Saguenay, Quebec.

Today’s port of call is Saguenay, which sits at the end of the Saguenay Fjord along the banks of the River (you’ve guessed it) Saguenay. The city is a combination of four separate towns that were incorporated into a city in 2002. The ship berthed in the area known as La Baie.

In the early hours of the morning we left the St Lawrence river and entered the mouth of the fjord. As the sun rose the steep wooded sides of the fjord came into view with the first signs of autumn beginning to show in the foliage.

Every now and then there was a break in the trees where small houses bordered creeks running into the fjord.

The true beauty of the area became more obvious as daylight showered the hillside in sunshine.

As we have not visited this city previously we decided not to book a ship’s tour but rather have a walk around and explore independently. A small market manned by locals in costume awaited us on the quayside.

We started our exploration by taking a walk along shoreside and although it was bright and sunny there was a strong wind blowing from the water lowering the temperature by a number of degrees. The walk took us past several pretty properties which must have a terrific view of the fjord.

This area of Canada is well known for its dairies and especially cheese making and at the end of the path we came across one such establishment.

Turning into the main part of town the first stop was a coffee and doughnut in a Tim Horton’s. I don’t think that many of our fellow cruise passengers had ventured to this part of town as most of the clientele were local French speakers. We attempted a conversation with a long distance lorry driver but the combination of our poor French and his strong accent made this very difficult, but at least we tried.

As we walked further down the road we saw a group of nursery children being entertained by a bubble machine outside a shop selling soaps made from goat’s milk.

Inside the owner explained to us that originally they had kept goats and made the soap but now they buy in the milk from other suppliers. The soaps are made on the premises from a mixture of oils and 40% goats milk together with different natural flavourings.

A little further on we came across a couple of vintage cars sitting on a driveway..

….behind which was a small museum. I say museum but it was really a collection by one man, Romeo Boivin, of artefacts and antiques that he had accumulated over a number of years. Although very Canadian there were many items that we remembered from our childhoods amongst the relics.

Opposite the small museum was a craft market with local people selling knitted articles, jewellery and small wooden ornaments, all home made. The people were all very friendly and all happy to have a chat about the local area.

Across from the market stands the local church, a pretty white building surrounded by the autumnal trees.

Around the town there were some beautiful flower and shrub displays which brightened up the streets as we walked around.

Saguenay has been a lovely port of call, a beautiful city with a very friendly population. We throughly enjoyed our time ashore except for the bitter wind that continued as we returned to the ship, so much so that Sylvia had to hang on to me.

Tonight we make our way back to the St Lawrence river and head to our next stop Quebec City. This is the place we have been looking forward to as there is so much to explore. We have two days in which to do it so it should be fun.