Trois Nuits Au Québec, Canada

As we rolled west into the province of Québec, we immediately felt like we’d left the Canada in which we’d just spent a couple of weeks behind. As we approached the border, the road signage changed with French taking priority and being first and English appearing below and then after we crossed into Québec the English disappeared entirely. And the easy pace of driving in Canada’s Atlantic Provinces was replaced with a more aggressive version. Bienvenue au Québec.

Québec City was “founded” in 1608 by Samuel de Champlain after building a fort here, on the site of an old Iroquis settlement, which they called “l’habitation”. Though Champlain is credited with its founding, French navigator Jacques Cartier was the first European to land here and trade with the Iroquis (who were gone by the time of Champlain’s arrival) in 1535.

Statue of Champlain (left) and Fresque de Québécois (right) with Cartier in 2nd floor window of left tower and Champlain on the left side of the street in the foreground

The name Québec comes from the Algonquin word “Kebec” which means “where the river narrows”. The English overtook this old fort in Québec between 1629 and 1632 when the French returned and built a city “based on the framework of a traditional French ville” (1). Because of its strategic positioning on the banks of the St. Lawrence River, Québec quickly became a major hub of trade in furs and timber and an arrival point for European immigrants to North America. During this period, Québec grew as the religious capitol and seat of government for “new France”.

The French held the city against frequent attacks from native Iroquis and the British over the next century, but the city fell to the British in 1759 after a three-month siege and a final, 15-minute battle on the “plains of Abraham” atop the hill. The “canadiens”, now known as the Québécois, were permitted to continue to openly practice Catholicism and speak French under protestant British rule, which helped to keep them out of participating in the American revolution against the throne.

We’d been to Québec City many years ago on a brief honeymoon and had not since returned. That time, we stayed in the heart of Vieux (old) Québec City. This time, we had elected to stay in the Limoilou neighborhood. And though it was a bit further from old Québec City than we had thought when we booked it (about 45 minutes to an hour walk) it is a place where we could experience the real life of the locals. Many of the apartments are fashioned with beautiful winding metal stairways which swirl their way up from their gardens to the floors above. The shops and restaurants along 3rd Avenue were all inviting and several of the blocks are cordoned off to no car traffic, likely a COVID-era hangover, with outdoor seating.

We spent our days wandering through the parks and neighborhood of Limoilou and into old Québec and the old port to grab a meal, see the views and have a cocktail at the 1608 Bar at the Chateau Frontenac (where one would clearly go and watch if one wanted to excel at the skill of bartending) the landmark and distinctive looking hotel atop the hill in old town.

The one touristy activity we did undertake (other than just tooling around) was to go on a “ghost tour” of Old Québec, which our Airbnb host had recommended. We chose Les Visites Fantomes de Québec (Ghost Tours of Québec) whose tour is a 90-minute wind through the old port of the city and then up the hill to the shadow of the Chateau Frontenac with tales of sunken ships, ghouls haunting houses being remodeled atop an old cemetery (has no-one watched Poltergeist!?), torture and executions and witch imprisonment in cages. We got a beautiful evening for it, which helped raise the enjoyment level. Some of the more gruesome tales are not for little kids and the walking bit is definitely not for those with mobility issues.

Our three days went from cold, rainy and foggy to really warm, sunny and humid and we took advantage of winding our way through the old town and the old port in both weather conditions. We even found the old port hotel we’d stayed in the last time and stopped in to survey the changes.