August 4, 2025 – Quebec City, Quebec – Blue Skies and Sunny – 78F

August 4, 2025 – Quebec City, Quebec 

Port Information. The city, whose name means “where the river narrows” has a population of about 529,000 people. The city, located on the banks of the St Lawrence River, consists of two sections – the Haute-Ville (upper city) is the Administrative part of the city and the lower city (Basse-Ville) is the Historic District.  You can walk up the pretty steep hill to the upper city but there is a funicular that will get you there as well.  Old Quebec is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  The city was first settled by Jacques Cartier in 1535 and officially founded by Samuel de Champlain in 1608.   

This is the second time we have been in Quebec City.  Years ago, we took a cruise from here on the Caribbean Princess.  Back then, we nearly froze to death (that cruise ended up in the Caribbean but the city was really cold.

Quest is the only ship here today and we are docked at Terminal 30.

There are complimentary ship shuttles to the lower city and upper city.

We are on tour today and need to get up and out by 10 AM.  I was still able to get a nice breakfast – there was cottage cheese – from Saguenay, perhaps.

The weather is picture perfect.

Disembarkation in Quebec City (a beautiful Cruise Terminal) involves a long serpentine uphill climb to the terminal and then an escalator ride back down to ground level and then outside where the busses are located. 

We have a 7 hour tour today of “Quebec Tour with Lunch” – Our tour guy is named Guy (yes) and he is pretty easy to understand most of the time.

The bus was very comfortable – no one told us to use the seat belts.  The bus wasn’t full.  The sound system worked perfectly and the temperature on the bus was comfortable.  Getting out of the port involved a complicated series of turns due to the restrictions placed on some of the streets. 

We started off the tour in the “lower city”.  Our first stop was at the most photographed street in Old Quebec, Rue du Petit-Champlain (about 0.16 miles long) home to shops and restaurants and today, lots of people.  Nearby was Place Royale, 

where Samuel Champlain founded the city in 1608. Guy gave us a some historical background on Quebec – which involved battles between the French and the British. There is a bust of Louis XIV in the Place – he was the King of France when Quebec was founded.  

You can see the iconic Chateau Frontenac from down below.  There is also the Fenicular that can take you to the upper city.

Next to Place Royale is the Quebec City Mural, inaugurated in 1999, and painted by 12 French and Quebec artists over a nine week period.  The mural depicts important events in the history of Quebec and features historical figures such as Jacques Cartier and Samuel Champlain. 

Alongside the mural was an installation consisting of pinwheel flowers of different colors and sizes.  According to some Google Image Searches, the installation is called “Influorescence” and is intended to depict diversity. 

Other searches could not find this image.  In any event, the flowers were very striking.

We reboarded the bus and headed to our next stop – Sanctuaire Sainte-Anne – de- Beupre, a basilica some 34 km or about a 30 minute ride from Quebec City.  The huge structure is the oldest pilgrimage site in North American having been visited by people for over 350 years.  It is dedicate to the grandmother of Jesus, St. Anne. 

The structure is impressive and huge. There was a mass going on so I just poked my head in a took a quick picture.  The place was pretty crowded for a weekday and lots of people were wandering the spacious grounds.  Guy gave us a rundown on the Basilica but Ellen and I wandered around the grounds a bit.  

We also went into the store which had only religious books. 

All of the stops have been short so we were back on the bus and headed just a short distance to Montmerency Falls, an impressive waterfall we passed on the way to the Basilica.  The place was full but the bus did find a place to stop and let us off.  I couldn’t tell if there was an admission change that the tour prepaid.  Lot of kids and families entered the building which then led to a wooden terrace where you could get a good look at the Falls.  If you were really fit and a bit crazy, you could climb 487 stairs and then stand on a bridge spanning the falls.  There was also a tram that took you to the top of the falls. 

We took our photos from down below.  

Guy did take a photo of us at the falls.

You couldn’t see if from our vantage point but the falls empty into the St Lawrence River (on the other side of the highway) up the road some miles near Quebec City.  The Falls which are fed by the Montmerency River are 83 m high (272 feet) or about 98 feet taller than Niagara Falls (wow).   .

Our next stop was the included lunch – we were concerned about having nothing to eat so we requested vegetarian meals.  That turned out to be moot point because the choices were salmon and chicken.  The restaurant was a place called Auberge Baker Restaurant and it was clearly a farmhouse and a hotel (we could see little cottages on the grounds) – we were in a farm area.  

There were about four young guys doing the serving.  We couldn’t have the first course, a soup with a meat base.  The salmon, however, was fresh and delicious.  Served with a white sauce and some veggies it was as good as the salmon on board.  Since we were in blueberry country, dessert was some kind of blueberry mousse.  The food was very good and based on their menu probably cost between $25 and $35 a person.  We didn’t hang around the place too long – back to the bus.  

Our next stop was Ile D’Orleans, an island located in the St Lawrence River about 5 km (3.1 miles) east of Quebec City.  Many French Canadians are related to the early residents of the island because it was one of the first areas colonized.  There are around 7000 people living on the island which is connected to the mainland by the Ile D’Orleans bridge (access through the town on Beauport.  The bus took Route 368, which circles the island.  The island is very scenic composed mainly of small homes and a few shops and stores. 

The bridge is being replaced and we could see the drilling barges searching for solid bedrock for the pylons. 

We circled the whole island and crossed the bridge to the mainland and headed to Quebec City and our next destination, the Plains of Abraham area.  The bus let us off at a mini park complete with shade and seating -this area of the Plains of Abraham is part of the National Battlefield Park.  The place was filled with families and also had great views of the St Lawrence River.  

While Guy was going over the skirmishes between the French and English, I was more interested in the two installations alongside the structure. 

The first was “The Three Watchmen” an 18 foot tall sculpture by First Nation Haida artist Chief James Hart.  

The watchmen are looking out for everyone.  The second is an installation by Huron Wendat artist Ludovic Boney, called “Remembering Through Beads”.  

The installation consists of large rings representing wampum bead.  The Wendat nation is indigenous to Quebec City.  The two works of art were unveiled in 2024 marking “Truth and Reconciliation Day”. 

The bus then wound its way through the lower city passing the Quebec Parliament House (going around the turnabout twice so everyone could see - I managed to get a picture of the fountain in the center).  

I remembered this building because we came here years ago and almost froze taking pictures (Caribbean Princess Cruise). 

We were dropped off right in front of the Cruise Terminal (we tipped generously because Guy had done a very good job).

We ate in the Discoveries Restaurant because we had pre-ordered a special meal today in from the newly discovered Kosher options – we both had the “Brazed Ribs along with Apple Crumble with Parve cream”.  I had my doubts but the meat was really good (in some kind of sauce) and there was more than I could eat.  The other good thing on the plate (we asked them to put in on a regular plate – they did but still in the original tinfoil containers) was some kind of marinated cabbage. The crumble was also very good and I had decaf coffee with soy milk.  It all worked out and we will be doing this again.

Tired from our long day, we opted to pass on the headliner tonight – Martin Kaye. Martin puts on a very frenetic show – he played Jerry Lee Lewis in “Million Dollar Quartet”.  Tonight, he was doing the music of Elton John. We have seen this show before so missing it was OK.

There has been a lot of back and forth about our new stateroom on the next cruise.  Originally, we were going to go back to 6038 and deal with the piano issue.  But a lot of behind the scenes stuff took place and Guest Relations told us we were staying in the same stateroom – 6041.  No packing tonight. 

We would also be keeping our same sea cards – I might have to check with Guest Relations (manned by old friends Devi and Katja) to deal with things that needed to be done for the second cruise.  Our transit cards and continuing instructions came to the room so we knew the process tomorrow.