Bonjour! No, we're not in France but in French speaking Quebec City, North America. It lies about 280 kilometres NE of Montreal. Quebec City, one of the oldest European settlements in North America was founded in 1608 by French explorer and navigator Samuel de Champlain. Some people refer to Quebec City as the "crown jewel of French Canada" and we would agree because we were impressed with Quebec City's classic European architecture, romantic promenades, picturesque plazas and imposing bastions (defence walls and a fortress) The city also has sprawling parks, intimate restaurants, cute curve-side cafes, cobbled laneways and horse drawn carriages. We just loved exploring this beautiful historical city on a balmy day that began with warm temperatures and cloudy skies.
We were docked just 5 minutes walk away from the city, so we began our self-guided discovery of the lower part of the Quebec City in the quiet of early morning, before the hustle and bustle of the day had begun.
The topography of the city is unusual in that the city is situated on two levels. These are referred to as the Lower Town and the Upper Town. Palace Royal is in the Lower Town, within easy walking access to our ship so with map in hand we headed towards this most historic area. We passed the Port Museum, Musee du Port and made a mental note to visit it later in the day. As we crossed the road an elegant white horse-drawn carriage with tourists on board, clopped past. What a relaxed way to tour this interesting city!
On the opposite corner was an imposing stone building with a portico of collums in the entrance. It has stood here for over 200 years and is still functional and solid today.
Nearby, we stopped to admire a water fountain and a black and white 3D-patterned roadway like the ones we'd seen in Spain and Italy at some point on our trip. It would have taken skilled tradesmen quiet some time to work this pattern, using coloured stone bricks. We wandered through narrow, street-scapes lined with art galleries, up market boutiques and cafes and restaurants, yet to be opened, so we were able to spend time "window shopping", marvelling at the creative window displays and extravagant price tags without crowds pressing in on us or eager shop keepers trying to entice us inside. Decluttering is our aim , window shopping a pleasant pastime.
There were some exclusive gift shops with hand-painted vases, plates and mugs that we enjoyed seeing and we spent some time admiring the soapstone carvings in another window display, before we turned a corner and entered a street with artist studios and galleries.
However, we weren't the only ones window shopping! There was "this little piggy who went to market", and it was obvious that he was window shopping too.
Amongst the galleries there were several windows displaying modern artworks. We loved the montage of John Lennon in one window, and in another window, the multi-coloured horse painting "took our fancy".
By this time, we had reached the entrance to the Place Royale which is a small but picturesque plaza square with cobblestone streets leading into the central plaza area edged by beautiful 17th and 18th century French colonial buildings. A magnificent fresco, which covers one huge wall, is the entrance to the Place Royale. This particular mural tells the history of Quebec's capital and incorporates numerous stylistic characteristic features of the city, showcasing its architecture, geography and fortifications. It's life-like windows pay tribute to fifteen historical figures as well as many writers and artists. We studied this beautifully detailed fresco and used the coded references to each part of the painting to learn about some of the historical figures or landmarks. Our only real difficulty was translating the French into English. Later in the day we realised that one of our tourist booklets gave a perfect translation of the coded captions and then it made perfect sense.
Moving on from the fresco painting we walked into the Place Royale beautifully restored square with its centuries old stone buildings. Many of the buildings have also been restored to house hotels, B&B accommodation, restaurants, shops and private homes still occupied today. At the top of the square, in the Notre Dame des Victoires, the oldest stone church in North America. It has been restored to its former glory with a Bell Tower and steeple, beautiful arched windows and solid wooden door. This square is the site of Samuel de Champlain's first settlement here, way back in 1608. A bronze bust-statue in the centre square's courtyard has been erected to acknowledge him as founder of this city.
There are many frescos in the city and as we retraced our steps we saw another interestingly painted scene on the rear end of a three storey building? It depicts scenes from life in the 1700's with some comical scenes. By now we had spent about an hour and a half exploring the lower part of the city and ther was a hive of activity as deliveries were being made to businesses and workers were beginning their day's activity. The narrow streets made it difficult for trucks to negotiate some of the back laneways and streets but somehow they managed with much backing and forward edging.
We turned a corner and " discovered" a funicular ride we could take to get to the Upper Town of Quebec City. Whilst waiting for our turn we read about the history of the first cable car. In this blog we have included a photo of the original funicular which we have marked with a red X . We took this photo from an old photograph in the mini museum we passed through as we lined up for our ride.
The first funicular was built in 1879 and it provided a convenient alternative to horse and buggy for the transportation of passengers and luggage between the upper and lower town. It was a wood-encased cable car with a steam-powered engine and it operated only 6 months of the year. For a period after the cabin was destroyed by fire road access and a set of zig-zag stairs was the only way up and down the escarpment. Then in 1907 a new metal funicular was built . It had glass windows and was powered by electricity and operated all year round. The funicular cabin we used today is an updated 2006 version, with air-conditioning and saved us the 60+ stair climb up the escarpment.
See our Quebec City -2 blog to join us exploring the Upper Town area.
