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Sunday, September 14: We had a big breakfast at L'Omelette just around the corner from the hotel: eggs, choice of meats, juice and coffee. It was another overcast day. We took the car and drove northeast along the river about 20 miles to the town of Beaupre. We wanted to see the Basilica St. Anne de Beaupre, a popular pilgrims' shrine. There have been shrines on the site at least since 1696, but the present church was built after a fire destroyed its predecessor in 1922. Nevertheless, it is very medieval in style. It is noted for its 200 stained glass windows and a magnificent rose window.
We also visited the Scala Santa Chapel with a long flight of stairs many pilgrims ascend on their knees. We were very impressed by the outdoor Way of the Cross, built along a switchback path on the side of a steep hill across from the church. The bronze figures were larger than life size, cast in France beginning in 1913. On the way back to Quebec, we turned off the main highway to go to Ile d'Orleans. Just before reaching the long bridge to the island, we had a good view of Montmorency Falls (1 1/2 times higher than Niagra) well above us. On Ile d'Orleans, we first came to the village of St. Laurent and made a brief stop at a maritime park that preserves some of the boat building area that once flourished there. We also stopped at the St. Laurent church (1860) and drove out on the wharf behind it for the view of the river. There were the most charming houses all along the road.
Our immediate destination, though, was the Moulin St. Laurent (formerly
Moulin Gosselin), a 1715 flour mill converted into an upscale restaurant. Both
the food and the service were fantastic. The presentation was
great, too, like an artist had prepared each dish. In fact, an American tourist at the next table was
so impressed that he had his wife take a picture of his plate. All the lunches were four courses.
We had soup (onion for Jane; cream of vegetable for me), salad, vegetable quiche, and a
fabulous creamy dessert (like zabaglione) with stripes of chocolate sauce.
As we left, I walked across the street to take a picture of the old mill. A young lad
walking down the road stopped to avoid getting on the picture. As we drove by him a minute
later, he put out his thumb, and I stopped (over Jane's objection) and picked him up. He
spoke no English so our attempts at conversation soon died out. He was only going a couple of
miles. We dropped him off just as we entered the next village, St. Jean, with its brightly painted
houses with unique roofs and dormers. Most of these houses once belonged to ships' pilots who
once lived here. We turned north and drove inland through the crop-laden fields to Ste. Famille
on the north coast. From there we had a great view back toward Beaupre on the mainland. As we had crossed the island, we had seen this strange looking plant that we didn't recognize. Now, we finally realized they were currants, because there were signs for currants, currant jam, and currant wine all along the road. There also were many people selling apples.
In the village of Ste. Famille, we visited the unusual three-towered village church (1743). Then we headed east, back toward the bridge to the mainland. As we passed through the village of St. Pierre, we saw its 1717 parish church. We crossed the road to the bridge and continued on to Ste. Petronille on the west tip of the island. This village turned out to be the most picturesque of all. Unlike the other island villages that stretched along the highway one house deep, Ste. Petronille had considerable depth and many little streets lined with charming houses. The view of Quebec from the shore was exceptional. We drove back to Quebec and decided to try to drive to the lower town, just to see how accessible it was by car. It turned out to be no problem at all, and we were able to see some of the old port area that we hadn't seen when we'd walked down on Friday. Next, we drove by the upper town and continued on to Battlefields Park on the Plains of Abraham, where the British defeated the French in 1759. It is now a huge city park, graced with both outdoor activities and many monuments.
Driving down Grand Allee on our way back to Old Quebec, we saw the
Military Drill Hall (1885), a beautiful stone building nearly 300 feet long.
It's right across the street from the Parliament. We also discovered a
block-long cluster of sidewalk cafes and restaurants just two blocks outside the St. Louis Gate.
We decided to walk back there for dinner later on.
After returning the car to the lot and resting a while, we did just that. We'd had a large and late lunch at the Moulin St. Laurent, so we were looking for something less than the seemingly inevitable four course meal. We settled on an Asian/Vietnamese restaurant where we could get appetizers without a full meal. We ordered spring rolls and chicken and beef brochette (kabobs). It was all very good, but the spring rolls were a real surprise. They were not fried or cooked at all. In fact, they were cold. Yet they were delicious. We really welcomed the absence of fat. We had a leisurely stroll back to the hotel, past the Military Drill Hall and the Parliament, both very pretty all lit up. |
