After a very full day walking around the city, my friend and I were looking forward to exploring the area outside of Quebec City on our second day. 

The morning took us to Montmorency Falls.  Just north of Quebec City, the falls are easily visible from the highway.  The drastic vista that comes upon you when you’re driving is breathtaking and humbling. The falls are tall and mighty. Standing at 272 feet tall, Montmorency falls are about 100 feet taller than the more famous Niagara falls.  

To visit the falls, you can either drive to the bottom or top as a starting point. Since we planned on completing a circuit around the falls, we parked at the top.  From there, we took the stairs down to the bottom of the falls.  There are 487 stairs in total, and I was impressed with the few people who chose to make their way up the stairs. 

Before heading to the ground level visitor center, we walked out to the viewing platform closest to the falls where we were within reach of the waterfall’s mist and could view the waterfall’s rainbow. 

From the visitor center we took the cable car up to the top of the falls. At the top is a beautiful historic home, which now serves as a hotel and restaurant. 

The paved footpath to the right leads to the suspension bridge to cross the top of the falls.  Before we made our way across the bridge, we took some time to watch the brave zipliners crossing the falls.  

When I think of suspension bridges, I think that there will be movement with each step, so I was happily surprised by how solid the bridge felt. Still, it was daunting to look over the edge to the roaring falls and the steep drop below. The sound of the rushing water and the view of Île d’Orléans in the distance added to the awesome experience. 

After the thrill of the falls, we made our way across the St. Lawrence river to the quiet island of Île d’Orléans.  The island is known for its farms and rural landscapes. There is one main road that circles the island (around 45 miles long), with only a few roads that bisect it.  

We chose to stay on the western side of the island. We drove to the northernmost point in the town of Saint-François for a climb up the observation tower. From here, you can see the bisecting farms inland and the mixing of the freshwater and saltwater parts of the St. Lawrence river on the coast. Supposedly you can see  the color differentiation of the two waters coming together, but it wasn’t something I noticed.

Saint-François also held my favorite stop of our day: Fromegerie Ferme Audet. The Fromegerie Ferme Audet specializes in goat cheese and soaps. Their dairy bar offers tastings of their hard and soft goat cheeses as well as their goat cheese ice cream.  While it was interesting to try their ice cream, the classic goat cheese was our favorite. They also offer a small menu of lunch items, so we picked up a salad, loaf of fresh bread and some cheese to have a very French lunch in their cute backyard, where we could say hello to some of the goats. Across the street is Confiserie de la Vieille École, which allows people to use their facilities for canning, so they offer an array of jams and pickles from across the island. 

Île d’Orléans is made up of six towns, and I was hoping that one or two of them would have downtown areas to park and walk around visiting shops and cafes; however, it wasn’t set up quite like that. There were a few places where we were able to park and visit two or three shops, but for the most part, we had to drive from place to place.  This is because most of the stops are farms and wineries that grow and make their own products on site. However, in the town of Sainte-Famille, we enjoyed spending some time behind the church in Ancestor’s Park. This would be a lovely place to bring a picnic to enjoy the views of the river and the gardens. 

Over the course of the day on the island, we stopped at two wineries, another cheese shop, a chocolate shop, and a cassis (currant) place.  

Chocolaterie de l’Île d’Orléans , located at the southern end of the island in the town of Saint-Petronille, was the busiest stop of our day. The small store has both a chocolate shop with a large selection of chocolates and an ice cream shop that also offers a few other food options.  We took our ice cream out to the Horatio Walker Promenade across the street to walk along the shore and check out some of the local houses. 

Cassis Monna & Filles in Saint-Pierre was another popular place, but because it’s situated on a large open field with chairs and tables, it didn’t feel as crowded as the chocolate shop. Currants were banned in the USA in 1911 because the government was worried about the spreading of a disease that was affecting the white pine trees. While the ban was lifted in 1966, currants have never really found their footing in the USA.  However, Cassis Monna & Filles showed us how currants can be used to create a range of products – from alcohol to jam, from mustard to chocolate. The store that is located under their restaurant offers samples of many of their products, while their bar serves up drinks featuring their different alcohol offerings to be enjoyed on site. 

Île d’Orléans s is also an artist haven, and we were lucky enough to visit one of the wineries (Domaine Sainte-Famille) during their annual artist showcase. Over 25 local artisans set up their tents amidst the trees to display their painting, photography, woodworking, needle point, etc. I ended up coming home with a lovely little painting; however, because English is not as widely spoken on the island, it took a little more work to make the purchase. Still, it was a nice challenge to bring back the French I remember from my high school days. 

If we had more time, I would’ve loved to check out the other side of the island and maybe go fruit picking, but we had a lovely day as it was.