- Home
- About
- Map
- Trips
- Bringing Boat West
- Migration West
- Solo Motorcycle Ride
- Final Family XC Trip
- Colorado Rockies
- Graduates' XC Trip
- Yosemite & Nevada
- Colorado & Utah
- Best of Utah
- Southern Loop
- Pacific Northwest
- Northern Loop
- Los Angeles to NYC
- East Coast Trips
- 1 Week in Quebec
- Southeast Coast
- NH Backpacking
- Martha's Vineyard
- Canadian Maritimes
- Ocracoke Island
- Edisto Island
- First Landing '02
- Hunting Island '02
- Stowe in Winter
- Hunting Island '01
- Lake Placid
- Chesapeake
- Provincetown
- Hunting Island '00
- Acadia in Winter
- Boston Suburbs
- Niagara Falls
- First Landing '99
- Cape Hatteras
- West Coast Trips
- Colorado River Rafting
- Bishop & Death Valley
- Kauai
- Yosemite Fall
- Utah Off-Road
- Lost Coast
- Yosemite Valley
- Arizona and New Mexico
- Pescadero & Capitola
- Bishop & Death Valley
- San Diego, Anza Borrego, Joshua Tree
- Carmel
- Death Valley in Fall
- Yosemite in the Fall
- Pacific Northwest
- Utah Off-Roading
- Southern CA Deserts
- Yosemite & Covid
- Lake Powell Covid
- Eastern Sierra & Covid
- Bishop & Death Valley
- Central & SE Oregon
- Mojave Road
- Eastern Sierra
- Trinity Alps
- Tuolumne Meadows
- Lake Powell Boating
- Eastern Sierra
- Yosemite Winter
- Hawaii
- 4WD Eastern Sierra
- 4WD Death Valley +
- Southern CA Deserts
- Christmas in Tahoe
- Yosemite & Pinnacles
- Totality
- Yosemite & Sierra
- Yosemite Christmas
- Yosemite, San Diego
- Yosemite & North CA
- Seattle to Sierra
- Southwest Deserts
- Yosemite & Sierra
- Pacific Northwest
- Yosemite & South CA
- Pacific Northwest
- Northern California
- Southern Alaska
- Vancouver Island
- International Trips
- Index
- Tips
- Books
- Photos/Videos
- Search
- Contact
Baie St. Paul, QB
Thursday, August 19, 2010 - 7:00am by Lolo
76 miles and 2 hours from our last stop
Travelogue
We had reached that difficult to describe point in every vacation, where we were no longer driving towards unknown destinations and adventures, but had turned the motorhome homeward. There is always a different feel to a vacation after it has reached its halfway point. I don’t know how or why, but there just is.
Our true destination for today was Mont-Sainte-Anne, but first, Herb had promised to let me wander around Baie St. Paul, which we had just whizzed through on our way north a few days ago. I do most of the trip planning, and I must admit that I do get a bit stubborn about missing something on my planned itinerary. I even had the restaurant to have lunch at picked out. Herb knew better than to cross me on this one.
Parking in town turned out to be not nearly as difficult as we originally thought it would be. The map in the information guide showed at least 4 parking lots. We squeezed into a spot in a large church lot right behind the main drag through town, the rue St-Jean-Baptiste. The parking here was free. We strolled along the street a bit before lunch, stopping in some of the galleries along the way. I can see how the many galleries and museums in town earned it the reputation of the “Soho” of Quebec.
We stopped for lunch at the Café des Artistes (25 rue St-Jean-Baptiste), a bistro in the hotel La Maison Otis, where we sat at a table in the outdoor patio behind the inn. Once again our waitress spoke absolutely no English, surprising for a town as touristy as this one. The specialty of the café was wafer-thin crusted pizzas and there were 15 different kinds to choose from. We all ordered different ones with the promise to share, which can sometimes get ugly when someone really likes the one they ordered. Herb and Tommy stuck with the sausage and pepperoni types while Andrew and I went for the veggy toppings. They were all delicious, and I think we all were glad to have made the stop in Baie St. Paul
Description
The Charlevoix region is the cultural and historic heart of the province of Quebec—an area of farms and charming villages as well as dramatic landscapes. Baie-Saint-Paul is the first of those charming villages that one encounters when driving north on Route 138. Before reaching the village, there is a Visitor Center, high atop a hill with wonderful views of the village and the river below. To get to the heart of town, turn off Route 138 onto the main street through the village, the rue Saint-Jean-Baptiste.
Baie-Saint-Paul is an eccentric town filled with art galleries and museums, sort of the “Soho” of Quebec. There are several galleries and small museums displaying the works of local painters and artisans. The Centre d’Art (4 rue Ambroise-Fafard) has a permanent exposition of 20 Charlevoix painters (admission is free), and the Centre d’Exposition (23 rueAmbroise-Fafard) has three floors of contemporary and modern art (admission at the time of this writing is $3 for adults and $2 for students). One can also visit the Laiterie Charlevoix-Economusee du Fromage, a cheese-making factory. There are dozens of interesting restaurants and cafés as well to stop for a pleasant meal or coffee and watch the people stroll by.
There is camping just 3 km away at Camping Le Genévrier (1175 boulevard Mgr-De Laval), an enormous family-oriented campground with over 400 sites. The campground has a small lake for swimming and 15 km of biking trails along the Rivière de la Mare.
- ‹ previous
- 6 of 11
- next ›
Baie St. Paul location map
Javascript is required to view this map.