MONTREALS TOP ATTRACTIONS
The Montreal Casino
Metro Jean-Drapeau and Bus 167 - or inquire at the Dorchester Square tourism counter or at your hotel for free bus services, or take a
taxi from downtown
The Casino de Montréal is a 24/7 extravaganza of gambling, food and drink. Built inside the pavilions of France and Quebec from Expo '67,
it's a multi-level experience of roaring, tinkling fun. Bring money.
The Underground City
Many people come to Montreal to shop in its wide range of international boutiques, and Canada's low dollar makes it especially attractive
for Americans to shop here.
The most famous aspect of shopping in Montreal is the Underground City. Constantly growing, the "city" - which links many major buildings
and multi-level shopping malls in the area - is a shopper's paradise in any season. One major section is reached via Peel and McGill metro
stations on the green line, and another via Bonaventure station on the orange line. East of McGill station is a growing axis from Place-des-
Arts metro down through Complexe Desjardins and beyond.
Safe and sheltered from the elements, the Underground City offers a huge range of goods and services as well as a handy way to get from
place to place without weather or traffic problems.
Place Ville-Marie sits above the original segment of the Underground City.
Notre-Dame Basilica
Metro Place d'Armes - Montreal's Notre-Dame Basilica has nothing in common with Paris's except the name. It's a neogothic building dating
from 1829, constructed on the site of a much older and smaller church which had been outgrown by its parishioners. Notre Dame is noted for
its lavish and beautiful interior - stained glass windows, paintings, statues, gold-tipped polychrome carvings, rich altarpiece. It also has
a notable Casavant organ and its largest bell, le Gros Bourdon, is the biggest on the continent.
Notre-Dame shares Place d'Armes with the Vieux Séminaire, dating from 1683, the elegant deco Aldred Building (1931), the red sandstone
New York Life building (1888) - Montreal's first skyscraper - the Bank of Montreal building, and the central monument to de Maisonneuve,
founder of the original settlement of Ville-Marie.
Notre-Dame is only one of many beautiful churches in the city.
Mount Royal
Bus 11 and walk. Or drive and walk. Or, walk up from the top of Peel Street.
The lookout on top of Mount Royal is an excellent goal for an urban walk. It's in Mount Royal Park, laid out long ago by Frederick Law
Olmsted, best known for landscaping New York's Central Park. From the beautifully appointed lookout terrace, downtown Montreal is at your
feet, with a view to the river and beyond to the Monteregian Hills. Sight lines to landmarks are marked. The chalet by the lookout is open
in the daytime with bathrooms and snack machines. There's no restaurant or café in the park but, in season, you can picnic - and don't
forget you're never more than a few minutes from downtown Montreal and its many restaurants.
The top of Mount Royal is divided between the park and two large cemeteries, the Catholic Notre-Dame-des-Neiges cemetery and the
nondenominational Mount Royal cemetery. Both can be interesting walks for those of gothic tastes and together they form a necropolis among
the largest in the world.
The Olympic Stadium
Metro Pie-IX - The Olympic Stadium was built for Montreal's 1976 Olympics and is still currently used by baseball's National League's Expos and for all
kinds of other shows throughout the year. An elevator ascends the world's tallest inclined tower to a lookout on top; tickets are for sale
at the base. The stadium is one of Montreal's most curious pieces of architecture and is accompanied by the Biodome (a building originally
used for cycle racing during the Games). Across Sherbrooke Street is the Botanical Garden (best in summertime, but with large greenhouses
worth a visit any time of year) and the Insectarium. Across Pie-IX is Château Dufresne, a grand mansion sometimes used for art exhibits.
|
