MONTREAL, Canada's
second-largest city, is
geographically as close to the
European coast as to Vancouver, and
in look and feel it combines some of
the finest aspects of the two
continents. Its North American
skyline of glass and concrete rises
above churches and monuments in a
melange of European styles as varied
as Montreal's social mix. This is
also the second-largest
French-speaking metropolis after
Paris, but only two-thirds of the
city's three and a half million
people are of French extraction, the
other third being a cosmopolitan
mishmash of
les autres -
including British, Eastern
Europeans, Chinese, Italians,
Greeks, Jews, South Americans and
West Indians. The result is a truly
multidimensional city, with a global
variety of eateries, bars and clubs,
matched by a calendar of festivals
that makes this the most vibrant
place in Canada.
Montreal has always played a
major role in advancing Québec separatism, as it's here that the two main
linguistic groups come into greatest
contact with one another. The
tension between English and French
culminated in the terrorist campaign
that the Front de Libération du Québec
focused on the city in the late
1960s, and the consequent political
changes affected Montreal more than
anywhere else in the province. In
the wake of the "francization"
of Québec, English-Canadians hit
Hwy 401 in droves, tipping the
nation's economic supremacy from Montreal
to Toronto. Though written off by
Canada's English-speaking majority,
the city did not sink into oblivion.
Instead, the city has undergone a
resurgence, becoming the driving
force behind the high-tech industry
that's transforming Canada's
economy.
Everywhere you look there are the
signs of civic pride and prosperity.
In the historic quarter of Vieux-Montreal
, on the banks of the St Lawrence
River, the streets and squares are
flanked by well-tended buildings,
from the mammoth Basilique de
Notre-Dame and steepled Chapelle
de Notre-Dame-de-Bonsecours , to
sleek and stately commercial
buildings. Old houses have been
converted into lively restaurants
and shops, abandoned warehouses into
condos and the disused Vieux-Port
into a summer playground with
landscaped parklands facing onto the
St Lawrence. Beneath the forested
rise of Mont Royal, downtown
's boulevards and leafy squares are
alive from the morning rush hour
right through to the wee hours, when
revellers return from the clubs that
pulsate along rue Ste-Catherine
and the more intimate bars and
lounges of the Plateau and Quartier
Latin . Below ground, the
walkways of the Underground City
and the outstanding Métro
system link the nodal points of the
city, while towards the eastern
outskirts, the Stade Olympique
's leaning tower overshadows the
vast Jardin Botanique,
second in international status only
to London's Kew Gardens.
In addition, the city boasts some
excellent museums. The Centre
Canadien d'Architecture has one
of the continent's most impressive
specialist collections, the Musée
d'Art Contemporain is Canada's
only museum devoted entirely to
contemporary art, and the Musée
des Beaux Arts is the oldest
fine-arts museum in the country.
Equally fine are the museums devoted
to Montreal and Canadian history; of
these, the Musée McCord has
a mint collection of native
artefacts, while the Musée
d'Archéologie et d'Histoire de Montreal
delivers a state-of-the-art
presentation of archeological
findings at the site of Montreal's
founding in 1642.
Beyond the city limits, Montrealers
are blessed with superb holiday
regions, most within an hour or two
of the metropolis. To the west, the
forested region of the Outaouais
makes for great outdoor activities,
while to the north the fertile banks
of the St Lawrence and the
lake-sprinkled mountains of the Laurentians
offer a reprieve from muggy summer
temperatures and an escape from the
winter blues. To the east, the charm
of the Cantons-de-l'Est
(Eastern Townships) lies in the
acres of farmlands, orchards, maple
woods and lakeshore hamlets popular
among antique collectors. En route
to Québec City, the Mauricie
valley, the province's smallest
national park, has a web of
waterways and lakes amidst a
landscape of mountainous forest.
