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Quebec's 'Magical' Light: Legendary Beauty of Charlevoix Region Long Celebrated by Artists and Writers By
George Medovoy, Editor LA MALBAIE, QUEBEC -- When French explorer Samuel de Champlain sailed down the St. Lawrence River on his way to founding Quebec City in 1608, he stopped overnight in a small bay 61 miles northeast of his final destination. When the tide dropped that night and grounded his ship, he complained bitterly: "Oh, the bad bay." The name stuck, and today the charming little bay in Quebec's Charlevoix region still carries Champlain's French description -- "La Malbaie" - but it's definitely not "mal," or bad, at all. If anything, the bay is emblematic of the incredible beauty of Charlevoix - the 3,700-square-mile area in the Canadian Shield that was named a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve. With Quebec City celebrating its 400th anniversary in 2008, Charlevoix, at the city's back door, is the perfect side trip, its legendary combination of sea, mountains and magical light long celebrated by artists and writers.
(The stunning Fairmont Le Manoir Richelieu is a castle-like hotel overlooking the St. Lawrence River in Charlevoix) Anxious to see it all for the first time, my wife and I drove east from Quebec City to the village of La Malbaie and the historic Fairmont Le Manoir Richelieu, a castle-like hotel built on a cliff with breathtaking views of the St. Lawrence River. La Malbaie's 200-year tradition of hospitality has its roots in nineteenth-century "Belle Époque" romanticism, when luxurious "White Ships" brought the "elites" of New York, Montreal and Toronto to Charlevoix to experience its quaint villages, its pure air, and its natural beauty. Many visitors built summer homes here, including William Howard Taft, the 27th President of the United States, who described Charlevoix "as intoxicating as champagne, yet without the hangover." In 1925, Taft inaugurated the 27-hole golf course at Le Manoir Richelieu, and at the Charlevoix Museum, you can see a vintage photo of the former President and his family taken during one of their holidays here.
(The view from the promenade at the Fairmont Le Manoir Richelieu is quite memorable. White lawn chairs afford an opportunity for a contemplative moment...or more) On our arrival at Le Manoir Richelieu, we stood on its lookout promenade, gazing out at the waters of the St. Lawrence River, which seemed to go on forever under a pristine blue sky with only faint traces of white clouds. We found two lounging chairs and took it all in, dazzled by the area's special kind of light, which local artists translate into intense colors on their canvasses. A panoramic stairway leads up from the Pointe-au-Pic waterfront to Le Manoir Richelieu and the nearby Casino de Charlevoix. After
a hearty breakfast the following morning, we drove eastward along the river route,
passing tiny villages each prettier than the next.
(The Poterie de Port-au-Persil is a one-of-a-kind workshop and school, where visitors can create and sign their own pieces under the supervision of local artists) Our footsteps made crunching sounds as we walked over the gravel floor of the cavernous yellow building to a little outdoor café behind the workshop. The French menu included espresso, cappuccino, café au lait, tea, carrot cake, biscotti, ice creams and pannini. What it didn't include - but came with your order anyway - was the lovely panorama of the river.
(The magical Charlevoix countryside, with a lone cabin in the distance) From
Port-au-Persil eastward, the vistas along the river route became more breathtaking
with every mile, as dappled sunlight colored the green forest on the other side
of the highway. Our next destination was an art gallery, the Centre de métiers d'art Les Gros Becs, in Baie-Sainte-Catherine, a village near the confluence of the Saguenay and St. Lawrence Rivers, where the mix of fresh water and salt water attracts whales, especially beluga, to feed on creel and allows for whale watching trips. Here we found Joanne Bedard, a young artist who crafts imaginative jewelry from native deer antlers. Bedard's studio includes pieces by other local artists, from glass blowers to painters, but it was her work with antlers that attracted us.
(Artist
Joanne Bedard crafts lovely jewelry from deer antlers in her studio in Baie-Sainte-Catherine) After
moving to Baie-Sainte-Catherine from Montreal, she "walked a lot in the forest
and got inspiration." Because of their hardened density, deer antlers need to be cut with a variety of saws during the making of an art piece. Each antler is also quite unique, reflecting different colorations based on the deer's age and diet.
(Two examples of Bedard's jewelry cut from deer antlers)
"If you cut it in a different place," Bedard said, "the coloration can be different." Sometimes the material itself gives Bedard inspiration for the design, while at other times she sketches a design first. We especially liked her tiny love birds shaped from antlers and suspended on a chain. "Often when I'm creating," she said, "I make a kind of meditation…I'm creating a lot with the emotion (of the moment). So I just go 'inside' (myself) and look at what's there." On our way back to La Malbaie, a sign on the highway advertised "fraises" (strawberries), as clouds turned the sky an ominous black and the wind whistled through the trees. But luckily for us, the weather eventually cleared as we got closer to La Malbaie, and the sun reappeared. Day
two brought new discoveries in an area of Charlevoix between Baie-Saint-Paul and
La Malbaie known as Les Eboulments, part of a crater about 40 miles wide created
over 350 million years ago when a 15-billion ton meteorite came crashing down
to earth here. Highway 362 passes through Les Eboulements, where farms and villages dot the higher elevations. We stopped in Saint-Irenee, a village of 685 souls that was once the home of Adolphe Routhier, author of the French lyrics to "Oh Canada," Canada's national anthem.
(Art and ceramics in the DeBlois studio at Saint-Irenee) Saint-Irenee is also known for two exceptionally creative artists - husband and wife Joan and Marc DeBlois, whose sun-filled studio, Les Ateliers DeBlois, is where they warmly greet visitors and sell their creations.
(Joan DeBlois at work in the studio. Her work includes porcelain and Raku) A sculptor, Joan crafts everything from unique porcelain pieces to Raku, while Marc is known for paintings of stunning colors, like his giant, signature poppies.
(Marc DeBlois is known for his iconic poppies, filled with color and whimsy) Marc, a former fashion designer in Toronto, uses as little detail as possible, as in his painting of a house without doors, preferring to leave everything to your imagination!
Across the street, the Maritime Museum of Charlevoix illustrates the history of the old schooners that once plied the waters of the St. Lawrence.
(The St-Andre in dry dock at the Maritime Museum of Charlevoix) Lunch was at Auberge Beausejour, an inn with 19 rooms near a sandy beach that offers bicycle and hiking trails in warm weather and snowmobile trails in winter. Owner Diane Dufour spoke of her love for cooking as she served us lunch on pretty yellow table cloths - spaghetti with ratatouille and cheddar cheese for me and a tasty vegetable soup with a bagel, cream cheese and smoked trout for my wife. Then came a memorable, home-made dessert, her "Tarte au Sucre" (Sugar Tart), served with homemade vanilla ice cream and Quebec's famous maple syrup, the "liquid of the gods."
(An iconic red roof in the Charlevoix countryside near Saint-Joseph-de-la-Rive) From Saint-Joseph-de-la-Rive, it's a 15-minute ferry ride to Ile aux Coudres, a pretty little island discovered by French explorer Jacques Cartier in 1535. Cartier found hazelnut trees growing on the island and named it for these trees. A 26-kilometer road circles the island, which is perfect for a bicycling. (Velo-Coudres provides a shuttle from the ferry to its bicycle rental shop). Among the attractions is a ciderie that produces a unique plum mistelle perfect for an island picnic. During our visit to Charlevoix, we also sampled the "Flavor Road," which includes foods from native producers to restaurants. Our first stop was emblematic, I think, of the truly "historic" flavor of Charlevoix - Le Moulin (the Windmill) de la Remy - a working grist mill, built in 1825 in a lovely valley north of Baie-Saint-Paul.
(The historic grist mill along the Charlevoix "Flavor Road" relives earlier French settlement) Up a short path past a white picket fence was the two-story fieldstone-and-mortar grist mill with its steep, gabled roof and rows of French-style windows. Inside, water from the Remy River turned the millwheel, activating the grindstones to work the wheat and spelt into flour - just the way it was done centuries ago. An old farmhouse on the property serves as a bakery, with its pleasant aromas of fresh bread baked on wood-burning, brick-and-clay ovens. At
the nearby Fromagerie Maurice Dufour, a family-owned cheese producer with a small
restaurant, we stopped for cheese tasting and enjoyed Le Migneron and Le Ciel
cheeses made from cow's milk.
(The Fromagerie Maurice Dufour, where dinners are served with a window view of the lovely Gouffre Valley) The next day we set out to experience a part of Charlevoix that brought us face to face, as it were, with the mysterious meteorite event that helped shape the area - the spectacular Parc des Hautes Gorges, located at the foot of one of eastern Canada's highest peaks. To get to the park, we had to drive along a two-lane road that skirts the Malbaie River. At the park's entrance, we parked our car, as automobiles are forbidden in the park itself. We then boarded yellow buses for the drive up to the gorge, where the glass-topped Le Menaud boat was waiting to take us on a leisurely guided cruise up the river bordered by steep canyon walls with small waterfalls.
(Visitors board the river boat, Le Menaud, for a spectacular cruise on the Malbaie River in the Parc des Hautes Gorges) Along the way, we waved to bike riders on a riverside pathway and saw people paddling calmly in canoes. Beavers on several small islands were busy building their homes, ignoring us humans. That night, dinner was at Auberge Larochelle, a Victorian inn with a spacious veranda that was once the residence of Louis-Alexandre Taschereau, a former Premier of Quebec Province.
(The Auberge Larochelle, an historic inn which was once home to a Quebec premier) The
inn, located in La Malbaie, has been restored with 10 guest rooms and suites,
each with an elegant flair and captivating views of the river or the gardens. Before heading back to Quebec City, we stopped in Baie-Saint-Paul, a town of 7,400 people, quaint narrow streets, and countless art galleries.
(From across the bay, an artist captures a moment in the life of Baie-Saint-Paul) Indeed, you could spend forever looking at art here, since the town is recognized as having the most art galleries per square mile in Canada. Baie-Saint-Paul is also where the internationally-popular Cirque du Soleil originated in the early 1980's. It was then that a playful group of street entertainers, known as Les Echassiers de Baie-Saint-Paul (the Baie-Saint-Paul Stiltwalkers), would amuse outdoor audiences with juggling, dancing and other antics. When the 450th anniversary of Canada's discovery by French explorer Jacques Cartier approached, one of the group's members re-made the "Stiltwalkers" into Cirque du Soleil - and the rest, as they say, is history. It's fitting that it all happened here in Charlevoix, whose timeless story has captured everyone's imagination. WHEN YOU GO… For
information about Charlevoix travel, visit www.tourisme-charlevoix.com
or call (800) 667-2276.
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