Rolande and I have recently returned from a trip to Eastern Canada, spending time with our daughter, Jaime and her family in Toronto and visiting relatives in Montreal. I had the opportunity to take some photographs and I’ll be posting those in two groups, those from Montreal today and those from Toronto in a subsequent blog.
Today’s first picture was taken in Old Montreal (Vieux Montréal) and features the Bonsécours Market. The market is a two-story domed structure. For more than 100 years, it was the main public market in the Montreal area. It also briefly accommodated the Parliament of United Canada for one session in 1849.
The building was closed in 1963 and slated for demolition. However, the building was later transformed into a multi-purpose facility, with a mall that houses outdoor cafés, restaurants and boutiques, as well as a rental and office space.
Bonsécours Market was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1984.
We continued with a nostalgic tour of Vieux Montréal, visiting sites that we frequented as residents of the Montreal area, 40 years ago. Vieux Montreal is a historic neighbourhood within the municipality of Montreal. Founded by French settlers in 1642 as Fort Ville-Marie, Old Montreal is home to many structures dating back to the era of New France.
One such locale was Place d’Youville, now home to offices, shopping and fine dining.
Built in 1856, this historical building, l’Edifice Lucien Saulnier was once the courthouse for the city but it now is home to the City of Montreal municipal offices.
Place d’Armes is a square in the Old Montreal quarter of the city. In the centre, there is a monument in memory of Paul de Chomedy (titled Sieur de Maisonneuve), founder of Montreal. The square is surrounded by prominent buildings on all sides including Notre Dame Cathedral and the Bank of Montreal Head Office, the domed building in the background.
The next stop on our sentimental journey was Mont Royal, a small mountain, immediately west of Downtown Montreal. The City of Montreal takes its name from Mont Royal. The first European to scale the mountain was Jacques Cartier, guided there in 1535 by the people of the village of Hochelaga.
This photograph portrays an iconic scene from the city of Montreal, photographed by thousands. No originality here. I do have the advantage over many however, having a beautiful autumn day and a striking palette of colours in the bottom of my picture.
I’ve also included a panoramic view of this scene in the blog’s header, taking in a much wider perspective of the city.
Atop Mont Royal stands this cross, erected in 1924, commemorating January 6, 1643, when Maisonneuve, Montreal’s founder, kept his promise to carry a wooden cross to the summit of Mount Royal if the young colony survived flooding. Today, the cross stands 30 metres (98 feet) high and when lit, can be seen from miles away.
We enjoyed our return to our former home province. Montreal’s a great city with countless touristic attractions, great dining and a vibrant culture.