MARITIMES CRUISE 2025
QUEBEC
Montreal
We boarded our Via Rail train to Montreal at 5:30, and due to oncoming trains, loss of communication and other such nonsense we didn't arrive in Montreal until after 11:00. At least they had food and drinks on the train.
We went from the smallest room in all of Quebec, to maybe the biggest room. When your room has it's own living room, and 2 giant TV's, you know you must have been upgraded, and it was cheaper than the ceiling bed room.
We had a day to spend in Montreal before moving on to the last province in our checklist, so we made the most of it.
The parish church of Notre-Dame was built on this site in 1672. By 1824 the congregation had completely outgrown the church, and James O'Donnell, an Irish-American Anglican from New York City, was commissioned to design the new building, with a goal of accommodating a congregation of up to 10,000. The construction of Notre-Dame Basilica of Montreal (Basilique Notre-Dame de Montréal) took place between 1824 and 1865. The interior of the church took much longer, not being completed until 1888, but it is amongst the most dramatic in the world and regarded as a masterpiece of Gothic Revival architecture.
It also has a Casavant Frères pipe organ, dated 1891, which comprises four keyboards, and 7000 individual pipes. To hear the organist playing Amazing Grace at full levels was spine-tingling.
Château Ramezay was built in 1705 as the residence of then-governor of Montreal, Claude de Ramezay, the Château was the first building proclaimed as a historical monument in Quebec and is the province's oldest private history museum. From 1775, it became the Canadian headquarters for the Continental Army when it seized Montreal. Benjamin Franklin stayed there overnight in 1776, while trying to raise troops to fight for the Americans in the American Revolutionary War. It was designated a National Historic Sites of Canada in 1949. It also had some nice gardens.
The next building on our historical walk through Old Montreal was La chapelle Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours. The chapel was started in 1655 at the instigation of Marguerite Bourgeoys , the first educator of Ville-Marie. It allowed residents to come on pilgrimage, instead of going to the cross, which was much further away. This made the residents less afraid of being attacked by the Iroquois. Sailors also came to pay homage to the Virgin for having survived shipwrecks. First built in wood and rebuilt in stone in 1678, it was destroyed by fire in 1754, and rebuilt in 1771. Its current appearance dates from the end of the 19th century, in particular due to the work undertaken between 1885 and 1892 with the addition of a neoclassical type decoration on the north facade and a bell tower with statuary on the south side.
The World Press Photo Montreal Exhibition is presented annually at Bonsecours Market. In 2025, the awarded photographs were selected from 59,320 entries by 3,778 photographers from 141 countries. Much like the Human Rights Museum in Winnipeg, it is interesting to see, depressing to spend time there, and you probably would never go back a second time.
We switched to something a little more fun, and rode the Ferris Wheel for views over the city. Nice large cars that probably seat 6-8 in the summer, and we have one to ourselves... for 3 rotations anyways.
We slowly wound our way down along the St. Lawrence river front, back towards our waiting luggage.
We picked up our luggage and ordered an Uber to take us to Montreal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport for our flight to the next chapter of this journey. It was great to see parts of our country that we hadn't seen before with new friends, and revisit La Belle Provence to catch up with old friends. Next stop... Newfoundland.