Celebrating Québec City's 400th Anniversary: Montréal-Québec-Tadoussac
5 Days/4 Nights
Dates:
July 20-24, 2008
Price (all taxes included):
Single: $2270.00
Double: $2030.00
Triple: $1950.00
Quadruple: $1915.00
Come celebrate Québec City's 400th birthday in "La Belle province" with Great Excursions Founder Claude-Jean Harel (C-J) as your guide. Although he has been living in Saskatchewan for nearly 30 years, C-J was born and raised in Québec. Trained as an archaeologist in both Canada and the United Kingdom, he brings an insightful appreciation for the distinctive influences Montréal, Québec and other New France settlements have had on contemporary North America--even Western Canada. Join us as we journey from Regina to Montréal, Québec, Tadoussac, Île d'Orleans, Montmorency Falls and St-Anne-de-Beaupré on this bilingual (English-French) discovery tour intended to appeal to a wide audience.
You may have travelled to Québec City before, or this may be your first trip to Canada's French-speaking province. It is useful to know that in the spring of 1608, three ships left the French port of Honfleur, one of them the Don-de-Dieu, commanded by Samuel de Champlain. In June, the small group of settlers arrived at Tadoussac. There, they left the ships and continued to Québec in small boats. On July 3, 1608, Champlain landed at the "point of Quebec." He set about fortifying the area by building three main buildings and a moat 5 meters wide. This was to become the city of Québec. Fortifying Quebec City became one of his passions, which he embarked on periodically for the rest of his life.
People of French descent across North America can trace their history back to Québec City, recognized today as the cradle of French civilization in the New World.
At one point, Québec City was at the center of New France, an empire that that covered all of Eastern Canada and almost half of the current US territory. French North America extended from the Gulf of St Lawrence to the Great Lakes and from Hudson Bay to the Gulf of Mexico.
Although this empire was not to last, Québec City, as the capital of Lower Canada and later, of Québec – has continued to grow and thrive.
We will arrive in the province by way of Montréal, the New World's French Metropolis. Here we will take in Notre-Dame de Montréal Basilica in the city's historic district. The Roman Catholic church's architecture is among the most dramatic in the world; its interior is grand and colourful, its ceiling is coloured deep blue and decorated with golden stars, and the rest of the sanctuary is a polychrome of blues, azures, reds, purples, silver, and gold. It is filled with hundreds of intricate wooden carvings and several religious statues. Unusual for a church, the stained glass windows along the walls of the sanctuary do not depict biblical scenes, but rather scenes from the religious history of Montreal. It also has a Casavant Frères pipe organ, which comprises four keyboards, 97 stops, almost 7000 individual pipes and a pedal board.
We will head out to Québec City and take in the Old City, which we will visit at length. As you take in cobbled streets and shops you will gain a greater appreciation of the reasons why Old Québec was designated a World Heritage Site by the UNESCO.
It is the only North American city to have preserved its ramparts, together with the numerous bastions, gates and defensive works which still surround Old Québec. The Upper Town, built on the cliff, has remained the religious and administrative centre, with its churches, convents and other monuments like the Dauphine Redoubt, the Citadel and Château Frontenac. Together with the Lower Town and its ancient districts, it forms an urban ensemble which is one of the best examples of a fortified colonial city anywhere.
We will then travel to Tadoussac, a village of of around 900 inhabitants which was once an important seventeenth century French trading post. It is the oldest continuously inhabited European settlement in Quebec, and the oldest surviving French established settlement in the Americas. Located by the spectacular Saguenay Fjord, where numerous sea mammals converge throughout the year, this where we will go on a whale watching tour.
After a fulfilling tour of île d'Orléans, one of quintessential small islands that impart to the St. Lawrence River some of its almost mystical character, we nourish ourselves in traditional fashion at a real Québec "cabane à sucre" or sugar shack.
We will visit Canyon Ste- Anne, where we will explore a spectacular canyon grooved by 74-meter waterfalls into 900 million-year-old rock. We will cross 3 suspensions bridges… one 60 m above the gorge! Known by First Nations, painted by renowned artist Cornelius Kreighoff, described by American philosopher and environmentalist H.D. Thoreau, the site has also welcomed movie star John Travolta during the filming of Battlefield Earth in 2000.
After such emotions, a more "spiritual" pilgrimage may be in order. We will visit world famous Ste-Anne-de-Beaupré Basilica. Set along the Saint Lawrence River, 30 kilometers east of Quebec City, it has been credited by the Catholic Church with many miracles in curing the sick and disabled. It is reputed to be the first Christian pilgrimage site in North America. Still today it is an important Catholic sanctuary which receives about a half-million pilgrims each year. Ste-Anne-de-Beaupré has traditionally occupied a very dear place among Canada's baptized First Nations.
Package Price:
2270.00 Can./Person
0.00 U.S./Person Currency Converter
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