Silversea Sojourn

Finally, a decent longer term break to recount. This one aboard the Silversea Silver Wind, boarded at Reykjavik after a flight and two night break there, followed by a cruise around both the islands and mainland of Canada. Well, it should have been, but the first two ports were, quite understandably, never visited because of what some might describe as ‘interesting’ weather conditions.

The flight over to Iceland’s capital was fine and the hotel was lovely, albeit after a room change – not the room itself, which was fine, but the fact that it was simply too dark in there to see anything; couldn’t even make a cup of coffee, couldn’t see the machine! Been to Reykjavik before and the weather wasn’t as kind this time, but still lovely to revisit previous sites and enjoy the local cuisine and beer. Disappointing to find that the Icelandic Phallological Museum had received an exterior makeover, which meant that the ‘window dressing’ was less of a feature and therefore less of a statement than before. Still, people were friendly, and it was still as expensive as I remember. Followed by the swiftest ship embarkation we’ve ever encountered. Will probably never be bettered.

Silver Wind was the smallest ship we’ve ever been on (more of a super yacht) but the suite itself was very spacious. It was prior to the bathroom upgrades but, although tired, it still encompassed bath and shower and was perfectly fine. The ship itself was classy and, for those interested in such matters, I’d argue that whilst I rarely find fault with cruise ship service, Silversea has really pushed the level up a significant notch or two. Obviously, there’s a better staff to customer ratio and the “all inclusive” clearly added to the yacht style ambience, but service was uniformally excellent. Special mention to the La Dame restaurant, where even Mrs. NoName had cause to comment on the superb quality of the regionally inspired food and wine.

As for the itinerary, it was supposed to start with St. John’s, capital of Newfoundland and home to the wonderful pop-folk Great Big Sea. Sadly, we had to abort this visit, along with Saint Pierre and Miquelon, officially the Overseas Collectivity of Saint Pierre and Miquelon, a self-governing territorial overseas collectivity of France, situated in the northwestern Atlantic Ocean near the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It is the only part of New France that remains under French control. We couldn’t dock or even get close to either of them thanks to a pesky but rather severe hurricane that the ship’s captain had to pilot a course through for the best part of two days and nights. It didn’t help that there was a lesser wind issue to the West of us as well. It was dissappointing not to pay homage to GBS but perfectly understandable.

So, our first actual port of call was five days into the voyage when we docked at Corner Brook. A brief walk and what did we do – stopped off for a coffee! Given that there is a range of fine beverages (including good coffee) on the ship, this type of behaviour could probably stand some serious therapeutic intervention!! We did wander around what we perceived to be the town centre, including a stopover at the interesting Corner Brook Museum and Archives.  Housed in one of the (relatively) oldest buildings, it was built in 1925 and included the Court Room, Post Office, Customs and Telegraph office. This museum is home to a collection of natural, cultural and social histories and was woth a couple of hours of anyone’s time. We also called in on the complex ceremony of Canadian fish-kissing; a certain procedure that I think I’ll just leave hanging. 🙂

Our next port of call was Havre St. Pierre. It’s on Pointe-aux-Esquimaux on the Quebec North Shore (Côte-Nord). It began as a fishing and lumbering town when settlers arrived from the Magdalen Islands in the 19th century. The dialect spoken is more closely related to Acadian French than to Quebec French and is my excuse for failing to communicate efficiently with the local restaurant server (Quebec french, no problem obviously).

Lovely walk covering the circumference of the town, along with a coastline return. A Tim Hortons, a bowling alley, an interesting cemetery and the Rio Tinto train. What I hear you say. Ok then, it’s a railway that runs for 43 km (27 mi) from the port of Havre-Saint-Pierre on the north shore of the Saint Lawrence River inland to a massive ilmenite (titanium iron) deposit at Lac-Allard. At Havre-Saint-Pierre, the mineral is loaded aboard bulk carriers and shipped upriver to the port of Sorel-Tracy. COGEMA operates a train ferry that connect with the line.[1] QIT also operates passenger trains for workers, as the mine is not accessible by road. So, a different kind of destination, but fascinating.

Next up was Sept-Iles. Blessed with another lovely day and a trek along the coast, passing unusual sculptures, small marinas and native and more general museums. What was particularly striking here is that you had to walk a long way to get anywhere and there doesn’t seem to be any sense of a ‘town centre’ as we British understand it.

We must have walked for about three hours and it was very sparsely populated. Occasional lawyer or insurance offices, a museum with literally nothing else around it. Very odd to someone from Sheffield. But I guess this is the real Canada once you travel outside the major conurbations. Very pleasant to stroll around, but not even a Tim Hortons to call into for a coffee (that we found anyway). Scale is everything I guess.

Following a trip passing the statue over 100 years old dedicated to the Virgin Mary, we docked at Saguenay. The tall white figure overlooks the Saguenay River and Baie Éternité just west of the bay’s entrance on the river on Cap Éternité. From the river you wonder how the statue ever got erected but it’s actually walkable from the national park’s Discovery Centre. The town itself is very different to the previous stop offs. For a start it has a lovely old town, is gateway to the aforementioned national park and has a walkable and well signposted centre, full of historic charm and unusual curiosities. The cruise port is relatively new to the cruise business and had its first ship in 2006. By 2016, the port had scheduled a total of 38 ship calls and celebrated its 10th anniversary. In 2017, the port handled a total of 55 cruise ship calls, which was a record season so I’m going out on a limb and suggesting is was a success.

From here we moved on to Quebec, which we have obviously been to before. It was interesting to return quite a few years later and realise how much we remembered from previous visits. We did a lot more walking this time (and climbing), picking up on areas we’d missed or only done in passing. So, we visited the  Musée de la civilisation, where each of the fascinating, entertaining and educational exhibits and activities explores a different historical or contemporary topic. Even Mrs. No Name sang its praises. The old town retained the charm of the earlier visit and we even managed to find the same boutique where we had spent our Canadian dollars all those years before; it majored on silk scarves and we (well not me on this occasion) indulged again!

We indulged in a spot of lunch (and beer selection, see photograph), trekked around upper Quebec, including the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, the Quebec Seminary, the Cove Fields and the Louis. S. St. Laurent Heritage House, amongst many other highlights. The latter was particularly intriguing as we came upon it inadvertently and only then discovered that this relatively unassuming house was the home of Louis S. St. Laurent, Prime Minister of Canada from 1948 to 1957, who lived in it until his death in 1973. Probably said this before, but we feel that we have probably only scratched the surface of a very exciting but welcoming city, so much of which is navigable on foot. A longer visit is on the list, but hey, time is short.

The final destination and disembarkation port was Montreal. Leaving the ship was seamless, the limousine transfer surprising and the hotel (Hotel Place D’Armes) itself very welcoming. We had a two night stay and, frankly, although this is a long post, recounting all that we covered in this city is really beyond me. The highlights were, in no particular order

• the hop on hop off orientation tour and all associated ‘hotspots’
• the ‘Montreal Monet’ baristas
• the Leonard Cohen wall memorial,
• the university campus
• the Duc De Lorraine lunch break
• the walk to and around St. Joseph’s Oratory
• the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (for exploring First Nations and Inuit Cultures)
• the magnificent Barbie exhibition.  One of the best-loved dolls of all time now has her own permanent exhibition at Les Cours Mont-Royal in downtown Montréal; I’m so excited!!

  

• The scale and complexity of walkable downtown, including all the underground malls, so vast you could move from area to area without ever coming above ground. Started in 1962 with an underground shopping center under Montreal’s first modern skyscraper. When the Metro was built in 1966, in time for Expo ’67, more subterranean malls began appearing and tunnels adjoined the subway stations with important locations around the city including office buildings and hotels.

All this can hope to be is a snapshot. It goes without saying we would like to go back. A Quebec / Montreal trip would be a dream ticket. Will it happen? Who knows, would like to think so! Returning home Air Canada first class was a fitting way to finish a lovely holiday. A couple of minor port disappointments, but no blame attached; other than the vagaries of international weather, which overall did very little to spoil the proceedings.