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Aug. 9 – Montreal, QC

Old Montreal
Yacht Club Montreal

We spent the day exploring Old Montreal. Old Montreal is a part of downtown Montreal that has been preserved in much of its original state, with the oldest buildings dating back to the 1600's. This historic neighborhood is a vibrant community, European in character with cobblestone streets full of hotels, museums, restaurants and shops. We started our tour at the Notre Dame de Bon Secours Chapel; it was the first stone church in Montreal, erected in 1675. The original church burned in 1754 and was replaced with the one we saw today. It has always been known as the Sailor’s Church and welcomes all visitors. Our next stop was the Bonsecours Market built in 1847 as a place where the citizens of Montreal could come to buy produce from local farms. It is now full of designer boutiques. We rode our bikes along streets that have been full of people since the 1700s; the buildings and small streets were very charming and we felt like we had been transported to Europe. We saw Montreal’s first bank, Notre Dame Basilica, Canada’s first skyscraper built in 1888, and we wandered through Chinatown and then down Saint Paul Street, which is the oldest street in Montreal.  We even enjoyed a lunch concert in a small park.

The weather turned bad late in the afternoon, so we had dinner onboard…a little sad since there are so many wonderful places to eat in Montreal. We had a great day in Montreal and enjoyed seeing the highlights.

Bonsecours Market 
Notre Dame de Bon Secours Chapel
Place d'Armes with the Bank of Montreal to the left. The bank was established in 1817 and this building was built in 1847.
Old hotel in Montreal
Concert in the park
This building was a firehouse at one time it is now the Center of History of Montreal

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