After a few days of rock climbing in Val-David, I spent one cloudy day in Montreal before returning home. It was not my first trip to Montreal, so this time I skipped Mount Royal and Notre-Dame Basilica, which I had already seen before.
First, my travel buddy and I stopped in Milton Park (AKA McGill Ghetto) to check into our Airbnb. This was a super convenient location – close to lots of bars and restaurants, easy walking distance to the Old Town, and a great price.
However, parking in this neighborhood turned out to be really difficult. We took a risk and parked on the street just long enough to check into our room, and we got a 78 $ ticket. Our host gave us great directions to find all of the free street parking, but we couldn’t find any open spots so we just parked in a garage. Luckily, the garage was very close and only 20 $ for 24 hours.
We immediately set off to see the Old Town, a beautiful historic neighborhood next to the St. Lawrence River. On the way, we stopped at a few shops in Chinatown, including this one really cool, colorful shop with hanging lanterns and hypnotizing music. We found some awesome magnets too!
We got to the Old Town and wandered past Vauquelin Square and the Notre-Dame Basilica. Then we continued toward the La Grande Roue, the giant ferris wheel next to the river. We were saving our money for drinks later though, so we didn’t go up. Instead, we walked to the Clock Tower and climbed up to the top for free.
We looked down from the top of the Clock Tower and noticed a beach, so that was our next stop. We sat in the beach chairs and watched the jetskiers go by while we planned what to do next.
We wanted to do some shopping, so we made our way back toward Downtown. On the way, we stopped inside Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel, but mass was in session, so pictures weren’t allowed. This chapel is also home to a museum and allows visitors to climb to the top of the spire for an entrance fee, but we chose to just see the inside of the chapel, which is free.
Next, we found our way into the underground city via the complexe desjardins. Most of the stores were already closed, which we thought was odd, but we did a little shopping at Winners, which was just like T.J. Maxx. We took a picture with some giant poutine, which made us hungry, so we left and looked for some dinner. We ended up finding SpiceBros and sharing an enormous amount of poutine with an Indian twist.
At this point we were ready to start enjoying some nightlife. We went to the Latin Quarter and wandered down St. Denis St. until we found a place we liked.
We picked Bistro a Jojo for the live music. It was still kind of empty at this point, but it was a great place to grab a beer and watch all the bachelor/bachelorette parties pass by. Then we visited the enchanting Place Émilie-Gamelin and joined the end of a free dance class. (We stopped by again later for more dancing!)
We continued bar hopping and found the Saint Houblon microbrewery. It seemed dead at first, but the host brought us through the bar to the back patio, which was gorgeous and lively. Our next stop, Le Sainte-Elizabeth, also had an amazing back courtyard – a must see in the neighborhood!
The rest of the night was a bit of a blur – a couple more bars, late night wandering, and crashing back at the Airbnb around 3am. My feet ached and I didn’t get nearly enough sleep, but I had a blast on my whirlwind of a visit to Montreal.
Boston and Beyond 