Le Chemin du Roy

We left the city this morning and in a fancy new rental car headed west along the Saint Lawrence River. We are taking a very old road called the Chemin du Roy, the King's Road. Built in the 18th C it was the first carriage route between Quebec and Montreal. Now it's a sleepy backroad dotted with small villages and farm stands along the river. This plaque was on one of the gates of into the old walled part of Quebec City.

Before we leave the city though, I want to show you a few photos from our long walk yesterday. We took an elaborate boardwalk called Dufferin Terrace up and up to the Plains of Abraham. We also visited the Saint Roch area, an up-and-coming but still gritty neighbourhood, and then walked back to our hotel. I think we covered about three miles--and we still had sore feet in the morning.

On your left is the iconic Chateau Frontenac, the most elaborate of the CP hotels, modelled after a Loire valley chateau. Beside it is a restaurant called Les Anciens Canadienes, a famous spot serving authentic French Canadian food. We had a fabulous set price lunch which was finished off with services of maple syrup pie. It was so deliciously sweet and rich that I was only able to eat about 1/3 of the serving.

The streetscape below was one we noticed on our walk back up to the old town. This is an area of apartments lived in by normal people. It's on the edge of a popular neighbourhood called Saint Jean that's full of restaurants and delis and boulangeries. If we lived in this city I think we'd choose to live in this area--although it's very different from Victoria, with no greenspace at all. I think some of these apartments may have little balconies out the back. 

Now on to the rural lifestyle. Along the Saint Lawrence river there are many little villages, most are centres for small farms and each village has its own incredible church...

and darling little houses along the river and the railway tracks...

... and trees that are finally showing some colour.

We were wondering if we would ever see this as the season is very late this year. But now we're beginning to see some red and orange.

We stopped for lunch at this cute little cafe in a village called Cap Sainte, and found a long table full of some guys from a French cycling group. Apparently this road along the river is a destinations for cycling, even into the Fall.