Montreal
Montreal is the cultural capital of Francophone Canada, and a premier center for arts and culture. It is a city of festivals, with the International Jazz Festival, the Just for Laughs, and the Francofolies, and the World Film Festival held annually. The Old Port along the St Lawrence River offers a feast of cafes, art galleries, and picturesque narrow streets.
Montreal is actually located on an island where the St Lawrence and Ottawa Rivers converge. It takes its name from the nearby Mont Royal, a small mountain that is now one of the prettiest public parks in Canada.
During your time in Montreal, you’ll depart the ship for several activities, such as a city tour of Montreal including a walking tour of Old Montreal with a visit to the Notre Dame Basilica. You may also partake in a drive-through of the downtown business district and up to the top of Mont Royal for a commanding view of the city and the St. Lawrence River. You’ll also likely visit one of the world’s largest and most important Botanical Gardens in downtown Montreal.
Montreal Highlights
Mont-Royal
Mont-Royal rises 233 meters above the city and on clear days, allows visitors views that extend to the Adirondack Mountains in the United States. From the summit, or rather from a platform below the cross, there unfolds a magnificent panorama of the whole of the 51-kilometer length of the Île de Montréal and the St. Lawrence. A stroll through this lovely park enables the visitor to see monuments to Jacques Cartier and King George VI, to spend some time by Lac-aux-Castors, and to have a look at the cemeteries on the western slope where the city’s different ethnic groups have rested in peace together for centuries.
Notre-Dame Basilica
Montreal’s oldest Catholic church, built in 1656, Notre-Dame Basilica, stands in a far grander incarnation than the original. Located in the historic district of Old Montreal, the interior of the church is amongst the most dramatic in the world and regarded as a masterpiece of Gothic Revival architecture. It is filled with hundreds of intricate wooden carvings and several religious statues. Unusual for a church, the stained glass windows along the walls of the sanctuary do not depict biblical scenes, but rather scenes from the religious history of Montreal. It also has a Casavant Frères pipe organ, dated 1891, which comprises 7000 individual pipes and a pedal board. Approximately 11 million people visit Notre-Dame every year, making it one of the most visited monuments in North America.
Old Montreal
Old Montreal is a historic neighborhood in Montreal and is home to many structures dating back to the era of New France. With some of its buildings dating to the 17th century, it is one of the oldest urban areas in North America. The area hosts Montreal City Hall, Bonsecours Market and Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel, as well as preserved colonial mansions. The old town’s riverbank is taken up by the Old Port (Vieux-Port), whose maritime facilities are surrounded by recreational space and a variety of museums and attractions.
Montreal Botanical Garden
The Montreal Botanical Garden is a large botanical garden in Montreal comprising 190 acres of thematic gardens and greenhouses. It is considered to be one of the most important botanical gardens in the world due to the extent of its collections and facilities. The Montreal Botanical Garden is one of four nature-focused attractions belonging to the City of Montreal in the Space for Life museum district. The others are the Biodome, the Insectarium, and the Rio Tinto Alcan Planetarium, all of which are near the Olympic Stadium.
Photos
Montreal Photos
Video
Montreal Video
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