Round The World and other travels
A frequent flyer's collection of trip diaries
This is: Quebec to Florida, by Sea (2019)
Quebec City and the St Lawrence River
Today had a somewhat unusual beginning as we watched the arrival of
German-registered cruise ship Aida, as it delicately docked
right beside us, thanks to the skilful use of side thrusters. We had
breakfast in our favourite venue at this time of day, the
International Café, where we each enjoyed coffee, Bircher muesli and
a ham, cheese and egg-filled English muffin.
This cruise was unusual in that we had just spent the first night tied up in our boarding port. We were due to depart Quebec City at 1630 this afternoon, so that the first night on board was simply a 'floating hotel' experience. With the previous day's poor weather and today's limited time (but much improved weather), it was imperative to get out and start enjoying one of the most attractive cities in North America. To that end, we went ashore and made our way uphill to the Upper Town. (The Old Town area of Quebec City, within the walls, has two distinct levels: the Lower Town and the Upper Town. These are connected by steps, road and funicular.) We used the least steep option (the road) and started our sightseeing beside the considerable bulk of the main Séminaire de Québec building. Once used solely for the training of Roman Catholic priests, the complex is now shared by the Catholic Church and the Université Laval.
We then walked past the Post Office building with its dome and clock faces, and past the Place d'Armes to the enormous Château Frontenac, a luxury hotel built by the Canadian Pacific Railway but now operated by Fairmont. Good views were available over the lower town and the port. We then climbed a further 310 steps - or so we were reliably informed - to get to the highest point: the Citadel and the Plains of Abraham, a historic battlefield. My first experience of Quebec City, in 1989, was watching the Changing of the Guard ceremony here. I had been captivated by the overall 'British' look and feel, but with all orders being given in French. Sadly, the ceremony only takes place during the summer, so there would be no repeat performance today.
At the highest point, further views were available up and down the St Lawrence River, although these were surprisingly industrial in nature. I realised that we had walked nearly all the way to the Old City Gate, situated close to the Hilton hotel where I had been based during my 2011 visit. We exited the Citadel complex at this point and spent a few minutes looking around the grounds of the Parliament Building for the province of Quebec.
We walked back towards the Château on ordinary streets -
mainly the Rue Saint Louis - eventually finding ourselves
back at the Place d'Armes. After checking a map, we decided
to visit the two churches marked as cathedrals. Although it is very
unusual for a city to have two cathedrals of the same denomination,
I initially assumed that in French-speaking Quebec, these would both
be Roman Catholic. In fact, the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity (1804)
turned out to be Anglican. Before seeing the RC cathedral, we
visited City Hall, which was adorned with some spectacular Halloween
displays. (Again, we weren't sure if this would be a 'thing' here.)
We couldn't walk around the Cathedral-Basilica of Notre-Dame de
Québec (1647) as a mass was in progress, but it looked much
more ornate than its younger Anglican counterpart.
We returned to the ship for lunch at the main buffet, which we thought was much improved from the former Horizon Court product. Then it was straight back out again for a quick foray into the small Lower Town area. Apart from the Place Royale, this consisted mainly of tourist-oriented shops. By now, we were enjoying bright sunshine on a glorious autumn afternoon.
Safely back on board in good time for our departure, the first thing
we had to endure was a hideously cringeworthy safety briefing. With
this mercifully out of the way, we received our traditional canapés
and bubbly for the 1630 departure. We managed to have these outside
on our private balcony, well wrapped up against the somewhat chilly
conditions as we slipped our moorings and proceeded down the wide St
Lawrence River.
Later, we had cocktails at Crooners and dinner at the Palm dining room, which was much nicer than the previous evening. Before going to bed, we moved our clocks forward by an hour to Atlantic Time.
