Tadoussac

Tadoussac-- painting is by Charles Comfort, RCA, OC (1900-94), who grew up and painted in Winnipeg for many years, and was the first director of the National Gallery of Canada. Pics by me.

So, we just spent the past week here. Saw many, many whales. Did a lot of hiking-- up to 20 km or more a few days. Good times.

Tadoussac is a town that's over 400 years old (or at least the whitey part of its history is), and is about 650 km east of Montreal along the St. Lawrence. It's situated at the point where the Saguenay River/fjord meets the St. Lawrence, and so the water is a mix of salt and fresh water, therefore a perfect place for whales to feed. For eons, it was a meeting and trading place for the native inhabitants, and then the Jesuits set up a mission there. The church you see in one photo (and in the bottom middle of Comfort's painting) was built by the Jesuits and local carpenters in the 1740's to replace the original mission. Whaling and logging industries followed the Jesuits, and flourished in the region until the last few decades. These days, it's fairly touristy, but still remote enough that you have to be a bit adventurous to get there.

In addition to hiking and seeing whales, we also met cool french-speaking hippies, saw some great music (including an awesome old guy from Senegal), and did some serious camping.