Entente cordiale in Montreal
(Press Association, 2002)
Take a community of English speakers, a community of French speakers, and put them side by side in a province that has periodic separatist leanings, and you’d expect there to be a certain amount of friction to say the least. The immediately disarming fact about Montreal, though, is that peaceful coexistence is the order of the day – a real case of vive la difference!
An island on the north bank of the St Lawrence River, you’d be hard pressed to find a city that encompasses both Old and New World charm – unmistakably a North American city, but with true European character thanks to its French and English colonial past. Over 350 years of history have shaped Montreal, a city that wears its heart on its sleeve throughout its varied neighbourhoods – in contrast to, say Toronto, which has its feet firmly in modern day America.
The main tourist drag in the city is Rue Ste. Catherine, and at the east end is the Latin Quarter, where I stayed, in the Hotel Des Gouverneurs, with its elegant lobby and a location that puts you in the heart of the action, and close to the fabulous street cafes of Rue St. Denis.
Rue Ste. Catherine is the lively and colourful hub of downtown Montreal, with shops, restaurants and clubs packed tightly along the street, the main landmark being the Place des Arts, a huge, modern centre for culture, comprising the Museum of Modern Art, theatre and concert halls. In summer, these play host to such famed events as the huge Montreal Jazz Festival, which draws in almost 2 million visitors to see over 2000 performers.
A short walk south from the Place des Arts, though, took me into the romantic splendour of Vieux Montreal – a maze of architecture from the 18th century onwards and cobbled streets that centre around Rue Notre Dame and Rue St Paul.
Old Montreal was the commercial centre of the city in the 19th century, and most of the buildings are the sumptuous former offices of banks and insurance companies, now restaurants and chic boutique hotels amongst other things.
The centrepiece of the area is the Notre Dame Basilica, completed in 1829 by Protestant architect John O’Donnell, who was so pleased with his work that he then converted to Catholicism. The exterior is relatively austere, but the splendour of the interior, with its carved wood and gold leaf, more than makes up for this.
A short walk south towards the waterfront area of the old port is Pointe-à-Callière Museum of Archaeology and History (adult: CD8.50). Lying on the exact spot where Montreal was founded in 1642, the museum uses an amazing multimedia presentation to illustrate the incredible story of Montreal, after which I headed down into the very foundations of the city to see for myself, and have ghostly conversations with hologramatic residents from key historic periods.
Looking south over the river, there are two islands, Île Notre Dame and Île Ste Hélène, which make up the Parc Des Iles. The park is a legacy of the 1967 World’s Fair, and a couple of the original pavilions still exist. The American Pavilion is now the Biosphere, an interactive ecological exhibit, and the French pavilion is now the impressive Casino de Montreal.
Ile Ste Hélène has the Tour de la Ronde amusement park, but the parks are in general an excellent escape from the bustle of the city – take a bike or skates, and you can even do circuits of the Gilles Villeneuve Grand Prix track – providing the race isn’t on at the time, of course!
The other major event hosted by Montreal in recent history is of course the Olympic Games, and the Olympic Park, built for more than CD1billion for the 1976 games, remains a magnificent monument to this day. It lies a little east of the city centre, but you can easily take the city’s excellent Metro system.
The stadium is immediately noticeable for the Montreal Tower, an stunning inclined structure which overhangs the Olympic Stadium. A cable car (adults: CD9) takes you to an observation deck for the best views of the city.
The neighbouring Biodôme (adults: CD10) is one of the most popular attractions in the city. It’s an impressive recreation of four ecosystems, housing over 400 animals and 5000 plants, with realistic rainforests and arctic landscapes.
The Olympic Park is part of the huge Parc Maisonneuve, which is also the location of one of Montreal’s magnificent Botanic Gardens (adults: CD9.50) – now the second largest in the world after Kew Gardens in London. Ideally you need a couple of days to take in the whole thing, but sadly I only had an afternoon. If it’s a flying visit, then I recommend the beautiful Japanese and Chinese gardens, with their authentic landscaping and their interesting Bonsai and Penjing ornamental trees.
Back in the city, I’m lucky enough to be there at the time of the Just For Laughs Festival, the biggest and oldest comedy festival in the world, which, like the Jazz festival, gives downtown a celebratory atmosphere. There are shows to appeal to just about everyone, with English and French running side by side – testament to the attitude of friendly accommodation that the city now has.
My French doesn’t stretch much beyond schoolboy, but that’s no obstacle, and most people are happy to converse or make transactions in English as long as you’re polite. A cheery ‘bonjour’ when entering shops or taking taxis doesn’t hurt, and this is, after all, a truly bilingual city.
The strangest thing about Montreal is that you can spend a week here and not go outside, thanks to its unique Underground City – a labyrinthine 29km stretch of subterranean shops, restaurants, metro stations, banks and more or less anything else you could need, to the tune of 2000 buildings.
It’s an incredible feat of architecture, and fun to explore, though you may come back onto street level where you least expect it. The locals use the network to avoid the extremes of weather, especially the winter snows.
If you prefer heights, then the Parc du Mont Royal also affords good views of the city, and was laid out by Frederick Law Olmstead, also responsible for New York’s Central Park. “The Mountain” as it is known, is perhaps the inspiration for Montreal’s name (it’s under dispute), but the park remains a great lookout point, big enough for horseback riding in the summer, and cross-country skiing in the winter.
Montreal has everything you’d expect from a modern city, a fabulous range of cuisine that doesn’t just rely on its French roots, attractive redevelopment of the old corners of the city and a string of festivals that make the summer just one long public celebration. Its character, though, comes from its history, and that it has had to change and adapt so often over a turbulent past pays dividends for the visitor, because now it is more welcoming than ever, no matter where you happen to be from.