Learning History in Quebec City, Canada
When I travel with my children, I like to make sure there’s some educational element included – whether it’s learning about plants and animals, history, or culture. On our recent family trip to Québec City, my kids learned more about the history of Québec and Canada than I could have ever imagined.
We visited Québec City for three nights, and packed in many different activities. On our first full day, we had a city tour and learned all about the history of Québec – including the meaning of the word Québec (where the river narrows). It’s because of this unique geography that it became a desirable city for both the French and the English. Over the course of the next few days, we learned more about how this history made Québec evolve into the bilingual province we were visiting.
Our hotel, the Hotel Chateau Laurier, was located adjacent to National Battlefields Park (better know as the Plains of Abraham), and one of our favorite experiences was right at the park. We started with the interactive Odyssey Experience, a three-part movie and set of exhibits. During the movie, we learned about the battles that were fought at the park we were on, along with an overview of Canadian history all the way up to Nunavut’s separation from the Northwest Territories in 1999. Then, after the movie, we boarded the Abraham Bus, where “Abraham” took us on a guided bus tour of the Plains. The 45-minute tour was infused with interaction and humor, and my children absolutely loved it.
On another day, we took a guided tour of the St. Lawrence River on board the Louis-Jolliet, a sightseeing boat. Named after the Canadian explorer, our boat tour was led by a costumed “Louis Jolliet”, who taught us more about the importance of the river and the history of the city. It was nice to enjoy the hot July afternoon on the river, and our whole family learned quite a bit.
Québec City is a lovely place to visit, and the history and culture made our trip even more of a success.
If you go: Book a tour that also visits the Montmorency Falls, a beautiful waterfall that is higher than Niagara Falls. It’s about 10 minutes outside of Québec City.
Disclosure: Our stay and activities were comped for purposes of review. All opinions are my own.
This is a guest post by Jodi Grundig of Family Travel Magazine. Photo is courtesy of Jodi Grundig.