TRAVEL

City rich in history

BUT YOU NEEDN'T BE RICH TO VISIT

from page 33

The bathrooms are small but
adequate and cach room has a
stove and fridge. Don't forget that
in Quebec the grocery stores sell
beer and wine, so places like the
Manoir can provide a budget base
for sleeping, cating and drinking
wine,

True bon vivants will start an
evening with drinks at the Chateau
Frontenac, at the bar overlooking
the St. Lawrence, then head into
the old town to a restaurant. Some
establishments will send a car to
pick you up, and when you see the
prices they charge you will unders-
tand their generosity.

On the other hand it’s still a
long way from Paris prices, even at
L’Ancetre, where guests dine amid
oak beams and stone fireplaces
dating from 1729. This is piace to
linger over a good bottle of wine
and reflect that this building was
very old when Vancouver was be-
ing considered as a site for a
railway station.

The Cafe de la Paix is less exot-
ic, but so are ‘its prices, arid if you
want a quick, cheap lunch try the
pea soup at Cafe Buade, or have a
picnic in a park just like the first
settlers did - every day, until they
chopped down trees to build forts,
tables and beds.

There were six sieges here. Jean
Taion, the. first intendant to
Canada in 1665, encouraged popu-
lation growth by arresting heads of
families whose sons and daughters
were not married. Local bachelors

had to marry girls straight ‘off the
boat from France or risk losing all
fishing, hunting and fur-trading
privileges.

With such a past monuments are
ever present. The one to Wolfe-
Montcalm says in Latin: ‘Valour
gave them a common death, histo-
ry acommon fame, and posterity a
common monument.‘
Remembered nearby is Samuel de
Champlain who founded the city
in 1608, and a little farther on is a
monument to Laval, Canada's first
bishop, and another to Paris
apothecary Louis Hebert, who
became Quebec’s first farmer.

Nearby are steps, known locally
as break-neck stairs, to the Jower
town and Port Royale, birthplace
of Quebec. Champlain built his
first habitation here on the present
site of Notre-Dame-des-Victoires
Church.

A few steps away is the restored
Royal Battery, whose guns could
control the passage of ships on the
St. Lawrence. That was the idea,
but cannon on Wolfe's ships
started widespread fires in ,1759
and most of the area was razed.

Today Place Royale has been
restored, not unlike Privateers’
Wharf in Halifax, into a charming
17th-Century experience. Take
time to visit the Maison des Vins, a
government liquor store in a reno-

vated building, and look for the*

home of Louis Jolliet, discoverer
of the Mississippi, who lived here
until his death in 1700.

Have a stroll along the Rue du

Petit Champlain, the oldest street
in North America, Not far away is
the ferry acrass to Levis (with a
splendid view af Quebec City),
otherwise look for the Hotel
Chevalier, erected around 1740 by
@ prosperous merchant. During the
restoration in 1959 a 24-pound
cannonball from one of Wolfe's
guns was found buried in a
second-storey wall.

One could go on and on. There
is the Ursuline Convent, where
Montcalin is buried (his skull is
preserved, under glass) and the
very pulpit in the chapel from
which the chaplain of the British
flagship preached Wolfe's funeral
oration. ;

And if this is not stuff to stir the
soul, consider that there are 10
golf courses within 15 miles of the
city, whereas you can stand at the
top of the Eiffel Tower and not see
a single fairway. Was there ever
really any doubt?

Remember,
it's their home too!

ONE Hon

25% off drapes

35 - Sunday, February 28, 198% - North Shore News

IF YOU aren’t able to stay there, at least make a point of visiting the
historic Chateau Frontenac, which was named after a 17th-century gov-

ernor of New France.

VANCOUVER

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