Mandy in the UNESCO-listed old city with the Old Quebec Funicular in the background.<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

Why I went to Quebec City<\/strong>
\nAs a European transplant in\u00a0North America, I was itching for a fix of the Old World. Quebec City, with its cobbled streets, centuries-old architecture and unmistakably\u00a0French flavour, fit the bill perfectly. And, as it’s just a couple of hours from my home in Montreal, it would make an easy weekend break destination for me and my visiting mum.<\/p>\n

My highlight of the trip<\/strong>
\nI\u2019ve got a soft spot for grand old hotels – the more venerable, the better. So the highlight of Quebec City for me was always going to be snooping around the castle-style Ch\u00e2teau Frontenac. Inspired by the charming ch\u00e2teaux of the Loire Valley, this fabulous hotel\u00a0is as exuberant\u00a0as they come with its crowd of oxidised copper turrets, towers and spires lording over the city from its loftiest point. We\u00a0didn\u2019t fork out for a luxury room at the landmark building, but we did take a tour, nosing around\u00a0the hallowed corridors where esteemed guests such as Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt (both of whom came here for the World War II Quebec Conferences), and Alfred Hitchcock (who filmed his 1953 thriller \u2018I Confess\u2019 here) had previously trodden.<\/p>\n

Though much\u00a0of the hotel interior has been given a\u00a0modern refit, classic heritage features – including hand-painted ceilings, wood panelling and fireplaces – ensure it still effectively summons the past.<\/p>\n

What else I love about Quebec City<\/strong>
\nWe took a bus to Quebec City, which travels along the Autoroute 20 highway. It\u2019s not the prettiest drive in the world: the surrounding landscape is, for the most part, flat and featureless. But on the fortuitously sunny day we set off,\u00a0the bus route\u00a0did have one redemptive feature; unobstructed views of some of the most sublime fall foliage I\u2019ve ever encountered. To me, the roadside scenes resembled an impressionist artwork, with loose brushstroke-like bursts of intense gold, rust, green and maple-leaf red fleeing by the window.<\/p>\n

In Quebec City itself, there were further leaf-watching opportunities with particularly fine views from the Terrasse Dufferin boardwalk, the cliff-side Promenade des Gouverneurs and the grassy Plains of Abraham (now a public park), where the British conquered the French during a pivotal 1759 battle.<\/p>\n