I promised you a bit of Quebec Province. Let’s start with Quebec City because that’s where everyone starts…oui? (Click on any photo to enlarge it and see more detail.) It’s a romantic city, especially when wandered at night while street artists are singing old tunes, the crowd softly singing along, and couples are dancing nearby. Turns out John Denver’s “City of New Orleans” is so much sweeter when sung in French on a warm fall evening.

In the center of the old city is the LaChateau Frontenac hotel, build in 1892-1893. It’s huge, looks like a castle and it looms over the waterfront of the city.

It’s impressive, but I was more drawn to the simple stone and brick family homes.

They all look so warm and inviting and I like to imagine what it must be like to live there in a property so old, in a culture so unlike my own.

I also like the busy commercial streets full of tourists. The row upon row of shops and restaurants each offering something unique or fun or both intrigue people from all over the world.

At one end of town, high up on a hill is a fort. It’s the Citadelle de Quebec, and of course we walked way up there and took the tour. This is our guide.

I took this picture because it shows the tour group in his sunglasses. The tour was an hour and a half, and we learned much about the life of the soldiers that lived here, before, during, and after the war of 1812. It’s still an active military base today.

In the above photo you can see the oldest building that survives, built in the 1700s out of field stone, sitting (in this shot) in front of a building made of cut stone built in the 1800s. The older building was the powder magazine, and the outcroppings were there so that if the building exploded the explosion would be absorbed and not injure people in the fort.

From the fort you got a terrific view of the city.

Also in town are many churches, two of which are called Notre Dame. We found this small older version on our last night as we were heading for the car.

It sits in a perfect little square of very old buildings, all lit up at night. That evening, even though we were headed to the car after a very long day having walked over 9 miles and up the equivalent of 80 flights of stairs, (the header photo of this blog is one of the many hills we climbed.) we sat down and just soaked it all in for a bit.

We had already visited the larger version of Notre Dame closer to the center of town.

This church is beautiful inside in a way that is different than the Notre Dame church we saw in Montreal.

So there’s a little bit about Quebec City. There’s a whole lot more to see and do in the city. We walked a lot the one full day we had in Quebec. But it wasn’t all in the city. Oh no indeed. I have much more to show you, but it’s time for sleep tonight.

You’ll have to wait for Quebec Part II. I think you’ll be surprised.