We arrived in Quebec City in good time, the weather not so good on arrival but the skies cleared as the day played out. We are in port until 10pm. We had an all day excursion around the old town and then went further afield into the countryside arriving back in plenty of time to go back for an evening in the streets.

Our guide, looked to be 70ish, was the usual mine of information delivered with a strong gravelly French accent and accompanying nonchalant shoulder shrug as if his English didn’t quite do the job! Not the greatest of guides we have had, thought we were mostly Americans too with a couple of Kiwis thrown in.

He gave us a bit of history about the old town before we had some time to look around. The French established Quebec City in 1608 and hung onto it for the next 155 years when it was ceded in 1763 to England, at the end of the wars mentioned in the last post. Still a very French place though, 95% of the locals speak French in the home as a first language, 3% English and 2% other lingos.

The old town area, the Place Royale, is still surrounded by the city walls and parapets overlooking the St Lawrence River. The old town was originally wooden buildings within a wooden fort, but after a number of fires and wooden rebuilds over the years wood gave way to stone around the 1670s. The whole fortified area is known as La Citadelle.

There is a great view from the top across and down the St Lawrence River, ‘spoilt’ today by a thick haze. We have a look inside the foyer of the famous landmark hotel Le Chateau Frontenac. Nice spot to stay!

Back on the bus it was a drive by the ‘Plains of Abraham’, the now grassy parklands where the Battle of Quebec was fought, for a photo stop. This whole area is surrounded by cannon after canon lining the roadway. Tucked away on the side is a statue of Joan of Arc in a beautiful garden setting.

It was then out of town and into the countryside for a look at the rural activities in the region. Mostly grain and vegetable crops. Beside us in the port is a huge complex of silos, not a great look. Quebec acts as a major export terminal for the large grain production areas in central Canada and the top end of the USA.

After the rural romp we stopped in at the Roman Catholic Basílica Sainte-Anne-de Beaupre. This was something else I might say. In our travels up in Iceland/Greenland we had got used to Lutheran austerity. Well, this was at the other extreme. What an ornate structure. A couple of pictures say it all.

After the Bascilica the nearby falls were the next stop. These are 30m or so higher than Niagara and there was a huge amount of water coming over them from all the recent rain.

It was then back to the city and some early evening time in the old town. We had a short stop for a light refreshment in a bar and a look see in some of the numerous art galleries and souvenir shops. It was all very reminiscent of Paris.

We thought Quebec was one of those spots you could easily return to again and have more time to explore.
Around 8 pm the smell of rain was in the air and a light drizzle started on the walk back to the ship. A bit of lightning flashed around as we made it back in time.

There was no serious rain though and we watched a spectacular fireworks display as the ship sailed away back down the St Lawrence River for the next stop at Saguenay.