9: Montreal
There's two practical options to travel the 200km between Ottawa and Montreal: Train (aka ViaRail) or coach. ViaRail has started charging to carry a suitcase on board, with no guarantee that there will actually be space to put it in the rack at the end of the carriage. Fares with luggage for the 2 hour trip were pushing CAD100. The bus, which takes about 2.5 hours was about CAD60 with bags conveniently stowed below. So bus it was, operated by Quebec company Orleans.
The closest pickup point was in front of a building of the University of Ottawa, about 10 minutes walk from the hotel. The instructions on the ticket suggested the pick up point was on a different corner to where the bus actually pulled up. Fortunately we arrived with sufficient time to scout the area and find the bus stop. The trip was quick and comfortable, mostly on expressway with lovely green scenery until we hit the outskirts of Montreal. Most passengers alighted when the bus made its first stop at YUL airport, which stands to reason as there would be a lot more flight options from Montreal than Ottawa. I guess this is similar to Canberrans bussing to SYD.
The Montreal bus terminal is on the edge of Quartier des Spectacles, which is the downtown-adjacent theatre district. From there it was an easy ride on the metro to Lucien-L'Allier station just a couple of blocks from our accommodation at Novotel Montreal Centre. We were able to check in a bit early upon arrival at 1pm. If you've stayed in a Novotel anywhere in the world before, you know exactly what this hotel was like. The room decor didn't inspire any photos, but it was spacious. The location of this hotel is excellent for both business and leisure travellers and given the generally high prices of Canadian hotels, this was OK value at $280-ish a night for our two night stay. (We had a third night in Montreal, but with an early departure for our trip to Rio, we elected to spend the final night walking distance to the airport).
After dropping out bags and grading lunch at the Time Out Food Market in a shopping centre on the main St Catherine strip, we joined what seemed like half the population of Montreal to take in the stunning warm, sunny weather with a walk to the top of Mont Royal.
Mont Royal is truly one of the world's greatest city parks with so much natural green space, walking trails, a lake and beautiful views. There are lots of access points and stair cases from the CBD and surrounding areas to enter the park. One of which is at the end of the street that the Novotel is located on.
That evening Volando+1 had arranged a date night dinner for us at an Argentine-inspired neighbourhood fine diner called
Beba. It's ranked #7 in Canada and among the top 30 in North America according to various fine dining lists. The compact menu is all a la carte and rotates seasonally. The highlight dish was the bone marrow, closely followed by their zucchini-based take on vine leaves. A daily special of cod's tongue was interesting and had strong Cantonese connotations. It was definitely a very enjoyable meal, though I am a bit surprised that this is the calibre of restaurant that gets so highly ranked. It would have been a solid one hat, perhaps knocking on the door of two hats in Sydney or Melbourne. (and a far cry from what I stridently maintain is the best restaurant in Australia: Botanic in Adelaide).
The following day is when jet lag finally caught up with me. So after a fair to middling Novotel hotel buffet breakfast I went back to bed and crashed for a few hours. The weather forecast also had passing showers and storms, so it was a guilt-free lazy day until we left the hotel mid afternoon for high tea at the Ritz Carlton with a couple of friends of Volando+1 from his time living in Montreal. The setting was lovely and the sandwiches, scones and delicate cakes were exactly what you'd expect from a Ritz Carlton high tea.
Feeling full from carbs and refreshed from an earlier nap, we set out for an evening walk through some areas I remember fondly from one of my previous visits to Montreal. From downtown we passed through the theatre district, Latin Quarter, gay village and then to Parc La Fontaine in Plateau-Mont-Royal.
Night had fallen by this point, so we grabbed a Mexican dinner and then strolled several blocks of the lively and pedestrianised Mont Royal Ave. I just love the energy of Montreal's neighbourhoods. The pace of life is simultaneously relaxed and lively, there seems to be endless interesting bars and restaurants and people watching is very rewarding. And of course the fact that it's all happening predominantly in French with a distinct Quebec identity (i.e. neither Canadian nor French by definition) just makes Montreal one of my favourite cities.
On our final full day in Montreal we again did lots of walking (23,000 steps). We checked out and left our bags at the hotel late morning and set off first to Old Montreal and the port area for river views, then to Chinatown for yum cha at a place we'd had xmas lunch around 12 years ago - Chinatown is always a reliable bet for things to be open on Christmas Day! The food was really good and the trolley ladies surprisingly friendly!
Then we took the metro to Parc Jean Drapeau on Ile Ste-Helene in the middle of the wide and rapidly flowing river. Ile Ste-Helene is joined to another Island called Notre-Dame. Together they were the site of the 1967 Montreal expo. Today they are yet another incredible public park land for the citizens of Montreal. We wandered somewhat aimlessly on both islands and ended up finding a stone tower. Although it looks like an old fort tower, it was actually built in the 1930s to "hide" an otherwise unattractive water tower. 360º views from the top were stunning and worth the effort of climbing the steps inside the tower.
We were both knackered by this point, so got the metro back to downtown, had another easy dinner at the Time Out market, grabbed our luggage and took the aptly numbered 747 bus to the Airport and checked into Aloft by Marriot, some 15 minutes walk from the terminal .
Montreal isn't a city of big ticket tourist items to tick off. Instead it's a city to stroll and savour. It is especially buzzing in summer, but having been in winter as well, there's a certain charm and camaraderie in the bleak weather. It's hard to define exactly why, but it's a city that really speaks to me.
