Montreal

Montreal is the largest Francophone city this side of the Atlantic Ocean. And if you’re on the east coast of the US, it’s the closest major city that speaks any foreign language. It’s amazing to me how isolated we in the US are from this vibrant metropolis. There are a lot more people going between Paris and London on a daily basis than there are between New York and Montreal. Of course, they’ve got a high speed train…

I spent a few days in Montreal in 2016 after a bike trip in the Laurentian Mountains, on the P’Tit Train du Nord rail-trail and it could be done before or after any of the Quebec bike tours I’ve posted on this blog.

If you go, tour historic Old Montreal by the waterfront, run or walk around Mont-Royal, take a day trip by bike to the southwest suburbs, visit the Jean Talon Market, go shopping for outdoor recreational equipment at Kanuk or Mountain Equipment Co-op (MEC) and don’t forget to eat plenty of good food from a rich variety of cultural backgrounds.