J’adore le Vieux-Québec surtout quand elle est vêtue de ses parures de Noël!

What’s not to love about Vieux-Québec? It’s a beautiful city in every season. I think it’s the closest thing to Paris there is without jumping on a plane for a seven hour flight. From where I live, Vieux-Québec is about a six hour car ride. Everything within the fortifications is in walking distance. Even the hotel my husband and use, is only a five minute walk beyond the wall. If we have a room on the back of our accommodations, we overlook the Plains of Abraham.

With all this going for it, you can understand why I wrote a novel set in this beautiful, historic city.

Dufferin Terrace is a beautiful place to walk in any season.  It overlooks the Lower Town and the majestic St. Lawrence River. Day or night, the views from here are spectacular.

Fairmont le Château Frontenac in the distance has the appearance of a medieval castle with its towers and turrets – a place where knights would rescue damsels in distress.

Christmas in full swing here on this narrow street. Love, love, love this part of the town!

 

When you’re down in this part of the city, the ferry terminal is only a short walk away. Riding across the river to Lévis gives you a whole different perspective of the city. Views you would never get from any other angle.

Between the hotel and the post office you can see the funiculaire. This inclined railway is the best way to travel from the top of the escarpment to the bottom or vice vera. Actually, the walk down the hill isn’t nearly as difficult as the return trip.

This part of town is beautiful year round and is one of the stops on the ghost walk. One of my favourite shops is in the background on the left – Geomania. I’ve purchased some gorgeous jewellery there.

This is just one market stall. The area behind Hôtel de Ville and the park beside it are packed with vendors selling all manor of things – handknitted, blown glass, footwear, books, a café where you can sit and take a load off whilst enjoying something to eat or drink.

On one of the horse-drawn carriage rides we took, our driver told us the section of the house above overgrown by the shrubs covering the front windows was reputed to be the most haunted house in the city. It definitely looks in disrepair and sorely in need of some TLC, but haunted?

On our last summer trip, we did a ghost walk hosted by Les Visites Fantômes. We started out while it was still light out and finished well after dark in an unlit Holy Trinity Cathedral. Spooky.

We stopped and watched this gentleman for quite some time. His music had everyone tapping their toes and clapping their hands in time to the rhythm.

During his tenure as Premier of the Province of Québec, Réne Lévesque resided in this modest home on Rue d’Auteuil.

In 2001, the upper two floors of the Price Building became the official residence of the Premier of the province. This buildings is visible from almost anywhere in Vieux-Québec.

Because La Citadelle is a working military base, there were a number of places we couldn’t tour.  Here are the soldiers of the Royal 22^e Régiment (Van Doos) taking part in the ceremony.

I love this cannonball. It’s been there for ages and as the tree grows, it brings more of the iron sphere with it.

No trip would be complete without a ride in a horse-drawn carriage. We’ve done it twice now. There are three different routes you can take – two shorter ones, or a long one with puts them both together. We opted for the long one, both times.

I hope you’ve enjoyed your virtual tour of Vieux-Québec.