“La Promende Fleuve-Montagne” (The River-Mountain Promenade) was one of several gifts from outgoing mayor Denis Coderre to himself. A very expensive present, mind you ($55.3 million according to the Montreal Gazette). Paid for with tax payers’ money, and me being one of those aforementioned taxpayers, I reckoned I technically owned at least half a paving stone in this venture. So, I thought I’d better go and check it out.
For better or worse, I’ve long since fallen in love with this city, and this promenade - no matter how conceited - does a good job of showing off the town centre’s many different flavours. If you’ve never visited Montreal, or are thinking about it, I hope this photo-journal will reveal some of its charms to you.
This photo journal is split into the following sections as I took the path from the St Lawrence river at Montreal’s Old Port all the way up to the mountain’s base:
- Old Port & Old Town
- Financial District
- Central Downtown
- Sherbrooke and McGill University
- The Mountain
Old Port & Old Town
The most tourist-centric part of this venture, the additions to both the Old Port and Old Town consist mainly of directional arrows attached to lampposts and marker posts along the way. The older part of the city is perhaps already charming enough in its own right, so the changes were minimal.
Financial District
Leaving the Old Town, the path brings you onto McGill Avenue and then takes you North into Victoria Square. This part of the City is home to a number of banking institutions, and it shows in the up-market restaurants and impressive looking buildings.
Central Downtown
In the retail heart of downtown, tourists and workers rub shoulders. This is where most visitors end up for shopping, eating and drinking activities.
Sherbrooke and McGill University
Now the route takes us down Sherbrooke Street, resplendent with its parade of world flags. Paralleling McGill University campus, it takes you through a thoroughly redeveloped and pedestrianised McTevish Street.
The Mountain
When I arrived at the end of the walk, the City had a representative stopping people to offer information and leaflets. Having a quick chat with them, they appeared surprised when I told them I’d just completed the full route (maybe they were surprised people were doing it up-hill instead of down?). Asking me what I thought, I reported that although I’d enjoyed it and was admittedly impressed with a couple of the sections, my cynicism towards that current current spendthrift administration made me think instead about things like the lack of investment in my own neighbourhood, for which there’s somehow never enough money to properly improve. So, I replied by saying I wish the money had been spent on things which were actually needed. In return, I received a shrug. Guess we were on the same page.
And onwards and upwards I went. Even though the path officially ends on Pine Avenue, you can continue up the mountain to the main summit. Quite why they didn’t include the full route up to the summit in the path, I don’t know. But regardless, the views at the top were typically spectacular.
A Political Path
Having walked the path, I came away somewhat less cynical than I’d started. It was clear a lot of thought had gone into parts of the walk, especially the flags on Sherbrooke and the pedestrianisation of McTavish. Other areas along the route seemed to be left strangely untouched, in particular the shabby area around Philips Square and St Catherine.
Of course this project, amongst others, contributed to the downfall of Mayor Denis Coderre. A showpiece aimed at tourists and part of a huge influx of money into a single borough as opposed to a sensible and fair distribution of City funds. And so, while Downtown continued to see massive investment in vanity projects during 2017, the rest of the town was left to languish. As I stood at the top of the walk admiring the view of this marvellous city from the foot of its mountain, I was left wondering if the rest of Montreal would ever be shown this much love.