Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, September 24, 1995 TAG: 9509260019
SECTION: TRAVEL PAGE: D-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GERRY DAVIES STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: QUEBEC LENGTH: Long
Would you settle for a 350-year-old walled city where the atmosphere is festive and French, the scenery striking and a bad meal hard to find?
My wife and I made that choice for our 10th wedding anniversary in June, and we found within Vieux Quebec - the historic walled section of Quebec city - a place of cultural and culinary delights, of moonlit carriage rides, singing waiters and master chocolatiers.
It being an anniversary trip, Clare and I splurged on four nights at the Chateau Frontenac, an opulent, 100-year-old, 620-room hotel that towers over the old city. It's one of the more expensive hotels in Quebec, with prices running $220-$300 (Canadian) a night, but our travel agent found a good rate, $140 (Canadian), which translated into about $105 (U.S.) a night. Weak as the U.S. dollar might be in Europe, it was doing just fine in Canada.
I approached the hotel with some trepidation, however, being more accustomed to Motel 6. French Canada's reputation for snobbery - even outright hostility - toward English speakers lingered in my mind, unable as I was to speak a word of French.
Yet the Chateau Frontenac, like the city itself, proved wonderfully welcoming. Our room was tasteful, clean and comfortable and the service attentive. When we complained of pounding music late into the night from a wedding party below, the management responded with an apologetic note, basket of fruit and plateful of chocolates.
It is the kind of old-style hotel that could easily occupy an entire day, with luxuriously appointed lobbies, multiple restaurants and pricey shops. But save that for a rainy day, for the Chateau Frontenac is better used as a base for exploring one of North America's most interesting cities.
Founded by the French explorer Samuel de Champlain (whose statue stands before the Chateau Frontenac) in the early 1600s, Quebec was a focal point in the French-English power struggles in North America. Besieged six times, it finally fell to the English for good after General Wolfe's British forces defeated the French under Montcalm on the nearby Plains of Abraham - a battle well-commemorated in Quebec.
Reconstructed or preserved remnants of those days can be seen throughout the old city. A bit of walking from the Chateau Frontenac takes you to battle sites, fortifications, churches and many stone buildings dating to the early colonial era, and an assortment of museums touching on the many aspects of Quebec's history and culture: religious, military, French, Indian, British.
For those not so history-oriented, Quebec offers much else. In an alley just across from the Chateau Frontenac, between Rue St. Anne and Rue du Tresor, local artists display their works for sale. Some of the water colors, etchings, oils and lithographs are quite good, others more than a little cheesy. You won't find high prices, but then it's not high art, either. (One vendor, who saw me taking notes, asked, "You're not from the Department of Revenue, no?")
Directly below the chateau, running along a bluff that divides Vieux-Quebec into upper and lower sections, is the terrace Dufferin, a boardwalk crowded in the evenings and on weekends with musicians, mimes and other street performers. It's a place for strolling lovers to see Inuit rock bands, old men playing the spoons, Quebecois folk singers, and usually at least one French lounge singer warbling tunes from the Mamas and the Papas songbook.
Heading off in almost any direction from the Chateau Frontenac will take you to other interesting sites:
Down winding stairs or the funicular (a cable car of sorts) to the lower town's shops, art galleries, restaurants and museums along the shore of theO
St. Lawrence River. A cheap, short ferry ride across the St. Lawrence is available there, and it's worth it just for the breathtaking view it affords of the city.
Up to the heights overlooking Vieux-Quebec, where the Citadel, a fortress, is still a military base as well as a historic site. It's original intent when built in the 1830s was to fend off a potential American invasion, but it was obsolete by the time it was finished.
Along cobbled streets in the upper town, past flag-bedecked buildings, to restaurants where eating is an event to be savored.
At Restaurant au Parmesan, diners lingered for hours over memorable Italian dishes, and customers and waiters alike periodically broke into song. As at all the restaurants we tried, the staff was very attentive, but dishes arrived slowly, in keeping with the local custom of leisurely dinners.
Other notable meals were had at Au Anciens Canadiens, which offers tasty, traditional Quebecois fare such as caribou meat pies; the continental-oriented Cafe de la Paix; and the expensive le Saint-Amour, scene of our last dinner in Quebec, where the master chocolatier lived up to his billing.
We capped our final night with a single red rose for Clare and a lengthy caleche (carriage) ride over the cobblestone streets, through parks and city gates, taking in sights made all the more romantic by moonlight and the cool night air.
As I listened to our driver, Robert, spill out his own charmingly bawdy version of Quebec's history while his horse, King, clopped slowly along the A stones, I felt quite certain that Paris could have been no better.
by CNB