You’re missing out on a lot if you haven’t visited Canada’s historic city of Quebec, and there are plenty of helpful guides on the Web to show you what to see and do, and how to find it all when you get there. www.quebec-travelguide.com/old-quebec
With the help of the Quebec Travel Guide, stroll around the historic heart of the city, Old Quebec, to visit the Anglican and Catholic cathedrals, and the Battlefields Park and Plains of Abraham, site of pivotal battles between the French and English. Old Quebec also is the location of the J.A. Moisan grocery store, the oldest in North America, and the elegant, monumental hotel Fairmont Le Chateau Frontenac, which is more than a century old.
Go back to the Travel Guide and click on “Home” to learn more about the rest of the old fortified city and access their guides to other neighborhoods, such as the downtown area, the Old Port and Parliament Hill, home of the general assembly.
www.quebecweb.com/tourisme/quebec/introang.html
You might run across the acronym MRC in some of the Web sites about Quebec. According to the Portal of Quebec that stands for the four Multicounty Regional Municipalities outside the city proper: Cote-de-Beaupre, Jacques-Cartier, Portneuf and Ile d’Orleans. Any of them would be worth side trips. Run up to the top of the page and click on “Home” to access their information on the rest of the province for places such as the Parc National de la Jacques-Cartier, which covers more than 1,000 square miles of forests, mountains and deep river valleys.
Quebec City’s official tourism Web site offers details on shopping, restaurants, outdoor activities and attractions ranging from historic sites to amusement parks. Within each subject, you have to search for what you want. Try clicking on one category and leaving the keyboard line blank to turn up everything in the library; under “Attractions,” for example, doing that with “Tourist Sites” will turn up everything from Erabliere Sucre d’art, where they make maple sugar, to La Ferme l’Emeulienne, an emu breeding farm, which sounds much nicer in French.
Depending on your travel schedule, you can click on the city’s “Autumn in Quebec” and “Winter Activities” sections. If you’re taking your car and your appetite, try “The Gourmet Route” for an edible road trip. Or, head south across the St. Lawrence River to Chaudiere-Appalaches, which claims to have “Quebec’s Most Beautiful Villages.”
If colder weather is your thing, schedule your visit to coincide with the Quebec Winter Carnival, a 17-day festival beginning on Jan. 26. With Gallic modesty, they claim it’s “the most important winter carnival in the world.” Check out the FAQ for locations, parade routes and other essentials, then visit “Activities” to learn about snow sculptures, the canoe race and ski events.
Think you’ll have any time left for wider travels? The province of Quebec offers a huge array of things to see and places to go. Click on “Travel Experiences” and “Tourist Regions” to survey the possibilities.
Roger Petterson, Associated Press
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