For this post for our travel photo blog, we’re going to show you one of the most fascinating cities in North America: Montreal. Combining old-world charm with new-world modernism, Montreal is a multicultural city with a vibrant cultural and economical life. It is the most important city of the province of Quebec, and the third most important city in Canada. If you are planning to visit after reading our post, don’t forget to get a travel insurance, because medical costs can run high for foreigners.
For fans of architecture, there are several interesting buildings in the city, but you will find most of them in the historical neighbourhood of Old Montreal. Montreal was founded in the 17th century, which makes Old Montreal one of the oldest in North America. You will find a few 17th century buildings preserved, and you will see the evolution of the city through its buildings until today, with the post-modern Pointe-a-Callières museum. You will also find the city’s famous Notre-Dame Basilica, where Celine Dion was married. For fans of great public architecture, there is also the Montreal City Hall and the Bonsecours Market.
Downtown Montreal is the home of most Beaux-Arts buildings of the city: the Sun Life building on Rene-Levesque and Metcalfe; the Gazette building on Ste-Catherine and the Fine Arts Museum on Sherbooke. These buildings attest to the city’s wealth during the late 19th and early 20th century; the Golden Mile Square, between Peel and Bishop, then home to the richest merchants in the city, has now become a very popular shopping and clubbing destination.
If you enjoy religious architecture, then you won’t be disappointed. Aside from the famous basilica, you will also find the St. Joseph Oratory on the north side of the mountain, as well as hundreds of churches throughout the city, Catholic as well as Anglican. Most of them are open to visitors outside of mass hours, and the priests will be happy to give you a guided tour of their establishment. Montreal has been nicknamed “the city of a hundred bell-towers” (la ville des cents clochers in French) for a good reason!
For the best views, do not miss the Mount Royal park. Landscaped by the same architect as New York’s Central Park, the mountain is the green oasis of Montrealers. From it, you can see all the way across the St. Lawrence towards the south shore, as well as the east and west of the island. You can test your health by hiking up there, or take one of the frequent buses that depart from the Mont-Royal metro station. On summer Sundays, the park on the eastern side of the mountain is home to a weekly “tam-tam”, where people meet to play their percussion instruments and dance in a festive, low-key and family-friend ambiance.
This is just an overview of the many great sights to see in Montreal; spending some time there and losing yourself in the streets (most of them easily accessible through the great transit system of the city) will afford you many more. Get a cheap travel insurance to keep some money for shopping, because Montreal has some of the nicest boutiques on the East Coast.
A person needs at intervals to separate from family and companions and go to new places. One must go without familiars in order to be open to influences, to change.
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