Getting to know the city

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Geo: 45.5088, -73.5878

First day of serious sight-seeing.

We headed straight to Vieux Montréal to the Château de Ramezay, a museum charting the history of the city. Alas, Alan forgot the bit in the guidebook that said "opens Tuesday to Sunday..." Ho Hum. Never mind, we could still explore the old town.

Well, what do you know?, it was already time for coffee. We found a little café in the Bonsecours Market. This used to be a large theatre with a dome. Now it has been saved and converted into shops and it also houses a museum of textile and costumes; also shut on Mondays.

The old town is very pretty with narrow streets and old buildings. Yes, we are in Canada, which is celebrating its 150th birthday this year, but Montréal is also celebrating its 375th anniversary so there are some genuinely old buildings around. The narrow streets and open squares (oblong ones) gave it a European feel. The Old Port has now been transformed into a modern one. The guidebook wrote that the locals have taken the riparian promenade to their hearts and many now use it for their daily jog. On the day of our visit, the whole area was under a thick blanket of snow, though there were a few hardy runners out dressed in suitably warm Lycra.

Major sites of visit being closed for the day seemed to be the order of the day for us. We wanted to see the Basilique de Notre Dame, but it was closed to visitors because they were getting ready for a 'sons et lumière' event, part of the 375th celebrations. As we couldn't go into the House of God, we visited the House of Mammon instead. Across the Place from the cathedral, is the Bank of Montréal. The building looked like Roman temple and the inside was gloriously ornate. It looked nothing like our local branch of HSBC!

As we bought ourselves a 3-day travel card, we had a change of pace and sauntered around a nice leafy residential area uphill from Downtown called Plateau Mont-Royal. The area was lovely, with artisan cafés, bakeries, boutiques, and for the season, a Cabane de Sucre, where products on the theme of maple syrup are for sale (never knew there were so many...). We also tried the speciality "tire d'érable". This basically is a lolly of maple syrup: warmed light syrup poured over crushed ice and rolled up on a lolly stick. It was delicious!

To reassure certain friends of ours that we didn't go hungry, there will be a number of photos of various meals we ate today.

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Photos

Bonsecours Market
Neo-classic façade.

Morning snacks
Chocolatine and Chocolate Square. Yes, there's a theme.

Vieux Montréal
Rue St Paul.

Old Port
Still frozen.

Lots of snow
Just look how thickbthe snow is!

Place des Armes
This is the first skyscraper in Montreal. It looks like the top of the Empire State Building.

Bank of Montreal
The inside looking up to the dome.

Lunch
Vietnamese Bún. Lovely and refreshing. A bargain at £13 for two.

Houses in Plateau of Mont-Royal
Typical design with the stairs on the outside. The houses are divided into three flats.

Maple Syrup Lolly
Maple products outlet. "pulling" on the snow

Maple syrup lolly
Delicious!

Dinner at the L'Usine des Spaghetti
Fettucine with duck leg confit. Not truer blue Italian, but delicious.

Dinner
Pesto spaghetti with lamb chops. Tasted devine!

Town Hall
All lit up at night.

Montreal Illuminated
The writing on Alan's cap is back to front because he inadvertently switched on the function "mirrored selfie".... 🙄

Comments

[Koen en Wim]

Heerlijk om te lezen. Alle herinneringen komen weer boven. Geniet ervan!

[Lynda]

Looks lovely. If Montreal is part of Canada and Canada is 150 years old, how come Montreal is older? Great travelog.

[alan-hamish]

To Lynda, 2017 is the 150th anniversary of the founding of the Dominion of Canada, but Montr?al, which was part of New France, was founded in the 17th century, hence it's celebrating its 375th birthday.

[Athena Barrett]

There is something you've captured in the architecture of this place that is very appealing and creates a certain atmosphere that I cannot seem to put my finger on. Dreamy.