Vieux Montréal, as it’s known in the native language of Quebec, is a European postcard made real in North America. Along the cobblestoned streets crossing Place Jacques Cartier, it’s easily possible to imagine oneself in Paris. Wander over to busy St. Paul Street and shop. Bakeries, souvenirs, and a variety of art objects are all […]

Known officially as the Quai du Vieux-Port, this section of Old Montreal (Vieux Montréal) is paradoxically one of the most up-to-date portions of the city. Like many cities bordered by large bodies of water, whether the Pacific Ocean as in San Francisco or the Atlantic in New York, activities abound. Many of the sights and […]

Montreal derives its musical-sounding name from a nearby mountain, Mont Royal, which also happens to be one of its main tourist attractions. But there’s much more to this city on the St. Lawrence River than natural wonders, as abundant as those are. Montreal holds interest for those many tourists who enjoy visiting religious structures around […]

St. Joseph’s Oratory, a large Catholic church atop Mont Royal in Montreal, is one of the most unusual religious structures in existence. It is so, not only because of the design but owing to its history, as well. A work of devotion by Brother Andre, a lay brother in the Holy Cross order, the present […]

Constructed on the site where Montreal was founded in 1642, the Museum of Archeology and History is deservedly one of the most popular attractions in the city. First opened in 1992, the museum itself is built on some of the grounds that once held the objects now on display. Housed partly in the triangular Eperon […]

The Musée des Beaux-Arts de Montréal is the oldest museum in Canada, and one of its finest. Founded in 1860, it moved to one of its present locations just before WWI in 1912. ‘One of’ because the museum is actually comprised of two separate buildings separated by a street, connected by a long underground tunnel. […]

The Casino de Montréal gets about 15,000 gamblers per weekday, 25,000 on a weekend day. It’s not hard to see why. With 3,000 slot machines alone, there’s a lot of action. But that only begins to cover the possibilities in this gaming house in Quebec. Once upon a time, locals had to go to Atlantic […]

One of the few cities to dedicate a museum to the glory of building, the Centre Canadien d’Architecture in Montreal is itself glorious. The center is actually two separate buildings. Combining austere Trenton limestone mined in Quebec with traditional old greystone found throughout Montreal, the buildings reflect the twin aspects of the architecture of the […]

The Montreal Biodome is one of the most unusual tourist attractions in the world. Originally built in 1976 to house Olympic Games events, it has evolved into a showcase of ecosystems as they might be. The Biodome holds four such areas, representing different ecosystems of the Americas. The Tropical Forest In the tropical forest section, […]

The Jardin Botanique de Montréal happily resides in one of the lushest areas of North America. It was founded in 1936 by one of Canada’s premier botanists, Frère Marie-Victorin, and houses over 100,000 specimens representing 20,000 species. Second in size only to Kew Gardens in London, it is easily a rival for New York’s famed […]