Montréal Fren(ch)zy

The Montréal comes from Mont-Royal – a hill located in the heart of the city. It was call Ville Marie (City of Mary) before that. Montréal is the 2nd largest city in Canada, after Toronto. This city is located on an island formed between Saint Lawrence River and Ottawa River.

Our Montréal visit was the third and final phase our South East Canadian Trip in May’10. Hiring a car at Toronto, we first drove to Québec City and then to Montréal before heading back. Though the journey from Québec City to Montréal is just 145 kms or 2 hrs away, we unpredictably got stuck in a traffic jam close to an hour if not more. It reminded us of good old Bangalore and its ways.

There is lot to do and see in Montréal depending on interests. Here is a list of what we covered:

Montréal Olympic Stadium

Biodome – On the lines of Eden Project in UK, Montréal’s biodome is divided into 4 ecosystems – each hosting flora and fauna specific to different climatic conditions – marine, temperate, tropic and polar. Since we had seen other biodomes, we weren’t thrilled with this one. The only highlight for us was seeing Penguins. They are as cute as they are portrayed in happy feet movie but it was an EXTREMELY pitiable situation for them.

Olympic Stadium – Montréal hosted the 1976 winter Olympics and one can visit this multi-purpose stadium. Nicknamed as the big O due to its shape and cost (o=owe), this is one of the sour-spots for localities.

St. Joseph's Oratory

St. Joseph's Oratory – Located in Mont Royal, this is the biggest Basilica in the province. We were surprised to see many visitors had come there on a pilgrimage. We quickly learnt that this Basilica was dedicated to Saint Joseph who was known for miracles and hence it is a pilgrim for believers of Saint Joseph’s healing powers.

Old Montréal – One can easily spend an entire day at the very least exploring old Montréal. Apart from various heritage buildings, old Montréal also has lovely museums, bars, restaurants, shops and other attractions like the Nortre-Dame Basilica, Place Jacques-Cartier, old port, etc. We chose a walking tour of old Montréal – though our guide wasn’t as good as the one we had in Quebec City, the tour was good enough to understand basic history and facts of the place.

Inside Notre-Dame Basilica

Notre-Dame Basilica – This Basilica is an illustration of Gothic Revival architecture. The magnificent exterior compliments the exquisite and intricate interiors. This place is known for weddings and funerals of Canadian celebrities. (E.g. Pop singer Celine Dion’s wedding)

Place Jacques-Cartier – Located in old Montréal, this is one of the most popular spots in the city having host of fine dining restaurants. During summer, you can see lot of street performances and people selling knick-knacks. Place Jacques-Cartier links old Montréal to the old port.

Inside the Cathédrale

Old Port – Once a flourishing port is now a park for different sports, recreation and artists. A very spirited place always filled with people (at least in summer). Quite often you find indi-bands playing around the park.

Cathédrale Marie-Reine-du-Monde – also known as Cathedral-Basilica of Mary, Queen of the World. This is a very beautiful Cathedral which is a replica of Saint Peters Basilica in Rome.

Montréal's Underground City (officially RÉSO or La Ville Souterraine in French) is the set of interconnected complexes underground in downtown Montréal. This underground city is so self sufficient that one doesn’t need to go out in the open in winters apart from catching the metro between home and here.

Cirque de Soliel – Originally from Montréal, cirque de soliel (Circus of the Sun) is an extravaganza of entertainment, aerobics, acrobatics and circus (without animals). A HIGHLY recommended show, even though it’s expensive (Weekdays are cheaper than weekends). Do ensure you book in advance though.

Circuit Gilles Villeneuve – This is the F1 circuit of Montréal – the reason for the city to practically shut-down in June/July every year to celebrate the yearly event. We got cheap thrills of driving around the circuit – unfortunately the speed limits (in non race times) is 30 kms per hour as people use this circuit for walking, running, skating, cycling etc.

Rue St. Laurent - is one of the most popular places for shopping restaurants, bars and night clubs. It is similar to Residency Road in Bangalore I suppose.

Mado Lamotte, drag queen

Rue St. Catherine – is on the lines of Rue St. Laurent. But most weekends (in summer), parts of this street becomes a ‘no-vehicles’ zone. We were pleasantly surprised to find a Latino festival when we visited this street with Flemenco dancers performing on one side and food/tourism stalls on another side. One end of this street is known as “the village” (for gays and lesbians). We landed up going for our first drag queen (wiki) show at Mado’s Cabaret. A unique experience for us – though we had lots of fun, we only wish that the show was completely in English so that we could enjoy all the jokes.

A bixi stand

We traveled around in local metro as always. The metro is very well connected both in downtown and suburban area. The connectivity is as good if not better than that of Vancouver. We were super thrilled to learn about the bixi (wiki) concept. Bixies (wiki) are public bicycle sharing system (like cycle rentals) in downtown & old Montréal.

Montréal is such a happening city that, one can never finish covering the city in just 3 days especially if interests are as varied as ours. Some of the local attractions we wanted but couldn’t explore were Jean Drapeau Park, Île Notre-Dame, Casino de Montréal, Mont Royal and Museum of Fine Arts. Here is a good but essential Montréal attractions list we found during our research.

A self-confessed food lover that I am, I was pleased to try various restaurants/Pubs/Bars around the city (and still didn’t get enough of it). Here is a gist -

La Sala Rossa: a Spanish Tapas bar at Rue St Laurent. We really enjoyed our Sangria as well as the tapas we ordered. [Tapas – are small quantities of food].

Jardin Nelson: This place is at Place Jacques-Cartier. Known not only for its excellent food but also for live jazz, this delightful place has garden seating as well as terrace seating.

Olive and Gurmando: a bakery and café on Rue St. Paul in Old Montréal. We found this local favorite absolutely cool.

Dunn’s – Montréal is known for its smoked meat and Dunn’s smoked meat sandwich is a local favorite since early 1900s. There are many outlets throughout the city but we went to the one in downtown. I must say I didn’t enjoy it much probably because I haven’t developed a taste for it.

Jimbo’s Pub/Comedy Works – For those who love standup comedy, this is a good place to go to – It was not only in English but was of good standard as well. It is located on Rue Bishop in downtown, right next to Habibi.

Gibeau Orange Julep - colloquially as OJ or The Big Orange, is a popular hang out for locals at Boulevard Décarie (especially to show off cars & bikes). The Julep (orange milkshake) is very refreshing.

Habibi – is a Lebanese restaurant on Rue Bishop in downtown, this place bustling with activity even at 2:00am. I had some excellent kebobs. The usual Sheesha and live music was also available.

Byblos – is in Mont Royal (ave.Laurier E/Le Plateau) serving some lip-smacking Persian/ Iranian food.

Montréal Bagels – Apart from smoked meat, Montréal is very famous for the Montréal style bagels. These bagels are usually hand made and baked in wood-fired ovens. We tried bagels sandwiches in one of the many bagel establishments scattered all over the city.

No wonder Montreal quickly became one of our preferred cities– perhaps second only to London which is our most favorite city (so far). For anyone travelling to Montréal, we would recommend 2-3 days at the very least to enjoy and explore the city. Montréal is a very cosmopolitan city we think. Even though it is in the French province of Canada, it is easy to travel around. We picked up a few French words here and there, but could easily manage just speaking English. Perhaps as Indians, people pardoned our French :)