MARITIMES CRUISE 2025
QUEBEC
Day 10- Quebec City
Our first day in Quebec City, and our last day on the ship. When you wake up and look out, the Quebec City port isn't the prettiest scene, you have to take a shuttle bus to get closer to the old city area. We didn't waste any time, grabbed a breakfast sandwich and jumped on the shuttle. The rest of the gang had their own tours today, so we had the day to explore ourselves.
We walked, and walked, and walked. The old town area of Quebec City is so interesting, and all decorated for fall/halloween
Instagram girls are a problem everywhere, this lady actually walked right in front of me while I was taking a picture, completely oblivious, or just didn't care.
This cat just enjoying his day out for a walk while his owner sat at a nearby table eating lunch.
The Château Frontenac (aka the Fairmont Château Frontenac) is so imposing as it looks over the city. It was built by the Canadian Pacific Railway company and opened in 1893. It is considered the most photographed hotel in the world. The Châteauesque-styled building has 18 floors, it was one of the first of Canada's grand railway hotels, and was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1981.
We took a long walk along the St. Lawrence river, only to discover, the only way up to the area we were heading was using the Cap-Blanc stairs. Québec City's longest staircase was built out of wood in 1868. At the time, it was used by the workers of the Cap-Blanc district to walk to work in the Cove Fields munitions factories, which were then located on the Plains of Abraham. The stairs have been rebuilt many times, because they are bolted onto a rock wall subject to rockslides. Today the stairway includes a number of landings to give users a chance to catch their breath. The stairs remain a real challenge for joggers and other athletes who want to test their physical condition. Us non-athletes climbed the 400 stairs, and I regretted that decision later.
Just above the Cap-Blanc stairs is the Plains of Abraham, a historic public park, also known as Battlefields Park. The site is famous for the 1759 battle between the British and French armies, which was a pivotal event in the history of Canada.
At the far end of the plains is the Citadelle de Québec, an active military installation and the secondary official residence of the governor general of Canada. The citadel forms part of the fortifications of Quebec City, which is one of only two cities in North America still surrounded by fortifications, the other being Campeche, Mexico. The modern citadel was built from 1820 to 1850, in an effort to secure Quebec City against a potential American attack.
The Château is clearly visible from the Citadelle.
Our last real stop for the day would be the Notre-Dame de Québec Basilica-Cathedral ("Our Lady of Quebec City"). It is the oldest church in Canada, construction of the first cathedral building began in 1647. The cathedral has twice been destroyed by fire, the first time being during the Siege of Quebec in 1759. In 1922 the church was again gutted by fire; the Ku Klux Klan was initially suspected of arson, but in 1927, an American career criminal, Ray Marsden confessed in prison to a series of church arsons, including Notre-Dame, that were done to cover his burglaries.
After a full day of walking the city, we walked back to the port to catch the shuttle
bus for our last night on the ship.
Quebec City is truly Canada's European jewel!
At dinner, all the kitchen staff did a big parade of Baked Alaska desserts, and we said our final goodbyes to Romeo and Juliette.
Tonight's show was Antonio LaRosa, a vocalist/Instrumentalist, and the Comedian was Gary Dalena again. We skipped them both and sat on the upper deck of the piazza watching the band and listening to music with Brett & Leslie.
Day 11- Disembark at 8:00am
The morning of disembarkation is always an interesting one, you can't get near the elevators, and suddenly all these people that have been wandering the ship for the last 10 days are now in wheelchairs to get helped off the ship. They really try to get everyone off the ship as soon as possible, so they can get ready for the new passengers, but we can't check in to our hotel until late afternoon.
So we leisurely make our way to the dining room at the latest available time for breakfast. Sure enough Brett & Leslie are already there, also waiting to the last minute. Our dinner waiter Ivan comes by to say his final goodbye as he gets to go home after 9 months at sea. As we guessed, he is meeting Juliette once he gets home. When we get back to our room, we are asked to take our bags and go, so we head out to a long taxi lineup for our 2nd day in Québec. First stop was our hotel to drop off our luggage.
We wandered along the walls of the city, getting different views until we ended up back at the Plains of Abraham.
From the plains we wandered to the Parliament Building which was built between 1877 and 1886, in the heart of Quebec's Parliament Hill. We were happy to learn that we could do a free tour of the building, but security is high with ID required, and a full airport style screening system.
Along one hallway is paintings of all the past Premiers, some are better than others, at least the busts of significant figures are done well. The overall building was much more interesting than I expected.
From Parliament we wandered over to the Quartier Saint-Jean-Baptiste neighborhood.
The Observatoire de la Capitale is one floor focused on viewpoints over the city. It is located on the 31st and top floor of the Marie-Guyart Building, the tallest skyscraper in Quebec City.
There are several abandoned churches in this area, one has become a library, and one is just chained up.
Before finally being able to check-in, we had to make a stop at Paillard patisserie.
Hotel AtypiQ might be one of the weirdest hotels we have stayed in, when we get to our room the bed is floating in the middle of the room. Apparently to make space in a smaller room, it has a bed that raises to the ceiling, this gives you a small table and bench when you aren't using the bed. We had to get the front desk guy to come and show us how to lower the bed.
Another intersting feature of AtypiQ is they have a shared kitchen, stocked with all the basics and foods so that you can make your own breakfast or lunch, or use it to cook your own dinners... we didn't use it, we're on holiday.
We had one last dinner with the gang at La Buchett, a typical Quebecois restaurant. After dinner and some laughs, it was time to say goodbye to our fellow cruiser travelling companions.
More of Quebec City
Our last 2 days in Quebec City were spent with our local friends Danie and Claude, they were staying in the same hotel as us. Norine and Danie were french exchange students back in high school and they have remained friends ever since.
That morning they picked us up and drove us to the nearby island Île d'Orléans, they picked us up in a car, not a horse and buggy.
Our first stop is Vignoble Isle de Bacchus. Created in 1982 in Saint-Pierre on Île d'Orléans, the Isle de Bacchus vineyard takes its name from the old description given to the island of Orleans by Jacques Cartier himself in 1535 when he named it "Isle de Bacchus" because of the abundance of wild vines he found there at the time. The vineyard now cultivates 11 hectares of vines on the island, whose grape varieties are adapted to the Quebec climate. Some wines were sampled, and we each had a plate of assorted cheeses, meats and fruit while enjoying the views across the vinyard. A man hearing the girls speaking french dropped off his unfinished bottle of wine since they were leaving.
The next stop was the Observation Tower and it's 90 steps, this was easy after our training a few days before.
A super interesting stop was Claude's heritage marked family home. There is a sign and a stone with an inscription dating it back to 1640. His family was one of the original settlers on Île d'Orléans.
The rock formations along this beach are fascinating, they are shale formations from the Appalachians. What you see are alternations of silt-argilitic with limestones, which are typically formed in deeper submarine environments. The formation of the Appalachians caused these rock formations to get heavily deformed.
Our final stop on Île d'Orléans was a Chocolaterie and Ice Cream shop. We loaded up on chocolate for our flight, and everyone enjoyed some Ice Cream. Apparently (due to Ice Cream I'm sure) I developed a sinus infection and a fever, so crashed early, while Norine, Danie and Claude went out for dinner to catch up and watch the Montreal Canadiens game. After the Canadiens won, there was singing and dancing and sitting by the fire on our hotels rooftop involved.
Feeling much better after 12 hours of sleep, we all ventured out and wandered around the old city.
I am sure there is no copyright infringement in this restaurant.
Something I hadn't noticed on the 2 days earlier is the Toboggan slide beside the Chateau. It has run every winter since 1884, and can reach speeds up to 70km/h.
We walked in to the Chateau, and Danie led us on a special tour... it involved just opening doors and walking in. Some areas may have been closed, but that didn't stop us.
The François-Jacquet-Dit-Langevin house is one of the oldest houses in Quebec. It is also one of the very first private residences built in the Upper Town of Quebec City. Master roofer François Jacquet built a wooden house in 1674, then around 1690, he rebuilt it in cut stone. Many years later, Philippe Aubert de Gaspé published an important book in the literary history of Quebec, Les Anciens Canadiens, a historical novel with a nationalist flavor set in the 1750s. The name of the restaurant that has occupied the Jacquet-Dit-Langevin house since 1966 is directly inspired by this novel.
Of course we had to stop for a traditional Beaver Tail before we left Quebec.
As they had to drive home, we said goodbye to our friends, took a little break in the square, and then packed our luggage to the train station for our last stop in Quebec.
The next station is Montreal.