Quebec City on expired Kodak T-MAX 400
This was my first time visiting Quebec City.
I had been to Montreal several times to visit friends while living near the US/Canadian border in Vermont as a college student. The last time I had been in the province of Quebec was a decade ago. I had an old travel book I first purchased when I visited Montreal for the first time a decade prior. The contents of the book covered "Montreal and Quebec City." I was finally able to dust off the book from my shelf and turn to the unread pages covering Quebec's capital city.
Following our time at Festival REGARD in the Saguenay region of Quebec (about two hours north of Quebec City), we decided to extend our visit to finish our Quebecois tour in the capital.
The historic city is small enough to conquer sight-seeing in a day or a weekend which was the perfect amount of time for our extended layover.
"The most photographed hotel in the world."
The Chateau Frontenac, proves just as magnificent in person as its well-known fact precedes it. Unfortunately, tours of the hotel were discontinued within the past decade. The views and areas surrounding the hotel in the old town are touristy, but worth viewing for the impressive and quaint architecture.
Visiting Quebec in the winter is not for the faint of heart.
It had been a decade since I was accustomed to braving the harsh icy climate of the region, having frequented Montreal in the dead of winter for music festivals and visiting their ice hotel as a college student.
After leaving the region and living in warmer climates, the freezing temperatures now prove more difficult to truly enjoy the surroundings entirely, but the size and beauty of QC made the experience feel more charming through the ability to shelter inside cozy cafés and boutiques along the European-like streets.
The food in Quebec City also lives up to its known distinction (and will help keep you warm in the below-freezing temperatures).
After staying in a rural area of Quebec with a limited array of food options available, our palates were blown away with the complexity and richness of flavor in the traditional and inventive local Canadian cuisine.
One of the most picturesque cities I've been to in North America - the food and architecture is all that it's chalked up to be.
The history of the city itself is also quite fascinating - albeit troubling - as is all history regarding colonization in the Americas.
Quebec, a walled city, is on the unceded land of the Huron-Wendat (Wendake-Nionwentsïo) Nations
Perhaps knowledge regarding our neighboring nation's history could afford more use to us.
