Québec City
Next stop was Québec City, another 4.5-hour train journey from Ottawa. We actually loved the train travel in Canada, the carriages are really comfortable, serve decent snacks and offers pretty good WIFI. And they are much less stress than flying!
Owing to my cousin’s year-long stint living in Québec City, we arrived armed with a huge list of recommendations which I LOVE to have when visiting new places.
For the first two nights we stayed in an Airbnb in Old Québec, a historic neighbourhood with a European charm to it. With French being the official language of the province, it really did feel like we’d arrived in France. Our room was in a building at the top corner of Quartier Petit Champlain; a cute cobbled street with restaurants and boutiques and home to the bottom of the Funiculaire du Vieux-Québec which links the upper part of the city to the lower part, where we were staying. It honestly looked like the land of Christmas when we arrived late at night; twinkling lights and festive decorations. We saw during the day that it’s a VERY popular spot for tourists so felt a little hectic but it was the perfect base for exploring.
Buffet de L'Antiquaire became a firm favourite, we went twice for breakfast and once for lunch. It’s nothing fancy. Just a simple French-style local cafe. Comfort food, done well; eggs, French toast, burgers, sandwiches. Everything served with tiny sauté potatoes and salad and a constant flow of black coffee to keep the man in your (my) life happy.
At the ‘top’ of the city (Québec City is mostly on a hill) is The Fairmont Le Chateau Frontenac which looks like a Disney princess castle towering over the streets below. You can walk along the boardwalk in front of the hotel and into Parc du Bastion-de-la-Reine, passing La Citadelle de Québec which is an active military fortress and get some of the best views over the Saint Lawrence - absolutely beautiful, especially in the sunshine! From here we walked through to the Parliament Building and back along Rue Saint-Jean, another cute street with cafes, shops and restaurants.
La Boutique de Noel de Quebec is an all year-round Christmas shop with every kind of Christmas decoration you could possibly imagine. It was totally weird but wonderful at the same time. The vibe almost, sort of made sense in October but I can’t imagine how it would feel in the middle of the summer - very odd!
La Piazzetta is a chain and wouldn’t usually have been our first choice for dinner but a lot of the restaurants in the old town were pretty pricey and we just wanted a simple, quick dinner. Turns out this place is a great find! We had the most delicious fresh, traditional style carbonara and yummy organic wine (winner for me). Perfect option for an easy meal.
Québec City is small and after four nights here we felt like we’d covered almost everything. We hired a car and drove out to the Charlevoix region after our first two nights (I’ve written a seperate blog on this) but in the city we walked everywhere.
When we came back from our mini road trip we had two nights at the Auberge Saint-Antoine Relais & Châteaux a boutique hotel also in Old Quebec and a special treat after four nights in a not so comfortable Airbnb. They have two great in-house restaurants, a yoga studio (which unfortunately I didn’t get to see), a gym (for him) and a spa (for me). We left Québec City feeling relaxed and ready for the next stop on our Canadian tour.
