Amazing Azamara – Day 6 – More of Quebec City

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Morning all! Happy Thursday! Thanks for following my Blog – I’m enjoying reading your comments. 👍😊. Welcome to our BIG Holiday of 2025! We’re with great mates, Ralph and Karen, taking in Canada, Greenland and Iceland.

Day 6 — Thursday, 7th August
More of Quebec City

Missed a Post?

Day 1 – Heading for Montreal
Day 2 – Montréal (1)
Day 3 – Montréal (2)
Day 4 – Joining the Azamara Quest
Day 5 – Québec City (1)

Quebec City

Quebec City is the capital city of the Canadian province of Quebec and sits on the St Lawrence River. Its population of just over 500,000 is mostly French-speaking. Today was our second visit to this fine City. We took the Big Red Bus yesterday, and today we’re taking a deeper dive into some of the locations we only saw briefly as we passed them at speed.

It’s a couple of degrees warmer than yesterday, so that’ll do nicely, thank-you! 😎🌞😎🌞

After an early breakfast, we trod the familiar route through the Cruise Terminal (Terminal 30) heading for the free Shuttle Bus. On arrival, just before 9am, unlike yesterday, the Bus was already waiting and we were soon cocooned in air-conditioned luxury for the 20-minute journey to the centre of the City

The Citadelle

We seemed to take the ‘scenic’ route there, but it was already a gorgeous day, and we enjoyed soaking up the sights!

We arrived just before 9.45 which was perfect timing for the changing of the Guard Ceremony later at 10am (complete with mascot – a gold-horned goat!) 😲

The Citadelle is an active military installation and the secondary official residence of the Governor General of Canada. It’s slightly unusual in that it allows people like us to wander about a working barracks. It cost us C$22 (£12) for the youngster in the group and C$20 (£11) for us old ‘uns.

First impressions? It felt VERY weird to see a soldier in a bearskin and a bright red tunic, answering to FRENCH commands in CANADA!

Judging by the numbers, clearly the whole world seemed to have turned up for today’s ceremony. Whilst we were inside waiting for it all to happen, it all felt a little chaotic with so many people around wondering where to best position themselves to see the 10am event. But, eventually, it all settled down and the pomp began!

Actually, once it got going, it was all very impressive. The marching, in most cases, was as good as you see back home whilst the Band played superbly. Surely though, the highlight was the Mascot! A proud beast of a goat with his extra shiny gold horns! (yes, really!) In fact, he was so popular, they announced the opportunity to ‘have your photograph taken with the army mascot afterwards’. Ahh, the price of fame, ehh?!?! 😉

By 10.30, it was all over, and what we’d seen today was impressive. Chaos briefly resumed as the young Guides attempted to herd the gazillion customers who’d turned out today. In a master stroke, they carved us up into five separate groups and staggered the beginning of the tours.

We were under the supervision of Royalle. And I do mean ‘supervision’! They began by reminding us that this was a working military establishment and we shouldn’t wander off. Within seconds, someone had, and within a few more, they took him to task! Eeek! 🫨

It soon became very clear that there was plenty of history here to be shared, and our Guide did their best to fill our heads with the ups and downs of the Citadelle through the years.

Given this is a living, breathing military establishment in 2025, there was a good mix of the old and the new on show with plenty of static exhibitions crammed in wherever there was room to remind us more recent activity involving the soldiers of the Royal 22nd Régiment of the Canadian Armed Forces.

As the Tour came to a close, it was good to hear about some of the traditions that have been maintained over the years, including the ‘noon day gun’. A cannon is fired from the Fort daily at noon as a time signal. It can clearly be heard throughout Quebec City (as we witnessed a short while later). Originally, we were told, three guns were fired each day, at noon to alert the soldiers that it was time to get up! (6am?) and for Quebec City residents for the lunch hour or noon-day prayer, and finally at 9:30 pm, marking the curfew for soldiers in the city. The tradition has mostly continued since 1871, but now only the noon-day gun sounds.

Finally, it shouldn’t be forgotten that the Fort’s primary role was to defend the City and our Guide explained how well the ‘firing lines’ for the cannons had been established to ensure they had got every angle covered (literally) – and with the firepower to match! There were certainly some big guns here and plenty of them!

As the Tour ended, we all felt it had been excellent value!

Parched!

Unfortunately, the Citadelle doesn’t have a sit-down Café (which was slightly surprising!) and we were parched. Ralph fired up Google Maps that pointed us back towards the centre of the City and we were soon tucking into coffee, cake – and something that resembled a cheese roll in ‘La Maison Smith‘.

We hit them at about lunchtime and they were very busy. Still, service with a smile always wins out and our thanks to a couple of locals who donated their table to us so we could all sit together, we were soon feeling ready for the next stage.

At that point, we split to do our own thing. Ralph and Karen wanted to see other parts of the City whilst we had the ‘Old City’ and ‘Place Royal on our list.

The Old City

A short walk later (and down quite a few stairs) we were now in the old part of the City.

To say it was busy would be a massive understatement – it was packed! Full of independent shops selling everything you might need to fill your suitcase – and more. And probably stuff you DIDN’T need too! 😉. Every shop seemed to be heaving. We were hoping to then locate Place Royale, a historic square in the centre of the City, but the heat got the better of us and we headed for the nearby Funicular (see below) to quickly get back to where the Shuttle Bus was picking up Azamara passengers.

The Funicular

The Funiculaire (French spelling) first powered into action on 17 November 1879. Since then, it has seen a few rebuilds as it heads for its 150th anniversary in 2029 – most recently in 2004. If you’re expecting a spacious and comfortable travelling experience, you’d be better off elsewhere – or get used to climbing steps instead! ☹️

It’s certainly the quickest way to the top, but travelling in a space not much bigger than a normal-sized lift upa weird angle wasn’t the most comfortable of experiences.

Luckily, it didn’t last long and only cost C$12 for 2 of us (around £7). Well, at least the staff seemed to be enjoying their job, but maybe because they only took cash and there were no receipts! 😯

We only had to wait about 10 minutes for the Bus, and by 2pm, we were back on the Azamara – and in need of a short snooze! 💤💤

Welcome back…

Prior to our meal, we headed The Den, where ‘Felicia on the Keys’ was tinkling her tribute to Billy Joel. It was a beautiful warm evening as we sailed out of Quebec.

Prime C

Somehow we’d survived on just breakfast and a snack today, so we were all looking forward to our visit to ‘Prime C’ tonight. This is a speciality Restaurant specialising in Steaks, where we’re told the cuts of meat are the size of a small county! Yikes! 😲

We’re going in!! 😉

What an excellent experience! Delicious food, beautifully presented with excellent customer service – what more can you ask for? 👍👏😋

Meet the Crew!

An opportunity to meet the senior Officers of the Azamara. It was a very informal and enjoyable event – and pretty unique in our experience of cruising! It gave a good warm feeling to all of us who were sailing with Azamara for the first time! 👍

Entertainment

Step forward, Scott Harris who for the next hour had us all in stitches with his observational-style comedy around subjects such as: nationality, culture, cruising – and pretty much everything in between. It was a great end to the day! 😂🤣😅😆😁

Tomorrow…

There are some possible technical challenges ahead as we enjoy some scenic cruising along the Saguenay Fjord and then, around 10am (3pm, UK time), we’re docking in Saguenay in Quebec. We’ve also got a Boat Trip to their National Park (prepare to drain wallets!) – it’s not cheap! 😯.

10.35pm: Night night! See you on the other side – eventually! 😯