Up bright and early for the journey up the Saint Lawrence. The Autoroute between Montreal and Quebec City is kind of a joke: narrow lanes, no shoulders, terrible pavement, and bumper to bumper traffic. Once across the Pierre Laporte Bridge just west of Quebec, we circled the city to the north and were soon back on the river, but this time on the north bank. The river seems enormous at Quebec…but we hadn’t seen anything yet. The first 40 minutes north of the city are on a road as busy and as ugly as Route 1 in New Jersey. But the traffic virtually disappeared as we passed Ste. Anne de Beaupré (and its bizarrely huge church) and the road turned inland and began climbing and descending through mountain passes (the highest at a bit over 3000 feet) and gorgeous scenery. As the road turned back toward the river the view north up river opened up and we all gasped: the Saint Lawrence is virtually an inland sea by this point. At La Malbaie, our destination, the river is about ten miles across, and it is salt water. One of the activities, far from the ocean, is whale watching!
La Malbaie (Murray Bay) has been a leisure destination since the late nineteenth century. There is apparently splendid hiking and paddling in the mountains, and both alpine and Nordic skiing in the winter. And it is hard to imagine a more beautiful landscape.
The Fairmount Manoir Richelieu is a typical mega resort from around 1900: four hundred rooms, multiple restaurants, etc. But the setting is spectacular. On a cliff above the river, the hotel is flanked by several terraces descending toward the water, with bars and restaurants on each.
Across the river is the Gaspé peninsula, visible here.
Don’t know why the twins were particularly somber here.
Our room was fine, perfectly comfortable, but nothing special. You pay for the location and the scenery…and pay, and pay, and pay.
We had a very good dinner in town at an auberge called Chez Truchon. I had more foie gras and venison, Sue smoked mackerel and a tenderloin. All washed down with a surprisingly affordable 2016 St. Emilion Grand Cru.
We had been eating late, and we were all ready to hit the hay when we stood up from the table close to 11!