Holiday to Canada in Aug 2024: Day 7 – Montreal to Quebec City

By Nige on September 6, 2024 at 9:02 pm
Type: Post
Story: Holiday to Canada in Aug 2024 Category: Travel
Tags: Canada | Hertz | Hilton | Holidays | Montreal | Quebec City

Up early this morning, but Vick wasn’t too far behind me. We were looking forward to seeing what Quebec City had to offer.

We started off with a visit to our local Starbucks. The staff were not in a good mood; I got the impression there was an issue between them. Not one for us to get involved in.

On our way back to our hotel, we decided to head straight into breakfast.

The oatmeal was a much better consistency this morning, but Vick reported that it wasn’t very hot.

I made do with some sausage and yukon potatoes. It wasn’t great, but it would do to get us on the road.

We were on the road by 8:30am and it was going to be a longish drive.

The first leg to Starbucks would take about 45 mins, but that was the last Starbucks for quite some time, so it was a must visit store!

The second leg would take us to a supercharger and would take another 45 mins.

The final leg to Quebec city would take about 90 mins, but we hoped to be at our destination by midday.

Traffic heading out of Montreal was slow and challenging. There seemed to be roads heading in many directions at junctions, which made it difficult to successfully execute the directions being thrown at us by the sat nav at times.

Starbucks at Sainte Hyacinthe was relaxing. We only stayed for 10 mins before continuing on our journey, since we wanted to crack on. We continued enjoying our caffeine whilst driving.

Supercharging took about 40 mins, but it gave us a chance to finish our coffees and prep for our time in Quebec city.

We arrived onto Quebec city at around 11:30am. We dumped the car and our luggage in the car park, and headed up to reception.

We were fortunate again that our room was ready. Room 1716 was a corner suite and had some magnificent views. Possibly the best views we have ever experienced in a hotel room.

After congratulating ourselves over our hotel room view, we decided to head out to Quebec City Old Town to see what we could see.

We got some basic advice as to where we might want to go from hotel staff, considering we only had 24 hours here.

The Old Town was stunning – it was really pretty. It was so much nicer than Toronto or Montreal.

We walked towards the Basilica and stopped off at an Irish bar for a spot of lunch. We had asked for a table outside.

The only 2-person tables available were in the direct sun and after 5 mins, we realised it wasn’t a great idea.

The pub staff wouldn’t allow us to occupy a 4-person table which was in the shade. FFS.

In the end, we ordered a plate of nachos with chicken which was really tasty, but at the end of the meal, I was really stingy with the tip to make some sort of statement about how poorly we had been treated.

Fat lot of good that will do, but it made me feel slightly better.

We walked up the cobbled roads to the Basilica, which was free to enter. The Basilica in Montreal charged us $32 for the two of us. Here, we just ambled in.

It was still very attractive inside. Well worth the entry fee! We didn’t stay long.

From there we continued walking along pretty, colourful, and busy streets. We passed a fernicula railway which we came back to later on.

Further down that street, Vick discovered a Mr Whippy ice cream shop, selling vanilla and maple syrup cones.

Wowser – they were creamy and tasty. Fabulous. However, that fabulousness came at a price.

Two of the largest cones came to $17.50. At least the owner learnt a new phrase from the Vickster: whippy ice cream.

We popped down to the harbour and then headed back up towards the Citadel.

To get back to the top, we used the fernicula railway, which cost $5 one way per person.

From the top of the fernicula railway, we walked along the boardwalk and then up the steep incline to the Citadel.

Whilst Vick sat outside in the shade, I enquired about getting in to have a look around, but unless I was in the Canadian military, I would have to invest an hour in a guided tour.

No thanks – I only wanted to pop around to take a few snaps!

It was really hot in the sun by this stage and Vick was needing an air-conditioned room and a cold bottle of water to cool her down.

We managed to drag ourselves back to our hotel, pick up our bags from our car and headed up to our room.

We booked a Thai restaurant for dinner. We needed a change from cheese and biscuits! That was our chance to see the New Town.

We had booked for 6pm and on the way, we walked through some edgy streets with live music playing.

There were lots of young people around, enjoying being out at the start of the weekend, which makes us sound really old.

Our young waiter at Bati Bassac made a real effort to get on with us. We joked about our use of the word “lovely” and he asked us whether we knew Jude Bellingham!

We ordered meat balls and corn balls to start with. Both were very tasty, and fairly substantial.

For main courses, we ordered a wok of the day which comprised beef and lots of vegetables in a hot oyster sauce. It was nice, but a tad on the hot side for me. Tasty though.

Vick had a chicken sweet & sour dish, which she liked, but it didn’t have enough vegetables in it.

Overall, it was a decent meal out, but we wouldn’t go back.

The menu wasn’t extensive enough, so the options were limited. Too many dishes involved prawns!

We walked back to the hotel through some less desirable streets. The streets where students and other real people lived and worked. The comparison with the Old Town, just half a mile away was stark.

Once back at the hotel, we grabbed some photos of Quebec City in the dark.

Wow – we wish we had stayed here for two nights, rather than just the one.

Holiday to Canada in Aug 2024