City of Québec

It was a short ride to Québec. We arrived early in the morning and found ourselves parked right down the steep slopes atop of which was the Château Frontenac.   Now a beautiful 900 room hotel.

This city is also one of the first to be settled in the Americas and was founded by the French explorer Champlain.   ( During this trip my brain was really taxed trying to remember the stuff that I had learned in history so many, many years ago. )   In the year 2008, it will celebrate its 400th anniversary!   The city flag, to the right, has the markings to recall the history of the city.   The sailing ship represent the period of time during which the city was founded by the maritime industries of Québec.   The notched border recalls that Québec city is a walled and fortified city.   Built with defense of the city and its people, Québec is the only walled city in North America.

Turning right and looking down, the brilliant red trees in the court yard on the wharf were sighted.   Farther to the right was a huge grain elevator.   We learned later that Québec was a big shipping port of wheat destined for Europe, primarily England.

Off the ship and onto the bus, we set out to see the city.   Our first stop was at the bottom of the slope below the Châ teau Frontenac.   This is an old section of the city and it has been restored to it original condition including old gun placements for defense of the port.

Narrow cobblestone streets lined with restored stone buildings present an atmosphere of long ago.   Then there is one building with a painted mural that depicts the history of people who made Québec an important city.   In the old days it was important to have ladders on the roof.   These ladders were used in case of fire to get water out on the roof.   ( I really didn't realize how the perspective was so off with these two images until placed side by side. )

Touring in the area around the governmental building we passed a beautiful park.   Designed by Olmsted, designer of Central Park in NYC and the grounds of the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, N.C.   Centerpiece of one section is a statue of General Cornwallis.   The large expanse of grass slope is on the grounds of the Citadel.

From a vantage point near the Citadel we could see our ship and another cruise ship that was in port.

In every case during our two previous cruises, we always left port late afternoon or during our dinner hour.   In Quebéc we stayed until about 2 a.m. the following morning.   However, all was still not perfect as the best time to take “night photographs” is while the sky is in twilight and just dark enough that are lights.   While these conditions were taking place, it was our dinner hour.

Next, cruising the Saguenay River