mostly farmers from the countryside around Montreal.
The open air market is surrounded by other food businesses: meat, fish and cheese stores, bulk food emporia, dealers in spices and imported goods, bakeries, restaurants and a branch of the SAQ, among others.
Montreal Central Station is the major inter-city rail station and a major commuter rail hub in Montreal. Nearly 11 million rail passengers use the station every year making it the second-busiest train station in Canada. The main concourse occupies almost the entire block with pedestrian access is assured by numerous links through neighboring buildings. The station is adorned with art deco bas-relief friezes on its interior and exterior. From the station’s inception in 1943, it had been owned by Canadian National Railway (CN).
Central Station is at the centre of the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor, the busiest inter-city rail service area in the nation (marketed as the Corridor), which extends from Windsor and Sarnia in the west, through Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal, to Quebec City in the east. Inter-city trains at Central Station are operated by Via Rail and Amtrak, with commuter rail services (RTM) and the Montreal Metro subway system.
Château Dufresne is a historic building that currently functions as a historic house museum. Built from 1915 to 1918, the mansion was designed in the Beaux-Arts style with forty rooms covering about 20,000 square feet.
The interior was decorated with a series of murals and ceiling paintings by Guido Nincheri in the 1920s and 1930s. The mansion was built as the residence of Marius Dufresne and Oscar Dufresne, two wealthy French Canadian entrepreneurs who played a major role in the history of the city of Maisonneuve (now part of Montreal). The Château Dufresne was originally divided into two separate households, one for each brother. In 1948, the Dufresne family sold the property to the Congregation of the Holy Cross, which used it as a pavilion annex of the Holy Cross College. Beginning in 1999, the building has housed the Château Dufresne Museum, which was renamed the Dufresne-Nincheri Museum in 2014.
Marie Reine du Monde Cathedral (Marie, Queen of the World and St. James the Great Cathedral) is a minor basilica in Montreal and the seat of the Roman Catholic archdiocese of Montreal. It is the third largest church in Quebec after Saint Joseph’s Oratory (also in Montreal) and the Basilica of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré east of Quebec City. The building is 101 m (333 ft) in length, 46 m (150 ft) in width, and a maximum height of 77 m (252 ft) at the cupola, the diameter of which is 23 m (75 ft).
The sacrament of baptism is celebrated in the small chapel. The marble baptismal font is surmounted by an impressive stucco crucifix sculpted by Philippe Hébert. The crucifix is one of the most important pieces of religious sculpture in Quebec.
Construction was between 1875 – 1894 as Saint James Cathedral.It was rededicated in 1955 to Mary, Queen of the World, by Pope Pius XII at the request of cardinal Paul-Émile Léger.
L’Auberge Saint-Gabriel Inn. Located in Old Montreal, this was the first establishment to have an alcohol license issued in 1754 under British rule”. Established in 1754 this historic landmark still stands to this day as a tourist destination updated with a refined French cuisine restaurant. To add on, it is also allegedly haunted by the ghost of a 19th-century girl who died in a building fire.
The interior decor features thick stone walls surrounding round and square tables that are set on wooden plank floors below wrought-iron chandeliers. It also home to several banquet rooms for private functions, a club in the basement, and valet parking. Auberge is home to elegant and expensive food. Lesley goes on to state “Price range: Starters, $6-$23; main courses, $23-$47; desserts, $6-$9. Three-course table d’hôte: $32-$44, Lunch-time table d’hôte: $18-$22.
Church of La Visitation-de-la-Bienheureuse-Vierge-Marie is a church in the neighbourhood of Recollet Falls in Montreal. The oldest church on the island of Montreal, it was built between 1749 and 175
Nelson’s Column is a monument erected in 1809 in Place Jacques-Cartier dedicated to the memory of Admiral Horatio Nelson, following his death at the Battle of Trafalgar. Subsequent to the destruction of Nelson’s Pillar in Dublin (1808–1966), Montreal’s pillar now stands as the second-oldest “Nelson’s Column” in the world, after the Nelson Monument in Glasgow. It is also the city’s oldest monument and is the oldest war monument in Canada.
The column was made of grey compact limestone, while the statue and ornaments were made using the firm’s own invention, Coade stone. The final cost of the column amounted to just under £1,300. The Horatio Nelson statue that originally stood atop Nelson’s column in Place Jacques Cartier was relocated to the Montreal History Museum in 1997 for preservation. A copy now stands atop the column in its place.
As it is a monument to a British officer who fought against France in a city that is predominantly French-speaking, it has garnered its share of controversy. In 1890, a Quebec nationalist faction plotted to blow up the column. In 1930, Francophone Montrealers responded to Nelson’s presence by erecting a statue in a nearby city square (now known as Vauquelin Square), commemorating Jean Vauquelin, a French naval officer who fought during the Seven Years’ War. Still, many French Canadians continued to object to Nelson’s presence. In 1997, the City of Montreal proposed moving the monument to a distant Anglophone district, but public opposition kept Montreal’s oldest monument in its original place.
Les petits baigneurs is a bronze sculpture portraying a contemporary bathing scene. A sitting person is splashing a standing person, who doesn’t seem to be enjoying the game. The asymmetrical composition, part of which projects beyond the niche formed of a shell and two fluted columns, creates a sense of dynamism. The fountain reflects Québec folklore as a city bath but moving it to a rural context.
It was commissioned in 1915 by the Cité de Maisonneuve to adorn the façade of the Maisonneuve baths and gymnasium (today Morgan Baths).
Complexe Desjardins is a mixed-use office, hotel, and shopping mall complex located on Saint Catherine Street. The project was designed to develop the eastern end of downtown Montreal. Its architectural design consists of several towers housing offices of the Desjardins Group, Quebec Government offices and other companies, as well as a hotel, linked by an atrium shopping centre anchored by IGA. This design produces the effect of an indoor square.
The Complexe Desjardins is connected by the underground city to Place des Arts and the Place-des-Arts Metro station to the north, and the Complexe Guy-Favreau, the Palais des congrès de Montréal, and Place-d’Armes Metro station to the south.
The hotel in the complex opened as the Hotel Meridien Montreal in 1976. It was later renamed the Wyndham Montreal, then the Hyatt Regency Montreal in 2003, then the DoubleTree by Hilton Montreal in December 2018.
Pointe-Claire Windmill is the oldest windmill on the island of Montreal and one of 18 remaining windmills in Quebec. Like most mills in New France it was built to a French design, a cylindrical stone tower with a movable roof which could be turned by a tail pole to face the sails to the wind. The mill had two doors, to provide an exit regardless of which ways the sails faced. The walls are four French feet (1m32) thick at the base. The interior is 12 French feet in diameter by 24 high. The mill originally contained elevated platforms beneath gun slits for defence. The surrounding shoreline was fenced with pointed wooden stakes. However, the site was never attacked.
1709-10: construction. 1824: major renovation.1837: 1885 (approximately): new sails. 1954: restoration, conical roof. 1967: new sails
NOMAD MANIA QUEBEC WEST
Islands
Ile Jesus
Île Perrot
Island of Montreal
Borders
Canada (Quebec)-United States
Canada except Newfoundland (sea border/port)
XL
Haskell Free Library and Opera House
Province island (Quebec/Vermont)
St. Regis
House Museums/Plantations: Mansfield-et-Pontefract: George Bryson House
Castles, Palaces, Forts: Chambly: Fort Chambly
Religious Temples: Saint-Benoit-du-Lac: Saint Benedict Abbey
World of Nature
Ashuapmushuan Reserve
Frontenac NP
La Mauricie NP
La Verendrye Wildlife Reserve
Mastigouche Wildlife Reserve
Mont-Mégantic NP
Mont-Orford NP
Mont-Tremblant NP
Yamaska NP
Zec Capitachouane
Lakes: Lake Memphremagog
Rivers: Ottawa River
Trails 1 – Treks: Les Sentiers de l’Estrie Trail
Festivals
Eclipse Festival
Mondial des Cultures, Drummondville
Zoos
Granby: Granby Zoo
St-Félicien: Zoo Sauvage
Windmills: Bécancour: Moulin de Saint Grégoire
Caves
Arbraska Laflèche Park
Le Trou de la Fée
Ski Resorts: Mont-Tremblant Ski Resort
Markets; Lachute Farmers’ Market
Aviation Museums
Saint-Hubert: Quebec Aerospace Museum
Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue: Montreal Aviation Museum
Railway Museums: Saint-Constant: Canadian Railway Museum
Villages and Small Towns
Cap-Santé
Champlain
Frelighsburg
Neuville
North Hatley
Stanstead
Cities of the Americas
MONTREAL World Cities and Popular Towns
Airports: Montreal (YUL)
Railway, Metro, Funiculars, Cable Cars
Champ-de-Mars Station, Montreal
Montreal Central Station
Montreal Metro
VIA Rail Ocean (Montreal-Halifax)
Museums
Contemporary Art Museum
McCord Museum
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts
Musee des Maitres et Artisans du Quebec
Pointe-à-Callière Museum
Science Centre
House Museums/Plantations: Sir George-Étienne Cartier National Historic Site
Castles, Palaces, Forts
Château Dufresne
Château Ramezay
Religious Temples
Chapel of Notre Dame de Bon Secours
Church of La Visitation-de-la-Bienheureuse-Vierge-Marie
Marie Reine du Monde Cathedral
Notre-Dame Basilica of Montreal
St. Joseph’s Oratory of Mount Royal
Modern Architecture Buildings
Aldred Building
Habitat 67
Montreal Biosphère
Olympic Stadium
Royal Bank Tower
Festivals
Festival International de Jazz de Montréal
Black and Blue Festival, Montreal
Igloofest, Montreal
Montreal Fireworks Festival
Mutek, Montreal
St-Ambroise Montreal Fringe Festival
Zoos: Insectarium
Botanical Gardens: Botanical Garden
Theme Parks: La Ronde
Windmills: Pointe-Claire Windmill
Malls/Department Stores: Complexe Desjardins
Hospitality Legends: L’Auberge Saint-Gabriel Inn
Markets: Marché Jean-Talon
Urban Legends
La Fontaine Park
Verdun
Religious Monuments: Mount Royal Cross
Monuments: Nelson’s Column
The Dark Side; Montreal Holocaust Museum
SAINT-JEAN-SUR-RICHELIEU
Museums: Upper Richelieu Museum
Castles, Palaces, Forts: Fort Saint Jean
SHERBROOKE
Museums: Uplands Cultural and Heritage Centre
TROIS RIVIERES
Museums: Quebec Museum of Folk Culture
GATINEAU*
Museums
Canadian Children’s Museum
Canadian Museum of History
Canadian Postal Museum
Natural Heritage Campus, Canadian Museum of Nature
LAVAL*
Museums
Cosmodôme Science Museum
Musée Délia-Tétreault
Museum of Space History