Old Montreal
St-Antoine St south to the St Lawrence River
Montreal, QC H2Y3B2 Canada
www.vieux.montreal.qc.ca

To get an idea of life in New France during the 18th and 19th centuries, a walking tour of Old Montreal (Vieux-Montréal) is a must.

A good place to start would be the Notre-Dame-de-Bonsecours Chapel, which is located at the corner of St-Paul and Bonsecours streets in the eastern end of Old Montreal. The nearby Bonsecours Market (Marché Bonsecours), built in 1847, is a testament to Montreal’s influence in British North America. The building, comprising a Greek Revival portico, a tin-plated dome and cast-iron columns imported from England, is a good example of that era’s neoclassical style. Today it houses boutiques and exhibits.

A few blocks to the west lies Place Jacques Cartier, named after the French explorer who discovered the island of Montreal in 1535. The square is the central part of Old Montreal; City Hall (Hôtel de Ville) and the Château Ramezay Museum on Notre-Dame Street are situated just to the north, while de la Commune Street and the Old Port of Montreal are a block south. The square is especially enjoyable in summer, with street musicians, jugglers, artists and cafés lining both sides. Calèche drivers beckon strollers to hop on their carriages for a romantic guided tour of the old city.

Moving west along tiny St-Amable Street, which is filled with shops and artists, you will find the Pointe-à-Callière museum of archaeology and history. It protects and displays the remains of the city as far back as the first buildings erected by French settlers in 1642. The old Customs House, now part of the museum, was designed by British architect John Ostell, who was also responsible for the Old Courthouse.

At the north-western edge of Old Montreal you will find the World Trade Centre (Centre de Commerce Mondial), which integrates a number of old buildings through the use of a spectacular atrium that stands several stories high over the former Rue des Fortifications; it’s well worth a stroll. St-Jacques Street, one street south, features several buildings with stately architecture and lavish interiors: the Bank of Montreal, opened at the corner of St-Jacques Street and Jeanne-Mance Avenue in 1847, is a notable example.

Directly across from the bank is Notre-Dame Basilica, a Gothic Revival church built in 1829 and modeled after Notre-Dame in Paris. It’s one of the most popular attractions in Montreal, welcoming over one million visitors a year. During the summer and fall of 2000, Notre-Dame saw two momentous state funerals: one for hockey legend Maurice Richard and another for revered former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau.

Downtown
The museum district is perhaps the most attractive area of downtown Montreal. The Musée des Beaux-Arts, the city’s most prestigious, is situated at the corner of Sherbrooke Street and du Musée Avenue. The adjacent and affiliated Museum of Decorative Arts (Musée des Arts Décoratifs) is dedicated entirely to 20th-century industrial design, furniture, ceramics, glass, metalwork and graphic design.

In the same area is the Grey Nuns Museum (Musée des Soeurs Grises) on St-Mathieu Street. This museum features a diverse collection of items from the end of the 17th century, including religious vestments, furniture and art objects. While in the area, visitors can enjoy eyeing or buying from chic boutiques along Victorian Crescent Street, especially between Sherbrooke Street and de Maisonneuve Boulevard. This area is also loaded with excellent dining choices, with many restaurants situated between de Maisonneuve and René-Lévesque boulevards.

Continuing east on Sherbrooke Street, natural history aficionados can observe modern and prehistoric animals, rocks, crystals and precious stones at the Redpath Museum on the McGill University campus. The McCord Museum, just east of the University’s Roddick Gates, boasts a permanent exhibition entitled “Simply Montreal.” This eclectic exhibit offers a glimpse of yesteryear, with a selection of First Nations’ (American Indian) objects, a collection of photographs, sports equipment, toys and magnificent gowns worn by a who’s who of Montreal.

Oscar Wilde once remarked that there are so many churches in Montreal that if you threw a rock in any direction you would probably break a church window. Three of the better known churches are Saint Patrick’s Basilica, Christ Church Cathedral and Mary Queen of the World Cathedral (Cathédrale Marie-Reine-du-Monde), all located within a stone’s throw of each other and more or less downtown. Christ Church Cathedral stands over Les Promenades de la Cathédrale, an attractive underground shopping complex linked to the Underground City. If the weather proves too inclement for an outdoor stroll, enjoy 30 kilometers (16 miles) of underground shopping and dining facilities. Every day, an estimated 500,000 people pass through this network, which links some 60 buildings and provides access to nearly 2,000 retail outlets.

A tour of downtown Montreal would not be complete without a visit to trendy, multi-ethnic St-Laurent Boulevard, with its hopping bars and restaurants and eclectic shopping. St-Denis Street, one major thoroughfare to the east, is the home of the city’s Francophone upper crust and is equally essential on any itinerary. Originally a residential street, it is now home to fashionable and sometimes monumentally expensive boutiques, bistros and shops.

The Plateau Mont-Royal is Montreal’s most quintessential neighborhood, comprising both St-Laurent and St-Denis, quiet residential streets, beautiful green-spaces (notably Parc Lafontaine, Mont-Royal Park and St-Louis Square), charming BYOB bistros and an overwhelming sense of civility and grace. Tourists are thin on the ground here, but one can hardly claim to have experienced Montreal without spending a day wandering through the real heart of this unique city.