The main feature, to my mind, is the geography. And that depends on the geology. And I haven’t been able to find a sensible and simple explanation. There appears to be a raised plateau a couple of km across and many km long with the St Laurence River along one side and lower ground on the inland side. And quite a steep slope, even on the inland side. It seems to be metamorphic rock – seems to be limestone and slate – and clearly quite hard to have resisted erosion and kept its shape. I’m conjecturing … but this geography was important in the history.
The first settlement in 1608 was down beside the river but soon the heights became important in the defence of their positions, and in lulling the French into a false sense of security when the British finally prevailed. Montcalm is reported to say “can they fly?”
In the late 1970s the City Fathers decided that tourism was the route to the revitalisation of Quebec and they’ve done a good job.
At the foot of the cliff, the early town:
The next day I went found some woods to walk in, albeit within sight and sound of the container port, just down from Battlefields National Park and the Plains of Abraham. Up there, a school group was preparing to reenact the British (General Wolfe) defeat of the French (Montcalm) in 1759. They practised marching and advancing to the beat of their drums. I didn’t wait to see the inevitable conclusion, but later discovered that as the British and French forces faced each other, they didn’t open fire until they were only 35m apart!
So then I took a town bus to Montmorency Falls. A lot of water coming over there! 83m high. The bus delivered me to the top. Couldn’t get to the bottom – the serious-looking steps were closed, as was the cable car on the opposite side. Back in June, General Wolfe was defeated on the heights near here but he got his revenge in September
travellingkathy 