Thursday, August 21, 2014

Back to my roots....Quebec & L'ile D'Orleans

Here I (well, we) go, to Quebec again!  This time, we are staying at a hostel, the Auberge Internationale de Quebec, which is on 19, rue Ste.-Ursule, right smack in the middle of Old Quebec!  For about $75 a night, my husband and I got a private room/shared bath, and it also included a continental breakfast in the morning.

www.aubergeinternationaledequebec.com

check it out!  (I'll have pictures of it later.)
This awesome view was take at a rest stop on the Old Canada Road Scenic Byway, along US Route 201, which is the way that you get to Quebec from the Portland area.  

Arriving at the hostel.







Looking across the St. Lawrence to Levis

Quebec is so beautiful in the summer,, so many colorful gardens everywhere

Make sure to check out the art work near the Chateau (which you cannot miss!)

ominous clouds rolling in

The Chateau!  See?!

I like this picture that I took shortly after the rainstorm!

There are numerous trails/walkways along on the Plains of Abraham, we did the Nature trail


Lots and lots of stairs to climb as we make our way up along the walled city.  The wall surrounds most of Old Quebec, which was declared a World Heritage site by UNESCO in 1985.


The nature trail


and the beautiful gardens on the Plains of Abraham by the Concorde Hotel





I'd made reservations at iX Bistro which is outside of Old Quebec in some sort of industrial setting....which you would not expect for a restaurant rated as Quebec's #1 on Trip Advisor.....but don't let that deter you.  There are only about 20 seats in the place, and they just do one seating per evening, you are guaranteed the best service and exquisite food from the restaurant's 2 person staff, the chef and the host/waiter.  They certainly know what they are doing!








This is our room in the hostel; it was very clean and had the bare essentials; we did get a nice view of the courtyard from the one window!

There are plenty of public spaces in the hostel, all very well kept



Breakfast at the hostel....self-service for the most part but loads of fresh fruit, hard boiled eggs, cereals, coffee, breads, etc...

Sorry, this was my app at the restaurant...I have to be honest though and say that I was not very impressed with this particular dish (it's a scallop!, can't you tell?! sliced ever so thin, that you cannot even recognize it!)

We had made last minute reservations and were happy to ge the two seats at the bar which overlooked the kitchen!  



The next morning we went on a 20 mile bike ride along the Saint Lawrence River over to the Old Quebec Bridge which we crossed.  We then arrived in Levis and rode back, taking the Ferry Boat back to Quebec!  It's beautiful all along the way, quite flat, and with the exception of the bridge crossing, quite easy to do with children.





This is the old Quebec Bridge that we will ride our bikes across (no bikes allowed on the new bridge!)

this was the view from our room at the hostel (through the screen) and the picture below is of another public space in the hostel


The hostel from the outside


Artwork along the way, check it out!













Cool house!

Lots of quaint homes like this one in Levis



a picture of us before we cross the bridge


As you can see, quite narrow...we had to stop as we encountered bicyclists/pedestrians who were coming int he opposite direction




Exiting the Ferry Boat from Levis

The view from the Ferry Boat as we aer approaching Quebec City...it's only a 15 minute ride across