Cracking the Quebec Code in 45 MinutesBy: Jean-Marc Léger, Jacques Nantel, Pierre Duhamel, Christian Bourque, and Philippe Léger The book is an abridged version of Pierre Duhamel’s original text in French, translated for an English audience. I wish more authors would publish abridged versions of their books that are well-supported Read more…
Quebec Route 381 connects two of the most scenic locations in La Belle Province. It traverses the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region of the Laurentians to provide the shortest route between Saguenay and Baie-Saint-Paul. The entire route is 114km long and takes about an hour and a half to complete. It was first Read more…
Saguenay is known for being the name of a map on Age of Empires III, the one with the huge lake in the middle. However, Saguenay is not the name of the lake, the lake is called Lac-Saint-Jean and is about a 20-minute drive west of the city. Saguenay isn’t Read more…
To anyone who grown up playing Age of Empires III, Lac-Saint-Jean would be familiar to them as being the giant body of water in the Saguenay map. Tactically speaking, it was one of the more tactically sound maps because there were only two routes for land attack around the lake. Read more…
Asbestos was discovered here in 1876 and the rest is history. The region was the largest producer of asbestos in the Western World until the closure of the last mine in 2012. Former mine pits in Thetford Mines, Black Lake, and Asbestos can be viewed from observation points. Yes, there Read more…
Drummondville is probably the prettiest town in Quebec south of the St. Lawrence and north of Sherbrooke. Yet, it’s so obscure that even the Reader’s Digest’s Canadian Book of the Road omits to mention the place. I’ve searched every page between Montreal and Quebec City and couldn’t find a single Read more…
There’s the regular Beaupré and then there’s Saint-Anne-de-Beaupré. If it sounds like this town is deeply religious, that’s because it is. Pilgrims arrive just before the saints feast on July 28 and have done so since the 1650s. The iconic Basilica of Saint-Anne-de-Beaupré is the town’s centrepiece. Built during the Read more…
I visited the National Gallery of Art in Ottawa and learned that behind Quebec City and Montreal, Baie-Saint-Paul is the third most painted location of all the artwork in the gallery. It’s known for having beautiful scenery at the foothills of the Laurentians looking out to the largest river estuary Read more…
Jacques Cartier set foot on the Île d’Orléans in 1535, but Saint-Pierre still only consisted of a handful of families into the 19th century. It wasn’t until 1935 when the 4.4km-long Post d’Île was built did Saint-Pierre see a period of growth. Located just to the north of the bridge, Read more…
Saint-Famille on Orléans Island is home to the island’s historical museum – the House of our Ancestors. It commemorates the 300 founding families of New France that now love all over the continent. The area in front of the museum is a wonderful waterfront park with a little artisan shop Read more…