Montreal: An architectural walking tour in Old Montreal

Day Two (June 30, 2006) of my urban adventure in Montreal introduced me to the architectural jewels of Old Montreal and our local walking tour guide Louis impressed our group with his knowledge of social history and architecture (that extended way beyond Montreal). Stimulated by this educational outing I then had a delicious lunch at the Café du Château and just as a major thunderstorm unleashed its fury I decided to explore the Chateau du Ramezay, a museum featuring diverse artifacts from more than 350 years of Montreal's history. In the evening I took a relaxing stroll through the beautiful Latin Quarter and finally settled for an extremely satisfying dinner at La Iguana, one of Montreal's premier Mexican restaurants, where I had a chance to chat with the owner and find out what this restaurant is all about. A packed day of exploration was capped off by a walk along St. Catharines Street to get a glimpse of Montreal's Jazz Festival -- the largest festival of its kind in the world, attracting hundreds of thousands of revelers every year.

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• Montreal
• Quebec
• Jazz
• Festival
• bike
• tour
• casino
• architecture

[mtnhighker]

Went to Old Montreal a few days ago. Fantastic place, especially the architecture and then the people-watching on St Paul St (Rue St Paul), complete with street musicians and nice outdoor dining spots. A short walk takes you to the port with ships from all over the world. A one hour cruise of the harbor on the AML ship is highly recommended.

[travelandtransitions]

Yes, Montreal is an awesome place. I have not had a chance yet to do the harbour cruise - that sounds like an awesome idea.

[skyscraper03]

There are moments we should boldly step in and push our society forward. There are moments we should be more open and even sacrifice something for the better future and greater prosperity. In my opinion, Quebec (Parti Quebecois) was too blind to take revenge on the (original white) English Canadians, and they didn't even think about this important principle at all. What's the big deal with English language, French Culture, Chinese Immigrants, and Inuit Heritage & Spirits? Canada is Canada!

[skyscraper03]

@EEV776 I agree that Montreal could have been the New York of Canada: a city has it all, the nature, history, architecture & the economy and people. English "language" was and will be such a tremendous weapon for Montreal, and I do not understand why they almost banned it with a restriction law in the name of preservation of a single particular "culture". By now we all should clearly see, Bill 101 resulted in Montreal's complete collapse in exchange of something that will mixed away anyway...

[skyscraper03]

Montreal is virtually a dead place at the moment. Montrealers or Quebecers in general could not read the history's demand to be victorious and more prosperous. Both French and English "cultures" will gradually fade away thru history, and Canada will constantly change& evolve itself as "Canadian", not "French" or "English" of Europe. We will clearly see that language does not mean much more than a tool of communication in the future. So in the end, Bill 101 was nothing more than a pure stupidity.

[EEV776]

Montreal is most spectacular city in Canada. Toronto could not be even closely, compared to it. Montreal has a history, fantastic architecture and awesome vibe like in New York. Food in Montreal is excellent , city itself is an unusual blend of European and American culture, has many great museums, but winter is tough. Toronto has nothing but Asians everywhere you can look, who reside in a small ugly concrete appeasements. However Toronto use to be better 10 years ago.

[kidkappa04]

@wandaslice Vancouver beats Montreal so does Niagara Falls, Whistler & Toronto. Montreal is cool though.

[JoDaddyy]

@KTVlog Winter was worse back then. Trust me, it's not that bad, it's obviously livable. On average though, winter day's go up to about -15C.

[KTVlog]

I was there two days ago and it is now my favorite place in the world. i so want to live there and learn french. However, i don´t think i could handle winter.

[JewelBocks]

Architectural jewel is an overstatement. The Scottish settlers to Montreal built rather rudimetary structures of limestone. Mostly warehouses and banks.