Called a real-life castle, Le Chalet Frontenac rules Old Quebec with its imposing 611 rooms sitting high on Quebec City’s highest promontory, Cap Diamont, from which you can gaze out on all of Quebec and beyond. If you’ve ever played King of the Castle as a kid, here’s your chance to do it as an adult. As nerve-wracking as that experience was, it was just as comforting to arrive in the middle of Old Quebec in busy high tourist season, pull up at the stone entrance gate, and find the valets of Fairmont’s Le Chalet Frontenac eager to whisk the car off to their garage so that we could thoroughly enjoy one of the best walking cities in the world. Quebec City is not in Ontario, so we had to use old-fashioned paper maps, which are a little disconcerting when you’re facing a myriad of highways heading into the city. When we got to the border of Canada, our GPS had, for some reason, capability only for Ontario. Note to those driving from Boston to Quebec: If you use a GPS, be sure you program it to drive into a foreign country. Photo Courtesy: Fairmont Le Château Frontenac. SECOND STOP: QUEBEC CITY AND THE FRONTENAC While it used to open only in summer, the Wentworth is now a warm and cozy year-round resort at the edge of the Atlantic. It has even had a “major refreshing” in the last six months, with soft, calming decorative colors of gray in the lobby and guest rooms. It’s also a good family place now, with guest privileges at the nearby golf club and marina, its own beach, and a group of bi-level suites on the waterfront, from the balconies of which players from the Boston Symphony Orchestra used to come and play impromptu concerts for guests. A member of Historic Hotels of America, and now also part of the Marriott chain, the hotel was named to the National Trust’s 2008 list of Dozen Distinctive Destinations. To this day, the Japanese people consider the Wentworth a shrine. In 1905, for just one example, delegates from Japan and Russia were invited to the hotel after the Russo-Japanese War, to sign the peace treaty. It’s especially good for business travelers who, rather than having to eat alone, now sit together in a comfortable family-type setting while watching the chef at work.Ī lot of history has been part of Wentworth. Salt’s Chef Bar is a thoughtful arrangement of seats surrounding an open kitchen serving small plates, pizza and the like. Its bathrooms are now sized for the 21 st Century, a new wing and ballroom has been added along with a stunning indoor pool to join the outdoor one, an award-winning spa with signature treatments using ingredients from the ocean nearby, and a fine restaurant – “Salt” – in which the creative menu (“Aquacotta” soup, “Sizzling Olives” appetizers, “Bee Hives” truffle honey dessert,) lives up to each clever menu listing for a gourmand’s delight. When it reopened in 2003,it was better than ever, with fewer rooms - 161 of them - but the original smaller ones had been opened up to make larger rooms, and beautifully furnished. Thankfully, Ocean Properties took over the once beloved building in 1997 and spent $30 million “refreshing” it. Monarch butterfly on Wentworth’s garden flowers. Wentworth By The Sea’s Salt Restaurant – a communal Chef’s Table.
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