What You Need to Know About Old Montreal

A Honeymoon travel Series

As some of you may know, nine days ago I married the love of my life and after that wonderful day (which I will share more about in another post) we went on our honeymoon. Because if Covid didn’t stop us from getting married, and having the wedding of our dreams, it wasn’t going to stop us from having a honeymoon.

Of course, we had originally thought to go to Rome, or Ireland or maybe even Hawaii. But those were pre-Covid honeymoon ideas (it still kills me we now have to talk about life pre and post Covid) and the idea of honeymooning in our own province was super boring. We’ve both been to Niagara Falls a million times for example, so anywhere we thought of just wasn’t special enough. In the end, we settled on Old Montreal and it was the perfect place to honeymoon for us. Today, I am going to share with you things you need to know when visiting old Montreal.

It Feels Like Europe

The old part of the city has been around for three hundred years, so it feels like Europe. The streets are narrower, the roads are cobblestone, and the buildings are made of limestone, many of which is painstakingly carved with motifs and historical figures. The older parts of Quebec are as close as we can get to Europe in North America in my opinion, and I adored that. It felt romantic and peaceful in a way that a big city like Toronto just doesn’t.

The Food!

Old Montreal has more dining options than you can eat meals in a day and each of them is delicious! I will probably do a whole post just about the food, but I have to say be prepared to do a ton of eating because the streets are lined with restaurants. You can get everything from a fabulous steak house dinner, to good old fashioned poutine. And of course, you should definitely find a bakery and get some freshly made croissants. I had one every morning for breakfast and it was like heaven in my mouth. We even stopped at a couple of microbreweries and had the most amazing beers.

It’s Bilingual

You may, or may not know that Canada is bilingual. Since the French were the first to colonize here, the province of Quebec has a unique history and culture and is French speaking. There are some other communities in Canada that are also French speaking, but Quebec is where you’ll the largest population. However, the rest of Canada is English speaking and not really bilingual although French is taught in schools. Sadly, we never really learn the language. However, in parts of Quebec they do not speak English. Cities like Montreal however, are bilingual which makes is a lot easier for English speaking tourists. So you really feel as though you are in France as you’ll hear the language a lot. You might want to practice a few phrases before you go as they do appreciate the effort, especially from their English speaking Canadian brethren.

Stunning Landmarks

A lot of places were closed due to Covid, but old Montreal is full of stunning landmarks. My husband and I were particularly excited to see Notre Dame, a Gothic Revival church, but sadly it was open only for masses. We considered attending mass, but decided not to simply because we really wanted to walk around and admire the interior and obviously couldn’t do that during a mass. However, we plan to go back to see this stunning basilica one day. The old port now holds the Montreal science centre and a stunning (and therefore iconic) clock tower. Plus, there are many quaint and charming shops to visit, several filled with artisan work that you’ll adore.

More to COme …

Today’s post is really more of an overview of the city, but I will be sharing a lot more about Montreal, some honeymoon stories and also be sharing more about our wedding. So stay tuned, and subscribe to the blog 🙂

Where was your honeymoon? Share in the comments below.