Wandering leads to discovery in Montréal. Murals enliven every neighborhood.
© Joyce McGreevy

The Widespread Pleasures of Montréal’s Urban Culture

No wonder jazz is a top attraction for visitors to Montréal. The largest city in eastern Canada doesn’t just reflect urban culture, it riffs on it, reinterpreting it in endless variations.

Since visiting Montréal as a child, I’ve returned numerous times, always encountering new layers to its creative nature.

Most first-time visitors stay within a compact area around the Vieux-Port (Old Port), where  cobblestone streets and picturesque buildings date to the 17th century.  Charming though it is, visiting in peak season can give  the impression that all 10 million annual visitors have shown up at once.

That’s why I encourage you to explore beyond the core. Oh, I see: Montréal’s summertime pleasures are generously sprinkled all over the city.

Sure, zip around the Old Port, but broaden your circle, too.
© Joyce McGreevy

Here are five ways to celebrate Montréal’s urban culture. Eco-friendly, art-loving, and community-minded, they’ll make you feel right at home.

1. Do your reading in the park.

In many cities, cooling off on a summer’s day means cranking up the A/C. Montréalers keep cool by heading to the nearest green space. With 19 major parks and over 1,300 green squares, you won’t need a map to find one.

Montréal is on track to increase its canopy cover to 25% by 2025.
© Joyce McGreevy

Montréalers’ love of green spaces was formalized in 1874 when Mount Royal became the first protected area in Québec. The design gig for Parc Mont-Royal went to Frederick Law Olmsted, who also designed the grounds of New York’s Central Park.

Now Montréal’s green space is on the verge of another growth spurt. Over the next three years, the city will build its largest park yet—four times the size of Parc Mont-Royal—on the urban island’s western tip.

To shop like a local, buy only what you can carry, cook, and picnic on over 1-2 days.
© Joyce McGreevy

2. Hop to the shop, car-free.

With a dépanneur on virtually every block, shopping for food on foot is easy.  Come spring, Montréal’s oldest public markets take off their “winter coats.” Down come the walls that shelter shoppers from 82 inches of annual snowfall.

Marché Jean-Talon has fed Montréal families since 1933.
© Joyce McGreevy

Which market should you choose, Marché Jean-Talon or Atwater Market? Both—and don’t overlook Marché Maisonneuve:

• Atwater Market: The tall clock tower makes it a cinch for newcomers to find, and you can work off that maple sugar pie with a run along the Lachine Canal.
• Marché Maisonneuve: Test your French fluency, marvel at the 1910 Beaux-Arts building that started it all, and test-ride a self-driving shuttle to Montréal’s Olympic Stadium.
• Marché Jean-Talon: Explore the neighborhood known locally as Petite-Italie.

After all that grocery-shopping, you’ll surely need a treat in Little Italy.
© Joyce McGreevy

Don’t make a list. Just wander among artful displays of Québécois produce, charcuterie, wheels of cheese, fresh oysters from the Bay of Gaspé, handmade ices, fresh flowers, herbs, and more.

 3. Meet the neighbors.

Whatever your language, it’s easy to meet the neighbors in Montréal. I’ve enjoyed conversations in cafés, bookstores, the Segal Center Theatre, a local swimming pool, and while sitting on the curb of Rue St-Denis waiting for a parade to begin.

Even a short stroll can lead to memorable meet-and-greets. Last Saturday I went out for a newspaper. Two blocks later, I was dancing at a neighborhood barbecue. As for Sunday, I’m unlikely to forget meeting Antoine:

Better known for balancing on the Russian bar in his family’s Cirque Alfonse,
Antoine Carabinier makes a genial barmaid at a Montréal street festival.
© Joyce McGreevy

4. Join the circus.

Every year, visitors flock to Montréal’s Jazz Festival, Cirque du Soleil, the “Just for Laughs” Comedy Festival, and other hot-ticket events.

No ticket? No worries.

Montréal’s creativity spills onto neighborhood streets, spreads across parks, and splashes across walls.  Every summer, the roving Repercussion Theatre makes Shakespeare-in-the-Park accessible to all. Murals have a festival of their own. Meanwhile, Montréal Complètement Cirque scatters magic all around the city.

A graduate from Montreal’s École Nationale de Cirque runs rings around his audience.
© Joyce McGreevy

5. Debate a local hot topic.

Montréalers have strong opinions about which is better, Fairmount Bagel or St-Viateur Bagel. Thus, it behooves you to “research” both.

But don’t just grab and gobble. Savor the “hole” truth with a lesson from local baker Will Paquet. As my Toronto classmates agree, his bagel-baking class is enriched by culinary science, seeded with local tips, and leavened with humor.

Paquet’s not out to “schmear” NY bagels, just passionate about Montréal methods.
© Joyce McGreevy

As Paquet guides us through the steps, we learn what makes Montréal bagels distinctive. Smaller and thinner than NY bagels, and with a faster transition between proofing and kneading, they are hand-rolled and poached in honey-water. Unlike NY bagels, they’re also flipped halfway through the baking.

Traditionally, Montréal bagels were baked in a wood-fired oven, but the city is phasing this out for environmental reasons. Even so, under Paquet’s tutelage the results are thrilling—a toothsome crunch followed by soul-transporting, soft-as-a-cloud sweetness.

Making bagels delivers a taste of Montréal’s urban culture.
© Joyce McGreevy

To buy bagels like a local, says Paquet, order “Sesame, still warm,” consume your bagel within 30 minutes, and don’t bury it under a mound of sandwich fillers. In Montréal, the bagel itself is the star, not the stage.

Extend your urban boundaries

This 377-year old city embraces over two dozen neighborhoods, each with its own personality, flavors, and festivities. Factor in Canadian friendliness, convenient public transport, and a summer sun that stays up late, and you’ve got the perfect excuse to get neighborly with Montréal’s urban culture.

Learn more about Will Paquet’s bagel-making classes here.

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