Join us for a walk through downtown Montreal and Vieux Montreal.
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More InformationMontreal is the second largest city in Canada and the fourth French-speaking city after Paris in the world. Its metropolitan area is home for 3.6 million people. 1600 km away from the Atlantic Ocean, it is the most important port city in eastern Canada.
Until 1760 the town was in French possession. With the Treaty of Paris, Montreal like whole Canada, was handed over to the British. The statue of Lord Nelson in front of the Town Hall is the evidence of it.
Montréal is marked through and through by French culture. Especially in the old town – Vieux-Montreal – at the harbor, in the pubs and in the music, you feel the spirit of the mother country, which once came from the settlers.
Here one speaks French but you also hear Joual, the dialect of the province Quebec with American influences. Narrow streets with some three hundred years old houses convey the feeling that one is in the French province.
The horse-drawn carriages that are encountered here at every turn give this impression even a further touch of the past. There are other means of transportation, like a family day out of a different kind with the Segway.
The passenger port is a good place to see the impressive market hall of the Marché Bonsecours. Originally it was City Hall and Parliament seat, later it became concert hall. Today, preferentially art objects and furniture were offered inside.
Back in Vieux-Montreal we admire the old guild signs and let the atmosphere of the old town effect on us. We were surprised in particular to find everywhere in Canada the “eternal” Christmas Stores that offer year-round Christmas decorations, but in the meantime the stores can be found also in Europe.
The Place d’Armes, where once the military parades took place, the centre of the old banking area and a popular meeting place is for locals and tourists.
Worth seeing is the Cathedral Marie-Reine-du-Monde at the Place Ville-Marie. Built in 1894, it is a scale model of Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Since 1999 it belongs to the National Historic Sites.
In this area, the construction of the underground of Montreal was started. Similarly to Toronto, the skyscrapers are connected to the town by underground and shopping arcades by means of “Path”.
Today, the former Union Station serves as a meeting and concert hall. Between the skyscrapers of the banks and consulting firms you see a sculpture of the British sculptor Henry Moore.
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