MONTRÉAL , Canada's second-largest city, is
geographically as close to the European coast as to Vancouver, and
in look and feel it combines some of the finest aspects of the two
continents. Its North American skyline of glass and concrete rises
above churches and monuments in a melange of European styles as
varied as Montréal's social mix. This is also the second-largest
French-speaking metropolis after Paris, but only two-thirds of the
city's three and a half million people are of French extraction,
the other third being a cosmopolitan mishmash of les autres
- including British, Eastern Europeans, Chinese, Italians, Greeks,
Jews, South Americans and West Indians. The result is a truly
multidimensional city, with a global variety of eateries, bars and
clubs, matched by a calendar of festivals that makes this the most
vibrant place in Canada.
Montréal has always played a major role in advancing Québec
separatism , as it's here that the two main linguistic
groups come into greatest contact with one another. The tension
between English and French culminated in the terrorist campaign
that the Front de Libération du Québec focused on the city in the
late 1960s, and the consequent political changes affected Montréal
more than anywhere else in the province. In the wake of the
"francization" of Québec, English-Canadians hit Hwy 401 in droves,
tipping the nation's economic supremacy from Montréal to Toronto.
Though written off by Canada's English-speaking majority, the city
did not sink into oblivion. Instead, the city has undergone a
resurgence, becoming the driving force behind the high-tech
industry that's transforming Canada's economy.
Everywhere you look there are the signs of civic pride and
prosperity. In the historic quarter of Vieux-Montréal , on
the banks of the St Lawrence River, the streets and squares are
flanked by well-tended buildings, from the mammoth Basilique de
Notre-Dame and steepled Chapelle de
Notre-Dame-de-Bonsecours , to sleek and stately commercial
buildings. Old houses have been converted into lively restaurants
and shops, abandoned warehouses into condos and the disused
Vieux-Port into a summer playground with landscaped
parklands facing onto the St Lawrence. Beneath the forested rise of
Mont Royal, downtown 's boulevards and leafy squares are
alive from the morning rush hour right through to the wee hours,
when revellers return from the clubs that pulsate along rue
Ste-Catherine and the more intimate bars and lounges of the
Plateau and Quartier Latin . Below ground, the
walkways of the Underground City and the outstanding
Métro system link the nodal points of the city, while
towards the eastern outskirts, the Stade Olympique 's
leaning tower overshadows the vast Jardin Botanique , second
in international status only to London's Kew Gardens.
In addition, the city boasts some excellent museums. The
Centre Canadien d'Architecture has one of the continent's
most impressive specialist collections, the Musée d'Art
Contemporain is Canada's only museum devoted entirely to
contemporary art, and the Musée des Beaux Arts is the oldest
fine-arts museum in the country. Equally fine are the museums
devoted to Montréal and Canadian history; of these, the Musée
McCord has a mint collection of native artefacts, while the
Musée d'Archéologie et d'Histoire de Montréal delivers a
state-of-the-art presentation of archeological findings at the site
of Montréal's founding in 1642.
Beyond the city limits, Montréalers are blessed with superb
holiday regions, most within an hour or two of the metropolis. To
the west, the forested region of the Outaouais makes for
great outdoor activities, while to the north the fertile banks of
the St Lawrence and the lake-sprinkled mountains of the
Laurentians offer a reprieve from muggy summer temperatures
and an escape from the winter blues. To the east, the charm of the
Cantons-de-l'Est (Eastern Townships) lies in the acres of
farmlands, orchards, maple woods and lakeshore hamlets popular
among antique collectors. En route to Québec City, the
Mauricie valley, the province's smallest national park, has
a web of waterways and lakes amidst a landscape of mountainous
forest.