Quebec City, Inside and Out

In Canada's Elegant Urban Retreat, You're Never Far From a Rural Getaway

Fortified walls surround Quebec City's old quarter and offer a panoramic view of the World Heritage site, one of three in North America. (Luc-Antoine Couturier)

My day within the walled city of Quebec began in a genteel, sophisticated manner: poking into antiques shops during a walk along cobblestone streets, touring an art museum, eating lunch in a little French bistro.

But by afternoon we were screaming through a forest, being splashed with mud as teams of Siberian huskies with wolf blood pulled us on a hip-displacing, one-of-a-kind "dog buggy" ride.

That evening, after scraping the mud from our shoes and spiffing up, we strolled the Grande Allee, a broad boulevard lined with fine restaurants and busy sidewalk cafes.

The best of both worlds converge here. Founded nearly 400 years ago along the banks and cliffs of the St. Lawrence River, Quebec City is one of only three cities in North America to win UNESCO's designation as a World Heritage treasure.

Yet jump in a car or a bus, and within 15 minutes you'll find yourself in charming little villages with church spires poking above the trees, riding past red barns surrounded by pastures and fields that stretch from the road to the river. Just outside city limits, you can walk across a bridge above a waterfall that's higher than Niagara Falls, or tour a winery, or go rock climbing, or pick your own fruit in an orchard, or watch the buffalo roam. Or, if you're feeling the least bit adventurous, you can discover what sled dogs do for recreation in the off season.

Urban sprawl has managed to remove most American cities far from the source of their food and from nature. Canadian cities in general have done a better job of managing that growth, but Quebec City specifically is the model for an enviable lifestyle that allows the best of urban and rural cultures to coexist in close proximity.

I love the city's old quarter and the simple elegance of its two- and three-story buildings, some of them survivors from the 1600s. Their grace is punctuated simply by the two towering, majestic buildings in and just outside the old-quarter walls -- the Parliament building and the Chateau Frontenac. I love the city's boardwalk promenade, with its views of the St. Lawrence and islands in the distance. But I'm equally enamored of the charm of its nearby villages and farms.

If you live in North America, there are three cities you must not miss visiting, in my opinion: New York, San Francisco and Quebec City. Things are only expected to get better as Quebec City leaders launch major improvements as part the 400th anniversary of the city's founding on July 3, 1608. The city is in the midst of refurbishing a promenade along the St. Lawrence, is constructing a bike path along the St. Charles River and is building a new city park.

The anniversary organizing committee has been working since 2000 to plan world-class shows, concerts and other special events, like an outdoor multimedia show on a screen that is a third of a mile long -- a world record. Special anniversary events begin Dec. 31, 2007, and continue for about 10 months.

If hoopla isn't your thing, you should go now.

Another France, Sort of

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Just before you enter Vieux Quebec -- the old city within granite and limestone walls that on average are 40 feet high and seven feet thick -- be sure to watch for the Parliament building. With luck or a little planning during the summer months, you'll see the changing of the guard, a la London's Buckingham Palace. But it's about the only thing you'll see that gives any hint of the fact that the British beat the French for control of Quebec in 1759.

Oh, there's an English garden here and there, and a rather impressive Norman-style Anglican church, but overall, Quebec City is the domain of Francophiles. If you were brought here blindfolded after a long, mysterious plane ride, you would no doubt guess you were in France. And yet something wouldn't seem quite right. Because in a way that is impossible to identify or describe, French Canadians have put their own stamp on the architecture, art and culture they brought with them from the home country. The city feels exactly like what it is: French Canadian.