From my many years traveling the world, I've learned that the key to a good road trip is not only making stops to refresh and refuel,
but also to discover unique experiences.
On my previous podcast episode we began a road trip from Montreal to Quebec City,
traveling along the Chemin du Roy or the King’s Road.
As we drive along this historic route, I've decided to venture off the beaten path to take a historic walking tour.
It's the perfect strolling city. Taste local delicacies. Always a pizza and always a poutine.
Toast to sustainability. Sante! Sante!
And see the changing leaves from above in a seaplane.
It's amazing. Only in Quebec.
Join us as we uncover Quebec's fascinating history, culture, nature and great food with passionate local experts guiding the way.
It's the Travels with Darley podcast, where we bring you along for our exciting adventures on the road.
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We're continuing our road trip along the Kings Road, stopping in a city of great importance to the history of Quebec,
Trois-Rivieres.
Founded in 1634, it was the second permanent French settlement after Quebec City,
and prior to that, it was a fur trading hub.
Local tour guide Jean-Philippe Marcotte, who grew up here, leads me on a walking tour.
So very pedestrian friendly around here.
Oh, it's the perfect strolling city.
Trois-Rivieres is known for its history, picturesque scenery and European charm.
All the circle landmark are pretty much ten, 15 minutes away from one another.
So park your car, don't touch it for the rest of the weekend Perfect.
and you'll be good.
Trois-Rivieres is three rivers.
Yes. We have the St. Lawrence.
Oh. That’s a typical English speaking mistake
because in French, the St. Lawrence is not a river, okay.
In French, the St. Lawrence is a fleuve. A fleuve.
A fleuve. What is a fleuve? It’s a river that goes to the ocean. Okay.
But the three rivers of three rivers are the Saint-Maurice, the Saint-Maurice and the Saint-Maurice.
One river is three?
Almost.
The river, Saint-Maurice, arriving to the St. Lawrence ends in the delta.
You have island at the end giving you the impression it's three different rivers,
but it's actually all the same.
Interesting. So many fun facts we’re learning this morning.
And the stairs is pretty much the best way to gather fun facts.
Jean-Philippe points to a grand staircase engraved with significant dates and milestone events
in the development of the city.
History lovers are sure to enjoy tracing this interactive timeline with each step.
They built the town on top of the stairs and that's how Trois-Rivieres was officially established.
Because yeah, before that there's really a lot of activity already going on.
The Abenaki on the South shore, the Atikamekw back to the North, it was hunting ground for the Anishinaabe.
All of them together would come here even before the French arrived to the area.
So it only made sense for the French to establish a city here as a trading post.
So where we're standing up here, this would have been where the fort was located.
Yeah. You would have the fort that would have been built right here.
And just behind you would have the palisade where you would have all the houses.
After that you would have everybody's house inside the fortification.
The area where the fort once stood is now a public space decorated with commemorative plaques,
trees, flowers, and benches, where visitors can learn the history behind this landmark area.
And one park in the middle was where the native would come and tent when they were coming to,
to trade their pelt. And even today that portion of ground that was dedicated to them is still a park.
So there's no building that has ever been on that parcel of land.
We stroll down a picturesque street lined with quaint, French Canadian architecture.
In the distance, my eyes are drawn to a collection of stunning white and gray buildings
with grand domes.
You have the Anglican’s church to the right. The two old church and the
Ursuline Monastery in the back.
So beautiful. The architecture is really nice.
So yeah, The Ursuline, they arrived in 1697.
Obviously, the building was not that big from the start.
If you go from the chapel, count five windows,
that was the size of the monastery
and then they expand throughout the years.
So the Ursulines came over here from France?
Yeah, from France to Quebec City and from Quebec City
they spread out throughout the province of Quebec.
Such a beautiful building.
And I see it says on here foundation 1697, restoration 1897.
Yeah. They had a few fires over the years.
1897 was the 200 years anniversary of the monastery.
So they have expand the chapel going up top,
that's when they build the dome.
This part of town is really neat.
It's great that you can walk so easily from where we were staying,
where there's the restaurants and the shops
up to this old part of the city and really step back in time.
If you're wondering what to eat when you visit Trois-Rivieres,
pizza is a big thing in Trois-Rivieres.
Always a. Pizza?
Yeah. Greek style pizza. The crust really thick.
A lot of garnish and meat.
When I was a kid, every Friday it was pizza and poutine.
Ooh, that's very decadent.
Jean-Philippe takes me to have a local Friday night meal at a place that's been serving pizza since the 1960s.
Ooh, look at that steam.
Look at that pizza.
And the poutine as well.
This is what you would eat on a Friday night.
On a Friday night. It was typical meal in the family.
Always a pizza and always a poutine.
Three simple ingredients, fries, gravy and cheese curd.
Mm. Mm-hmm. Something about that squeaky cheese mixed with the savory gravy
and the well saturated french fry.
Well, I like your traditions here.
The history is interesting,
the food is very tasty, and I feel like a local on your tour.
Oh, good.
That was pretty much the idea today.
We may be in the city, but nature still inspires what's served in Trois-Rivieres.
At Distillerie Mariana, located in a building that’s over a hundred years old,
Matthew Sigouin introduces me to gin
made with local products.
All the imaging that you see on our bottles that we have, with leaves, forest, trees.
So very much inspired by Quebec, the land, the nature.
With all the ingredients, all the different types of cereal or grains that we use to make the products
or the gin are our local products.
And you have located this distillery in a building that has some history.
This building right here is 100 years old.
In 1904, 1905, two brothers opened a business up here.
And instead of taking down the building, it goes with the story of the forest,
for recycling of a building instead of taking it down and rebuilding.
The first product which was created by Mariana was the Canopee gin.
Canopee, which was your original forest themed gin.
Yeah.
In French, say Sante!
Sante.
Ooh, I feel like I'm in a forest drinking gin.
But you really taste the spruce.
The sprue, yes.
In French, it's called the epinette, but it's the black spruce that we use to make Canopee.
We're flying in a seaplane over La Mauricie National Park.
This is my first time in a seaplane and I'm gonna be your co-pilot, right?
Yeah, so.
Okay.
We’re seeing the changing leaves from above with pilot Fabrice Bedu of Hydravion Aventure,
Ready to go?
I'm ready.
[Speaks in French]
a company which works to be sustainable in their approach to travel and gives visitors an
appreciation for the vast beauty of Quebec's nature.
I hop into the seaplane, ready to explore Quebec's breathtaking nature from a new perspective.
So today we are going to the north.
We are going over the National Park of Mauricie, which is very nice.
And we're gonna make a loop inside the national park.
You will see it’s huge, and you have so much lake everywhere, water everywhere.
So for the seaplane it’s the best place in the world.
You can land everywhere and it's very nice.
Looking out of the window, I'm captivated by the sparkling blue water,
vibrant fall foliage and magnificent white birds soaring through the sky.
We have the big St. Lawrence River with all the flat terrain and then we have the relief of
the Canadian Shield.
And the Canadian Shield, it’s all the rocky soil part of the Canadian territory.
And this is why there is so many lakes in that part.
So we have two different types of panorama,
it’s very nice.
Canada is the second biggest country in the world so it's amazing.
It's so big and with only 40 million inhabitants, so,
and all the inhabitants, they are on the south part of the country.
So as soon as you go to north, completely nature.
That's very nice.
Getting a bird's eye view really makes you appreciate the beauty of our planet.
Wow. What a way to see the changing leaves.
Yeah, it's the best way to see that.
It's a beautiful way to really understand how vast
and forested Quebec is, and the lakes.
Yeah. Everywhere.
More than 500,000 lakes. So it’s amazing.
Only in Quebec.
In this podcast, we've uncovered some of the most unforgettable stops along the King's Road.
From learning the history of Trois-Rivieres on a walking tour,
to trying local pizza with poutine, locally made gin,
and flying in a sea plane to see the changing leaves from above,
there's so much to discover in Quebec.
Listen to our previous podcast,
kicking off our road trip along the King's Road,
and check out other podcasts featuring Quebec, Montreal, and the Eastern Townships.
If you need more travel inspiration, check out our other podcast episodes featuring
road trips across the USA.
And if you enjoy this podcast, please subscribe,
and stay tuned for our next episode featuring our final stop along the King's Road
on this exciting season three of the Travels with Darley Podcast.
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