Life in the Slow Lane (The Pearl)

Food in Québec

"Travel the world, eat good food, take great photos." -Unknown

As you can see from the places we dined at during our stay in Old Québec we like Italian places. Well that's not exactly right...Stan likes places that serve good salmon and I'm always a fan of pasta. There are so many great places to choose from so deciding on where to go is a little hard and time consuming. The internet makes choosing a restaurant so much easier now than in the past.

We didn't make reservations the first night we were in town, but lucked out and found Alphonse located in Quartier Petit-Champlain. It was a great little place and we enjoyed our meals.

I had the Spaghetti Carbonara and Stan had the Confit Salmon which was slow cooked with corn orzo, cherry tomato virgin sauce and zucchini salad with horseradish and dill.

Café du Monde is located at Pier 22 close to the Cruise Terminal. It's the only restaurant in Old Québec situated right at the water’s edge with a great view of the Saint Lawrence River. For this reason we had to have lunch here after our boat tour. The menu features classic French dishes, alongside a delightful selection of fresh fish and seafood. Since we were having a late lunch and had reservations for a nice dinner we decided to have a bowl of their creamy vegetable soup.

Va Bene is an intimate (40 diners) Italian restaurant located on Rue Sous-le-Fort in Quartier Petit-Champlain. They serve a range of products imported from Italy, including deli meat, cheese, bread, signature and vegetarian entrées, pasta, risotto, meat and fish.

I had the Orecchiette with Pistachio Pesto - basil, pistachios, olive oil, cream, lemon zest, confit tomatoes, Grana Padano and stracciatella. Stan had Seared Salmon Fillet - limoncello beurre blanc, basil oil, fried ricotta and garlic scape.

We had lunch one day at Pub L'Oncle Antoine. It's a small tavern we had read had some of the best French onion soup in Quebec...and it did. The pub is located at Place Royale in a brick cellar dating back to 1754. It features original vaulted stone walls with warm lighting and a lively atmosphere.

On our last night in Old Québec we ate at Savini on Rue Sainte-Anne not far from our apartment.

Stan almost always has salmon. Tonight he had salmon with white butter sauce served with herb and garlic pasta. I decided to do a smaller dish and had the Fried calamari served with spicy mayonnaise. We shared an order of Ciabatta bread with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

We stopped by La Bûchette several times. It was just around the corner from our apartment. We spent a little time there while we waited to check in the day we arrived. It's located on the charming pedestrian street of Sainte-Anne. We tried their shrimp croquettes.

Old Québec Adventure Part III

"Be strong enough to stand alone, smart enough to know when you need help and brave enough to ask for it." -Mark Amend

I think my favorite part of Old Québec is Basse-Ville (Lower Town). And my favorite place in Lower Town is Quartier Petit-Champlain. It's the oldest shopping district in North America and is known as one of the most beautiful sites in Old Québec. It's located at the bottom of the cliff under the Château Frontenac. The pedestrian streets offer a variety of interesting boutique shops and cozy cafes located in restored houses. Most of the buildings were built between 1725 and 1760. Of course they have been renovated through the years.

To reach Lower Town you can take one of six staircases leading down from different places in Upper Town or you can ride the Old Quebec Funicular. We rode the funicular when we were here in 2018. The oldest and most used staircase is Escalier Casse-Cou (Breakneck Staircase). This staircase was built in 1635. They were originally called the "Champlain Stairs", "Beggars' Stairs", and "Lower Town Stairs", but were renamed to Breakneck due to their steepness. There are only 59 steps in total, but they descend in a drastic manner.

Another neighborhood in Old Québec is Place-Royale. It's the precise location where Samuel de Champlain built the first permanent French settlement in the Americas. Erected in 1608, his first dwelling was a fort, store, trading post and residence all rolled into one. It's considered to be the birthplace of the French colony and the French-American community.

Québec City's Old Port has been a hive of activity from its heyday in the 19th century. Today it's a popular cruise destination. We were lucky this trip and no ships were in port. On our first full day we took a harbor cruise. It was fun to see the city from the water.

This is the view from Montmorency Park National Historic Site to Côte de la Montagne. The park is located at the top of Côte de la Montagne in the historic district of Old Québec, Montmorency. The park was part ways down the hill to Lower Town from our apartment.

Looking at the Château Frontenac and the Louis S. St-Laurent Building from the park.

Côte de la Montagne leads down to Lower Town.

From this road we took the Escalier Casse-Cou (Breakneck Staircase) to Rue du Petit Champlain in Basse-Ville (Lower Town). This is the view from the top of the stairs.

Rue du Petit Champlain is filled with lots of shops and restaurants.

Looking up the Escalier Casse-Cou (Breakneck Staircase).

Looking down Rue Sous-le-Fort. The streets and buildings in this section of Old Québec are beautiful.

Looking up Rue Sous-le-Fort towards the funicular railway.

Same view but in the evening. Since we were here later in the fall on this visit we were able to see things at night. The lights made everything so pretty.

A cute shop at the end of Rue Sous-le-Fort.

Looking up at the Château Frontenac from Rue de caul-de-Sac.

Place-Royale today is full of restaurants, shops and museums.

The Fresque des Québécois is a captivating mural at the very bottom of Côte de la Montagne near Place-Royale. It illustrates 400 years of the city's history. To the left is Notre-Dame-des-Victoires Catholic Church.

Notre-Dame-des-Victoires Catholic Church (Our Lady of Victories) is located in Place-Royale. It's considered to be the oldest church built in stone and which still has its same walls. Final construction was in 1723.

View of Château Frontenac and buildings on Rue de Marché-Champlain from the port where we boarded our tour boat.

The city sign at the Quebec Port.

Onboard Louis Jolliet waiting for our cruise to start.

It was the perfect day for a cruise.

A view of Old Québec. Our apartment is the white steeple in the middle of this photo. It was one of the best places we've ever stayed. Incredible views.

We cruised north to Montmorency Falls. The falls are only 7.5 miles from town. We visited it when we were here in 2018. It was fun to see it from the water.

Another view of Château Frontenac and one of the ice breakers docked at the port.

Old Québec Adventure Part II

"How beautifully leaves grow old. How full of light and color are their last days." –Unknown

Old Québec was founded in 1608 by Samuel de Champlain. It makes all our senses think we're in France, with the sight of winding cobblestone streets and century old buildings, the sound of French pleasantries, the taste of buttery croissants and the enticing smell of fresh-baked bread and amazing chocolate. It's a little piece of Europe right here in North America.

Old Québec is divided into Upper Town (Haute-Ville), which is perched on cliffs overlooking the St. Lawrence River and provides amazing views of the countryside and Lower Town (Basse-Ville), which was the original city. It sprang up around the harbor and the buildings date back to the 1600s. This post will cover Upper Town. I'll save photos of Lower Town for another post.

Our apartment steps out onto Rue du Trésor. It's a narrow, pedestrian-only cobblestone alley that functions as a vibrant open-air art gallery. The name translates to "Treasure Street" because colonists went there during the French Regime to pay taxes at the royal treasury. Artists began hanging and selling their paintings, watercolors, and sketches along the stone walls in the 1960s. This small cobblestone street links the Notre-Dame de Québec Basilica-Cathedral and the Château Frontenac. There weren't as many stalls open during this visit as there were when we were here in September many years ago.

This picture was from our first trip in 2018.

Notre-Dame de Québec Basilica-Cathedral was built on the site of the first chapel constructed by Samuel de Champlain in 1633 and is the oldest church in Canada. It has served the first Catholic parish in North America ever since 1664. Its history has been marked by shelling, fires, and multiple reconstructions and renovations.

The Fairmont Le Château Frontenac is the focal point of Old Québec. It sits at the eastern edge of Old Quebec's Upper Town with a wonderful view of the St. Lawrence River. It's hard not to include it in every photo you take. It's said to be the most-photographed hotel in the world.

Old Québec is the only surviving fortified city north of Mexico. The fortified walls and ramparts were the city’s defensive system built between 1608 and 1871. Today, the fortifications of Québec consist of 4 gates, 3 Martello towers, the Citadel and almost 3 miles of ramparts, complete with cannons. The gates connect Upper Town to the rest of the city.

Porte St. Jean is the northernmost gate into the Old City and is one of two main town gates originally built in 1694. It has been rebuilt through the years, the present gate was built in 1939. I took this photo in 2018.

One morning we walked around a section of the wall. It was a bit cloudy.

But as you can see the front was clearing it out pretty quickly. You can see Porte Kent in the center of this photo. It was erected in 1879 and named after Queen Victoria's father The Duke of Kent.

Porte St. Louis is the gate closest to the Citadel built 1694. It has also been rebuilt through the last 300 years. The present gate was built in 1878. We were hoping we could continue along the wall until we came back to the water, but they had it closed off.

Terrasse Dufferin is a beautiful terrace stretching from the foot of the Citadelle to Château Frontenac. It offers breathtaking views of the St. Lawrence River and Lower Town. It was a great spot for us to soak up the warmth of the sun and enjoy the view.