When friends and family heard that we were visiting Eastern Canada, every single person said, “Be sure to visit Québec City. It’s the best!” And they were right.
Québec City is one of the oldest European settlements in North America, and the second oldest in Canada. Explorer Samuel de Champlain (remember him from 5th grade social studies?) founded a French settlement on this site in 1608. He adopted the name that the Algonquin natives gave to the area, Kébec, meaning “where the river narrows.” This is indeed a narrow part of the huge St. Lawrence River, and therefore it is more defensible, making it a good choice for an early settlement.
We didn’t try to see it all, but we concentrated on the old city (Vieux-Québec), renowned for its fortified stone walls, upper and lower towns, its status as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the Citadelle, its main defensive structure in the 19th century.