Little Lolly's Small Adventures: Québec City, Canada. Excursion: Ste-Anne Canyon & Winery.

Going past Montmorency Falls

Yesterday was a sea day and time to relax a bit. I was up early though, to help the Shore Excursions Department with collating tour brochure pages and putting them together. Karen (one of the singers) and another non-revenue passenger came to help as well. Eventually I found myself in the print room operating the stapling machine, stapling the collated brochure pages. I almost went into a trance-like state; being on my own and doing some mindless activity.

Basilica of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré

The Maasdam was a bit behind schedule when docking this morning because the pilot wanted to go slower than the slow speed restriction (there is a speed restriction on the St. Lawrence River due to whales). That also meant that tours left later as well. Fortunately it was all taken into account for the ship's departure in the afternoon which was at 5pm but it left at 6pm instead. Fortunately all the tours were back in time.

Outside it was beautiful sunny day and very warm (28°C) for a change since coming to the northern hemisphere. But I'm sure it won't last too long!

On going down to the cruise terminal I remembered one or two people who I had seen last year, more so a delightful elderly chap who ushered people to their busses. He gave me a big embrace with a cheerful "aahhh, my little Lorna!" Sweet.

The tour group I was with headed out along the coastline, past Montmorency Falls and Basilica of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré to Ste-Anne Canyon where we had time to wander around the area along tarred pathways alongside the river canyon and across the river. The waterfall was beautiful - more so because of snow melt in recent weeks. Apart from seeing the canyon, if visitors have time, they can do a Via Ferrata/rock-climbing tour or go zip lining for an extra fee. Unfortunately time was not on our side so I don't think anyone went on the zipline or Via Ferrata. There were people doing some rock climbing but my camera simply didn't want to focus; whether short or long distance. I switched the camera on and off a few times and eventually it started working again but the rock climbers were out of sight - sod's law!

Everyone was back on the bus well in time. So, with a bit of time on our hands before our next stop, we were treated to a bit of a scenic drive partly around Île d'Orléan to Ignoble Isle de Bacchus (vineyard). I say partly because there was no time to go around the entire island which was a pity because it is really beautiful there. We saw some beautiful houses and our guide, Lyn, pointed out some sugar shacks (where maple sap is made into maple syrup, maple butter or even sweets).

Grape press

Ignoble Isle de Bacchus, situated on the north side of Île d'Orléan, has a lovely view of the St. Lawrence River; the ship came up the river to Quebec on the south side of the island which is a bit deeper.

At Ignoble Isle de Bacchus we had a lovely tour of the vineyard, grape press, fermentation tanks, storage barrels, and bottling and labelling areas. During the tour the owner described the growing of grapes through to the production of the end product including ice wine (during winter frozen grapes are picked and juiced to make a sweet crispy wine). We tasted different wines (hiccup juice?! 😉) that the vineyard makes, including a late harvest wine. This wine is made by juicing the grapes for the ice wine a second time. By the second juicing the grapes have thawed more and the water content is higher, making the resultant wine a bit less sweet but still crispy. Guess what I came away with ....

View of Québec from the Maasdam's on board camera

On our way back to the pier we entered Quebec city via a different route so that we could see murals/graffiti on specific areas of a bridge underpass, and a bit more of the older city (but from a distance). By then it had started to rain a bit but it didn't matter - at least we were in the bus. There was also thunder and lightning. By the time we got to the pier the rain had stopped for a short while.