Montreal & Quebec Day 6: First Quebec Evening

Although I didn't see much of Quebec on my first evening there, over the next couple of days I got to know the city. And yes, it is a city, but not a metropolis like Montreal. Notably, its old town -the main attraction- is one of the oldest cities in North America. The cobblestone, haphazardly angled, and narrow streets, the preponderance of centuries old stone buildings, and the castle-like city fortifications give it a truly European feel. The old town is pretty small and walkable. Old town and a few streets extruding from it have the density of people, restaurants, and shops that a city requires. However, the total land area these occupy before the roads peter out into a less dense, more vehicle-transportation dominated portion of the city makes the city rather limited in scope

I feel like I ought to compliment Lord Dufferin, the man who governed Canada for much of the 1870s, for his foresight. He stopped the destruction of the old walls, the replacement of the roads, and the widening of gates, thereby preserving Quebec's old world charm.

Quebec's history revolves around the single major event in its history: the battle in which Britain defeated France for control of Quebec. It felt like most parks, fortifications, statues, plaques, etc. all commemorated or memorialized some aspect of the event. The temporary occupation of Quebec by the Americans during the revolutionary war received a little attention too, but not much.

A few other features differentiate Quebec from Montreal. There are fewer bistros and cafes. And although everyone is still bilingual, it was much easier to find people in Quebec with poor English skills, unsure about the English words for a variety of things (in our case, food ingredients).

Evening Activities:
We didn't do much on our first evening in town. We checked into our hotel, Manoir des Remparts, and headed to Chez Victor, a burger joint outside of Old Town. Here's my review. After dinner, we drove through the really tangled roads of Old Quebec to the parking garage where we'd leave our car during our time in Quebec, parked our car, and walked to the hotel. If you view the route we took, you'll see all the short, one-way streets. (Google maps makes the layout seem much less convoluted than it actually is.)