QUEBEC CITY SITES

                                     Upper Town

     Many cities now have walking tours. Many are free. In Quebec City they come in both French and English, and perhaps a couple other languages. One can reserve for a tour through the Chamber of Commerce. We found the tour most pleasant and loaded with local history and information.

     Upper Town was the home of dignitaries, religious and political leaders, where Lower Town contains the oldest neighborhood in North America. Once crowded with traders, workers and the disenfranchised, now it is a delightful restored smart shopping and historical area. Quebec City is much smaller than Montreal, so we were able to see several things in a short period of time.

  Chateau Frontenac: Standing high on a bluff overlooking the mighty St. Lawrence River, the chateau is not merely a hotel located in the heart of Old Québec--- it is the heart of Old Québec. It sits on the site of the 1620 Chateau St. Louis, a residence for colonial governors. The story book castle hotel is one of several luxury hotels built by the Canadian-Pacific Railway in 1893. It is the indomitable symbol of the city. Luxurious for its time, the rooms contained bathrooms, fireplaces and marble fixtures.

      The park in front of the hotel is the Place d’ Armes. For centuries the square atop the cliff was used for parades and military events. Upper Town’s most central location is bordered by government buildings, including the Old Courthouse, 1887, a Renaissance-style building. The Gothic fountain, 1650, at the center pays tribute to the arrival in 1615 of Franciscan monks of the Recollet order. The monk holds an ear of corn in one hand and a cross in the other.

      Across the street is a larger-than-life stature of Champlain, 1567-1635, who eventually became Governor of New France.

Holy Trinity Anglican Church, a stone church dating back to 1804. One of the first Anglican cathedrals to be built outside of the British Isles, it has a simple dignified façade and is modeled after London’s Saint-Martin-in-the-Fields. The land was originally given to French Franciscan monks in 1681 by the king of France. When Quebec came under British rule the monks made the church available to the Anglicans for services.  The church houses precious objects donated by King George III. The wood for the oak benches was imported from the Royal Forest at Windsor. The impressive organ has 3,058 pipes.  The eight bells in the bell tower date to 1804.   

The Edifice Price, 1929, was the city’s first skyscraper. The 15-stoy building served as the headquarters of the Price Brothers Company, a lumber firm founded by Sir William Price. Inside exquisite copper plaques depict scenes of the company’s early pulp and paper activities. Two maple-wood elevators are a 30’s classic. The building is linked to city hall by a tunnel, and the governor has a functional apartment at the top of the building.

Notre Dame Basilica, 1647, also known as Our Lady of Quebec Basilica, has the oldest parish in North America. The church has been destroyed twice. In 1759 cannons from Levis, across the river, damaged it during the siege of Quebec. In 1922 fire destroyed the second church, but each time it was rebuilt on its original foundation. The façade is classical-style. The large and famous crypt holding 900 bodies, including 20 bishops and four governors, was the city’s first cemetery. Champlain is believed to be buried near the Basilica. The church has only one tower as the ground was not solid enough to support a tower on the left side. The ornate interior includes a ceiling of clouds decorated with gold leaf and richly colored stain glass. The oldest piece in the Cathedral is a sanctuary lamp that was a gift from Louis XIV.

Masion Maillou is the colony’s former treasury building. Its sharply slanted roof, dormer windows, concrete chimneys, shutters with iron hinges, and limestone walls typifies the architecture of New France. Built between 1736-1753, it now houses the chamber of commerce. The green roof and turquoise shutters are hard to miss. The house next to it with a royal blue canopy and a big 25 on the front is Maison Kent, 1648-50. The capitulation of Quebec was signed there in 1759.

Clarendon Hotel is the oldest hotel in Upper Town. The house on the hotel site was converted into a tavern in 1790. In 1858 a printer built four identical houses and set up his presses in the common main floors. In 1866 a well known architect converted the four houses into one building. In 1870 the building was converted into the Clarendon Hotel. It has been sold several times and in 1924 an additional floor was added.  In 1930 a seven floor annex was built next door. The art décor was generally pleasing. The fellow behind the desk was friendly and talkative and was happy to give us a paper with the history of the hotel. We  found everyone we came in contact with to be friendly and pleasant.

Terrasse Dufferin boardwalk offers views of the rooftops of Lower Town directly below. Constructed in 1878, this wide walkway has an intricate wrought-iron rail. The walkway offers a panoramic view of the St. Lawrence River and the town of Levis on the opposite shore. It extends from Place d’ Armes to the Citadel.  Lord Dufferin was an English governor who lowered the walls and widened the gates. The Terrace extends three miles passing the Citadel and Plains of Abraham.

Much of the city’s military history lies beyond the walls. The Citadel is built on the city’s highest point called Camp Diamant. It and its 25 buildings is the largest fortified base in North America still occupied by troops. Since its completion in 1832, attacks against Quebec City have ended. The star shaped fort is the eastern flank of fortification.   Since 1920 the Citadel has been the home for the Royal 22^nd Regiment.

The Ursuline Convent is the site of North America’s oldest teaching institution for girls. The 1639 school is still a private one. The exterior of the chapel was rebuilt in 1902, but the interior contains the original chapel which took ten years to complete.

      Nuns from a cloistered order arrived in 1639. Parlour Street is so named because it led to the parlour which was the only place the nuns could meet outsiders. The first nun in New France became a nun after she was widowed. After leaving France, it took her three months to make the sea voyage. She wrote long detailed letters to her son. She sent the same letter on 3-4 ships so he would be certain to receive at least one copy.

     After her death, her son decided to publish her letters and they are now a true treasure that tells us what life was really like in the 17^th century. The nun also sat under a tree to teach Indians, so she came to know the First Nations people well. She also was the first to translate Iroquois into French. In 1967 the pope uncloistered the nuns.  About 70 nuns continue to live there, and their average age is 80.

      Jesuits arrived in 1662. They still maintain a private school, but now the one-time boys’ school has admitted girls.  Part of the seminary was under renovation as it will house a museum. The Jesuits established the first French-speaking university in North America.

QUEBEC CITY, CANADA

                                       Lower Town

      From Montreal we boarded the train for a three hour ride to Quebec City.  The towers and turrets of Chateau Frontenac dominate the skyline of this 400-year-old walled city.  Quebec City, built in 1608 on the St. Lawrence River, is the only fortified city left in North America north of Mexico. Designated a UNESCO World Heritage City in 1985, Canada’s oldest city is known and loved for its European charms. Centuries-old homes line narrow, cobblestone streets of the exuberant, romantic city.

      The people of Quebec are proud of their Amerindian, French and British roots. Quebec City is the capital of the province of Quebec and seat of the National assembly.  Ninety-five percent of the nearly 650,000 population speaks French. It seems everyone also speaks English as we had no language problems.The city is one of the safest places in North America. It enjoys a healthy environment with clean air and plenty of green space.

      Flowing from the Great Lakes to the sea, the mighty St. Lawrence is not only a gateway to a continent, it is also the heart-line of a province, the soul of a people and the jewel of Quebec City.

      The well-preserved Vieux Quebec, Old Quebec, is small and dense, covering only four square miles, but is steeped in four centuries of history and French tradition. The ramparts that once protected the 17^th and 18^th century city are still in place. They stretch nearly three miles, are 20-feet high and 49-feet thick. Parks and monuments are numerous. Many centuries-old buildings have been restored at Place Royale, one of the oldest districts on the continent. French explorers, fur traders, and missionaries established the colony of New France.  Today it still resembles a French provincial town. Historic buildings with thick stone walls, large wooden doors, copper roofs and majestic steeples fill the heart of the city.

      In 1535 French explorer, Jacques Cartier came upon what the Algonquin people called the Kebec, meaning where the river narrows. However it was not until 1608 that another French explorer, Samuel de Champlain recognized the military advantage of the location and built a fort. Now called Place Royale, it developed into an economic center for fur trading and shipbuilding.

      The French built walls and defensive structures, but still had to contend with British naval supremacy.  In 1759 the British defeated the French in a surprise attack that lasted twenty minutes resulting in New France going under British rule. The British brought the mastery of trade in the 18^th century and the city flourished. The British built a star shaped citadel and walled the city. The British ruled until 1867 when the Act of Federation united four Canadian provinces. Our Lady of Victory Church is the oldest stone church in Quebec and stands on the site of Champlain’s first residence, which also served as a fort and trading post. Built in 1688, it has been restored twice. Inside are copies of art of European masters. The altar resembles a fort. A scale ship model suspended from the ceiling represents Le Breze, the boat that brought French soldiers to New France in 1664.

    In 1608 Petit Champlain, situated at the bottom of the cliff below Chateau Frontenac, was a small portside village of fur trading posts and elegant homes. Fortunes waxed and waned over the years, and by the 1960s the area of Petit Champlain had become run down and dangerous. Major restora-tion has returned the area into a quaint riverside village with its narrow cobbled streets lined with one-of-a-kind shops, boutiques and cafés.  In 1985 artisans and merchants formed a co-op. Now Petit Champlain is one of the biggest tourist attractions in the city.

     Quite by accident we came across the old stone house, Maison Chevalier. Built in 1752 by a ship owner, the classic French-style is typical of architecture of New France. The firewalls, chimneys, vaulted cellars, original wood beams and stone fireplaces were noteworthy. What a jewel this museum was. The self-guided tour of life in the 17-18^th centuries was well displayed with simple explanations and labels.

       Quebec City’s split level landscape divides Vieux-Quebec’s Upper Town from Lower Town. Hope Gate is one of four old gates into the city and we passed through it several times as our B & B was in Lower Town.

Breakneck staircase

     The Funicular that connects Upper and Lower Towns was built in 1879 and ran six months a year. It started running full time in 1907 and was converted to electric power at that time. In 1945 a massive fire destroyed the structure. Metal shelters were added when it was reconstructed the following year. The glass cabins, which offer a panoramic view for the short ride, were added in 1978. The funicular, the only one of its kind in North America, was revamped with modern technology in 1998. The Upper Town station is just river-side of the Champlain statue at the end of the Dufferin Terrace. The Lower Town station is at Maison Louis-Jolliet. The funicular ride sure beat a horse and buggy ride up the cliff or climbing one of the twenty-five staircases built to join the two parts of city!    

      The Escalier Casse-Cou, also known as the Breakneck staircase, is the first staircase built, in 1893. Its nickname refers to the hazards of ice and snow in winter time. The 170 steps are built on the site of the original 17^th century stairway that linked Upper with Lower Towns. Today shops and cafés can be found at various levels.

      Quebec City, full of history and  charm is a delightful city to visit.