Tired of the same old guidebooks telling you what to do and where to go? This alphabetical city guide looks at Montreal — and tourism — from a whole new angle, letting readers browse the city at their own pace. Learn about local favorites, tourist attractions, and cultural oddities through the eyes of a long-time resident, and enjoy unique trivia you just won’t get from the other guys!
Whether you’re a first-time visitor or a life-long resident, Montreal from A to Z will surprise and delight you with plenty of facts, figures and personal experiences from author Laura Roberts. Explore the French concept of “joie de vivre” as you tour the Paris of North America, starting at Atwater Market and ending with French phrases that begin with the letter Z.
Inside you’ll find plenty of pages packed with commentary on Montreal landmarks, eateries, bars, museums, bookstores, neighborhoods, cultural oddities and much more.
A must-have for the discerning traveler or seasoned flâneur.
Genre: TRAVEL / GeneralA is for Atwater Market
The Atwater Market is one of the first places that I fell in love with during my first visit to Montreal, back in 2001. When the weather is warm, the market is full of vendors from local farms selling all kinds of produce, flowers and plants. You’ll find pumpkins and gourds around Halloween, fiddleheads in the spring, tomatoes and corn in the summer. It’s amazingly colorful, bustling with activity, and generally a much better place to buy all your fresh fruit and vegetables than the dreary grocery stores nearby.
Though Atwater is actually the smaller of Montreal’s two best-known outdoor markets (Jean-Talon being the other, larger destination that tends to attract both resident and visiting foodies), it also has an Art Deco–style enclosed market area for charcuterie (meat and cheese), baked goods, pâtisseries and sweets, coffee, canned grocery items, fresh fish, wine, and a pet shop.
At the far end of the market is Première Moisson, a boulangerie (bakery) that serves amazing chocolatines – croissants with chocolate inside – and lattés. If you go there on the weekend, you’ll find it absolutely packed with people trying to order French pastries and coffee. Being Canadian, they use a ticket system instead of forcing everyone to try to line up. Of course, being francophones, they prefer to serve primarily in French. So pay attention and listen for “Numero huit!” instead of “Number eight!” and brush up on your French numerals before you go. (I still use a silly joke my high school French teacher told us to remember numbers one through five: “Three cats went out paddling in a canoe. What happened? Un deux trois quatre [cat] cinq [sank].”)
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French
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Already translated.
Translated by Perrine Mertens
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Italian
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Already translated.
Translated by Debora Serrentino
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Author review: Great translation, quick work, would definitely work with this translator again. |
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Portuguese
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Already translated.
Translated by Patrícia Fischer
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Spanish
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Already translated.
Translated by Micaela Tenaguillo
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Author review: Great, quick work, and a pleasure to work with this translator. |
