Three Days in Montreal

Three Days in Montreal – Sonder Le Victoria

Sonder Le Victoria was our base for the next three and a half days. This hotel is operated by Marriott in converted apartments located in old town Montreal. The unit was a modern one-bedroom suite with kitchenette. Although we enjoyed the extra space, the experience was a bit unusual. Marriott does not provide any room service on these units. The unit had a king size bed, but it was so big that you couldn’t close the bedroom door, which was strange.

We found the Old Town area to be quite noisy on Friday and Saturday nights with late night drinkers shouting in the streets. The savings from staying in an older area of the old town were counterbalanced by some of the inconvenience. Overall, it was OK.

Day 1 – The Crew Collective

We started day, our first full day in Montreal with a visit to the Crew Collective for croissants and morning lattes. The Crew Collective & Café occupies the original Royal Bank building, which makes the architecture quite spectacular. The Crew Collective also generates revenue by renting out unique temporary office space for business meetings. After your morning coffee, cross the street to the World Trade Centre building and take a look at the Amphitrite statue with its beautiful reflecting pool, plus see a section of the original Berlin Wall.

Day 1 – The Old Town and Notre-Dame

After breakfast it was cloudy, so we planned indoor activities for the early part of the day. First off, we strolled through old town Vieux Montreal to Place d’Armes and the Notre-Dame Basilica of Montreal. Notre-Dame is part of a new trend among churches to charge an entry fee. In the evenings, they also have a light show display, which requires an additional charge to attend. The church asks visitors to tap a credit card to light candles. It’s a new dynamic to adjust to, but it will help churches like this survive. Notre-Dame was beautiful inside, but we opted not to return later for the evening light show. Checking the show first on the web made us feel like it was a rock concert instead of the church. We found Notre-Dame du Montreal to be something more like a tourist trap than a church, but must admit the interior is quite beautiful.

Three Days in Montreal – Biodome

We opted to buy tickets to the Biodome, but not to purchase the package that included the Botanical Garden, the Insectarium, the Planetarium and the Biosphere. We enjoyed our experience. The Biodome offers a hot and humid Tropical Rainforest, a Gulf of St. Lawrence marine environment, a Laurentian Maple Forest and the chilly Labrador Coast Arctic region. While the spaces were exceptionally large, I still felt bad for the animals being kept there in captivity. Still worth a visit on a rainy day and great for kids.

Lunch at Ma Poule Mouillée

The transit strike made for terrible traffic everywhere in the city, so we were forced to take an expensive cab ride to lunch at Ma Poule Mouillée. This was so worth it. Ma Poule Mouillée is a Portuguese restaurant known for their charcoal grilled chicken with piri piri sauce. The restaurant is located across the street from La Banquise, which is more popular because of its famous poutine. We think we made the better choice visiting Ma Poule Mouillée instead.

Montreal from l’île Sainte-Hélène, St Lawrence River

Don’t be intimidated by the lineup at the restaurant, as the line moves quickly. Once inside you are right next to the heat from the grilling chicken. You order my number off the menu board, but one dish is more than enough for two people. As soon as you place your order, the staff places your chicken, fries and salad on a plate and then delivers your meal straight to the cashier. There are no wait staff in the restaurant. You get your meal instantly after you order. Luckily in late September, it was easy to find a seat.

Despite the large size of this delicious meal, we devoured it. Before we left, we went back to the cash register for tiramisu and mille-feuille. We skipped the pasteis de nata even though it’s a famous Portuguese dessert. All in all, 10 out of 10.

Biosphere, Montreal

The Biosphere and St Lawrence Ferry

After lunch we took an Uber to the Biosphere. As we arrived, the sun came out and we had lovely sunny weather for the rest of our visit to Montreal. The Biosphere makes a great photo stop, but we didn’t go inside. After taking a few pictures, we wandered through Parc Jean-Drapeau. Then we caught the small ferry across the St Lawrence to Old Town Montreal. You could tell it was the end of the season, because we were the only two passengers on this river crossing.

We finished our first full touring day in Montreal by walking through the old town back to our accommodation at the Sonder Le Victoria.

Terrasse Sur L’Auberge

For dinner after our first full day in Montreal, we headed to Terrasse Sur L’Auberge. Open air terrace dining is sort of a thing in Montreal and this did not disappoint. I loved the red cabbage pulled pork, but the rest of the meal was not as interesting. The best part of the dining experience was looking out over the old part as the sunset and a cruise ship set sail down the St Lawrence. No wonder terrace dinning is so popular in Montreal.

Mary Queen of the World

Day 2 – Cafe Krema & Mary Queen of the World

The next morning we headed over to the Crew Collective for morning coffee. We were surprised to find that it was closed and so we’re quite a few other people who were standing around confused by the unexplained closure. We delayed our morning coffee and took the metro to the Bonaventure station. From there, we took a pic of the “Cheese Grater building” and wandered through the Place Canada park until we found a great coffee shop at Cake Krema. The coffee and croissants were amazing here. So was the atmosphere. Plus my French was improving. I completed the order and answered questions without the cashier switching to English. I didn’t realize until later when I checked my charge card statement that this coffee shop was part of the Fairmont The Queen Elizabeth. We enjoyed the experience so much that we visited again later during our time in Montreal.

Mary Queen of the World, Montreal

Mary Queen of the World was across the street from Cafe Krema. The exterior with its statues is impressive. The internet has amazing photographs of the interior too, but we found it less compelling in person. Again this church was asking visitors to donate by credit card, but they weren’t set up for tap. They wanted you to fill in your name, address and credit card info online – too much effort for us. On leaving the church we crossed through the Place Canada park again, which was very enjoyable. Montreal has a tradition of providing free tables and chairs in their parks. On this sunny day, they also had umbrellas out for shade. What a great tradition.

St Joseph’s Oratory

St Joseph’s Oratory

Our next destination was St. Joseph’s Oratory. The metro was in full operation this day, so we took the #2 Orange Line from the Bonaventure Station to the Snowdon Station. From there we switched to the #3 Blue Line for one stop to Cote-des-Neiges. We then walked a short distance to St Joseph’s. This church is the largest in Montreal and it’s a long way up the front steps to the entrance. Unfortunately we didn’t approach at the carillon where you will find in-ground escalators to take you all the way up to the church.

St Joseph’s Oratory was extremely popular, but we found the church to be gigantically plain. This church doesn’t make our list of must see attractions in Montreal. Afterward we discovered that cabs can’t make it up to the church doors and that’s when we finally discovered the escalators back down to the main parking lot area far below.

Beaver Lake, Mont Royal

Mont Royal

Once we’d descended from St Joseph’s we were able to catch an Uber to the Escalier Trafalgar Stairs on the west side of Mont Royal. This Uber ride to the Stairs was a lovely trip through the expensive homes at the base of Mont Royal. From the foot of the Escalier Trafalgar Stairs it’s a short ascent to Beaver Lake (Lac aux castors). We enjoyed lunch at the Cafe des Amis Pavilion with seating looking out over the lake and the beautiful weather.

Beaver Lake from Cafe des Amis

After a leisurely lunch, we continued our stroll though the Mont Royal parklands to the Kondiaronk Belvedere viewpoint over downtown Montreal. We enjoyed the Beaver Lake Pavillion much more than the extremely popular Kondiaronk Belvedere. After a short stay at the viewpoint, we made the long descent of the Grand Staircase to the Rue Peel Steps. It was amazing how many people were struggling up these stairs. Consider a cab to the Escalier Trafalgar Stairs or if you have a car, there is parking at the top of Mont Royal.

Redpath Museum at McGill University

When you complete the descent of Mont Royal to Rue Peel, you end up on the grounds of McGill University among its picturesque architecture. A short walk brings you to the Redpath Museum, which was a highlight of the day. The Redpath Museum doesn’t charge admission, but they have a suggested donation. The collection on display is simply amazing. You can see dinosaur skeletons from Alberta, geologic precious stones, casts of archeological early hominid skeletons, Grecian urns, Egyptian mummies and so much more. You will find the suggested donation is a bargain.

We were pretty exhausted by our full day independent tour at this point. We stopped at Cafe Castel to restore a bit of energy. Then we took an Uber back to our hotel for a break before dinner.

La Grand Roue, Montreal

Time Out Market – Eaton Centre

For dinner we took an Uber to the Time Out Market at the Eaton Centre. I was getting pretty good at using Uber by now. The process is quite simple for suggesting pick up points and destinations. The fact that you can also see the arrival route of your Uber online allows you to easily adapt to change your position to the proper side of the road. All that, plus the set price and the easy tipping process after you quickly exit the vehicle makes Uber just amazing for tourists.

The Time Out Market was such a great venue for a meal. Imagine a high end mall food court. Music is playing with a DJ type bass sound track enhancing the mood. All the restaurants and bars are readily in view and there’s ample seating everywhere. Plus the food is wonderful. We opted for smash burgers from Chez Simon and fancy cookies from Espresso Tunnel. I felt like just hanging out in the eclectic atmosphere after dinner.

Leonard Cohen Night Mural

Leonard Cohen Mural at Night

After our enjoyable experience at Time Out Market, we walked to see the Leonard Cohen Mural that is illuminated at night on Crescent Street. This area has such a different vibe than downtown or old town Montreal. Crescent St is lined with quaint small homes and family type restaurants serving meals at seating on the boulevard. Walking through the locals enjoying their evening meal under the peaceful gaze of Leonard Cohen was very special. We easily and quickly caught an Uber back to our hotel to conclude our second very full day in Montreal.

Day 3 – Jean Talon Market & Our Lady of La Difesa

Our Day 3 started with a quick trip to Columbus Café & Co. Since there were no metro strike closures on this Sunday, we headed to Square Victoria for the #2 Orange Line. We bought day passes and rode the metro to the Jean Talon Station. We then walked a short distance to the Jean Talon Market and watched the vendors set up for the day. Next we walked a couple blocks to Our Lady of La Difesa for the 9:30 service in Italian. Unfortunately we were misinformed by the internet. The service was at 8:30 or 11:00 so we decided to come back for the service at 11.

Fairmont Bagel

In the interim, we took an Uber to Fairmont Bagel and then wandered past Fire Station 30 and the Saint-Enfant-Jesus Church. We also went to see the Michael Douglas mural, but we experienced a common issue with the myriad of murals along St Laurent Blvd area – this one was painted over with a brown base awaiting the creation of a new replacement mural. So we took an Uber back to Our Lady of La Difesa and enjoyed a lovely Italian service. We were surprised by how much singing there is in an Italian church.

Day 3 – Mural Day

After our Italian church service, we took the metro to the Sherbrooke Station where we checked out the architecture at Square-Saint-Louis. Then we walked to meet with relatives near Schwartz’s Deli. This location is the perfect starting point to begin a self guided search for murals along St Laurent Blvd. We skipped the long line up at Schwartz’s Deli and had a great meal at a Portuguese vegan restaurant with our relatives. After lunch, two of us began the mural hunt in earnest.

Square Saint-Louis

From Swartz’s Deli it only takes a few seconds to find several murals. Jackie Robinson is on the side of the building beside the deli and a few steps past that brings you to a Leonard Cohen mural on Napoleon St, which is different from the illuminated larger version on Crescent St. Another very few steps along Saint Dominique St led to a large black and white Siberian Tiger mural. For the next several blocks southbound on St Laurent Blvd we found lots of murals.

My favorites were the Graffiti Granny and the Roy Dupuis mural visible from the Parking Lot murals location off St Laurent or also visible from Clark St. Unfortunately we didn’t find Pichiavo’s Diana/Artemis. I’m not sure if it was painted over or we missed it. The bottom line is that you need to join a mural tour if you want to see the best of the ever changing mural content in Montreal.

Day 3 Chinatown

Our third full day of touring Montreal was not over yet. Now we caught the M2 Orange Line from Sherbrooke station to Champ-de-Mars station, which provides easy access to Chinatown. We walked along the heavily touristed section of Rue de la Gauchetiere in the heart of Chinatown, plus the short side trips to all four Chinatown Gates and the Chinatown Mural at the Northwest-Gate. Along the way, we stopped to see the relief mural and the historic building at Place Sun-Yat-Sen, plus the large relief mural at the intersection with Rue Saint-Urbain.

We stopped to buy a somewhat famous dragon beard candy, which I found to be not only expensive but terrible. We also wandered through Patisserie Bao Bao Dim Sum to see the pastries made into cute figures like kittens, chicks, frogs and panda bears.

After yet another full day, we were exhausted and couldn’t find the energy to return to the Time Out Market, So, we settled on a revisit to Slice & Soda for pizza slices to finish the day.

Sora 45 Coffee

Sora 45

For our final half day in Montreal, we started with a walk to Place Ville-Marie followed by a search for the illusive location of Sora 45 Cafe. Sora 45 is a restaurant at night, but during the day they use it as a stunning coffee shop. You can’t get to Sora 45 from the main bank of elevators at Place Ville-Marie. Instead you need to find a separate bank of elevators on the René-Lévesque Blvd side of the building. You can’t take just any elevator there though, as the elevators only stop at floors requested by using a large monitor board. Next you must hit PH2 and follow the monitor indication of your assigned elevator number. When you arrive at PH2, which is presumably Penthouse 2, you must then go through a revolving door where you will find elevators that will take you the last short ride to the 45th floor for Sora 45.

All the seats at Sora 45 are set facing the windows and provide expansive views over the city from 3 complete sides of the 45th floor. I’m not quite sure how this café stays in business as there were only three customers there when we arrived about 9 AM. They offer espresso drinks which were good and pastry that was probably day-old. Still, we thought this location was fabulous and well worth the adventure of trying to find it too.

A Visit to St Patrick’s and Good-bye to Montreal

After morning coffee at Sora 45 we took a short stroll to St Patrick’s Basilica. What a pleasant surprise this church turned to be! This was our favorite church in Montreal and it was nothing like the commercialism we’d experienced at Notre-Dame. The gigantic stone fortress appearance from the outside of St Patrick’s contrasts completely with the beauty of its interior. The interior design is impeccable and the stained glass was immaculate. We were the only people in the church, so the solitude heightened the experience. Plus St Patrick’s has figured out the modern way for visitors to simply tap a credit card to donate. We were happy to be able to easily donate to such a lovely experience.

Complexe Desjardins

From St Patrick’s we wandered a bit through the downtown on the pedestrian only section of Saint-Catherine St. We walked through Place des Artes and the Esplanade Tranquille. We entered the Reso underground to visit Complexe Desjardins and the Opera. To finish our visit to Montreal we walked past the Lipstick Forest to the Place d’Armes station and returned to our hotel for check out. Then we picked up our rental car from Alamo near the Bonaventure Metro Station and headed out to Ottawa.