Isn’t funny - I rarely write about Canada, my adoptive country for the past decade. I live here and I felt like a local (although I'm not as polite and I have way lower resistance to cold), somehow it makes day trips, weekend trips, and any domestic trips as if it were just another thing to pass the time, it’s not that they were insignificant, but it just felt, I don’t know, normal?
I have no idea why we tend to have this messed up misconception that a vacation has to be across the border. We kept prioritising going abroad when it comes to planning our holiday. It’s only when the pandemic started and travel bans were put in place that we finally realised how lucky we are living in Quebec, because man this province is BIG! There are so many places to visit!
By mid 2021, confinement in Quebec started to loosened up and life slowly went back to normal. Public places and major attractions carefully opened up their businesses with safety measures in place. A Vaccine passport was almost mandatory for most public activities. I do admit at the beginning I felt like being peer pressured for taking an experimental drug, but I’m already a walking vaccins cabinet from all those vaccins I had to take for travelling, so what's so harmful for taking another one, right? right??
After getting our double vaccins concoction and the domestic travel ban being lifted, we’re back on the road. Although, we didn't go far. We couldn't. Travelling accros the province was a bit complicated by this time due to Covid so we decided to explore more our belle province.
Gaspé peninsula or La Gaspésie
After ten years living in Quebec City and one global pandemic later, we decided to do the famous tour of the Gaspé (Gass-peh) peninsula or commonly known as the La Tour de la Gaspésie. This is also our first trip with our recently adopted prince of barkness; Spike. Gaspé peninsula has been famous as THE number one destination in the province since the dawn of time for a bunch reasons. These are our best reasons why:
Let's breakdown those reasons in details!
I love love love road trips, but, I am the worst passenger/co-driver because; first, I can't read map, heck, I can't even read GPS properly, and second, I fall asleep way too easily on a moving vehicle, seriously, I could actually fall asleep on a bus during my commuting to work. Yes, I'm that bad. BUT I'm proud to say that I didn't fall asleep at any moment during our road trip to Gaspé simply because the road to the Gaspé is among the most scenic roads Quebéc has to offer with small historic villages along the road, traditional lighthouses, and the majestic Chic-Choc mountains.
Traditionally, the road trip around the Gaspésie is done counter-clockwise loop to discover all the riches of the Gaspé Peninsula. After did the tour both directions, clock-wise and counter clock-wise, we do agree the loop is better done counter clock-wise where you start from crossing the thick forest of Matapedia, ride along the mountain and the river to go back out to the coastal area. What made a major different for us was not how we did it but when we did it. We did the first trip at the end of summer, and the second time was during the fall season where the nature is the prettiest with warm colors.
Now let's talk about one of the most crucial elements on a (our) trip: the food. Québec is very proud with their locally-sourced foods or what they call produits du terroir, including in the Gaspésie. Being historically a great fishing industry region, Gaspé culinary is known for its fresh fish and seafood including crab and lobster. The big five of the Gaspésie's seafood to taste are:
- LOBSTERS. You can find lobster rolls and anything chicken based replaced with lobster meat during the season.
- COD FISH or LA MORUE. Cod fish is so iconic in the Gaspésie history it has it's own route called La route de la Morue
- SNOW CRAB. Unfortunately, I can't say much about this because I'm allergic to crabs, any crabs. In all seriousness, I can fall unconscious if I eat a crab. It happened before at the most unfortunate moment in one of my trips, but it's a story for another day.
- CREVETTE DU MATANE or NORTHERN SHRIMP. Best for rolls, ceviche, and soups. This tiny pink shrimps has a unique strong shrimpy flavors. It also triggers my allergy. sigh.
- ATLANTIC SALMON. We can find easily this pink fleshed salmon in any form; fresh, smoked, cooked. Or we can even fish them ourselves in the 22 salmon rivers in Gaspésie.
FYI to all lighthouses enthusiast, me included, ahem, Quebec province is home to some 43 traditional lighthouses, with 14 of them stand along the coastline of Gaspésie. It makes the road trip in Gaspésie become, let say, very lighthouse-y. Nico would argue that that's not even a word, but at for me, it WAS a lighthousey road trip. We did visit the 14 official lighthouses (and all the real-size fake ones too). So yeah, it was very lighthousey. I could hear Nico screaming stop making lighthousey a word, but let's ignore him, shall we. Lighthouses in Gaspésie are well kept, some of them are still functional and some other are repurposed into museums, inns, or cottage for rent, providing visitors an opportunity to marvel at the architecture and learn about the history in a new way. Each lighthouse has its own personality, history and legends, and every one of them is worth a visit. The trail connecting the lighthouses of Quebec is well-known as La route de phares. We did our own lighthouse trail during our trip around the Gaspésie, check it out here.
If you mention the word Gaspésie to anyone in Quebec, I bet the first mental image that pops up in their head is the Roché Percé or Percé rock in Percé village. This gigantic rock formation is the emblem/the icon of Gaspésie. It is also one of the world's biggest natural rock arch. Many might think this is ultimate reason to visit Gaspésie, which is an understatement of Gaspésie. Roché Percé is amazing, but let's be honest, it just a giant rock on water with a hole on it. We can actually visit the rock by foot during low tide, just remember to come back before the tide goes up. Or we can also admire the rock from 660 feet above the ground at the glass platform suspended belvedere at the Percé UNESCO Global Geopark. But there are more to it than just the rock itself in the area.
IMHO, the highlight of Percé is the Bonaventure island or île de Bonaventure. This tiny island is located less than 4km away from the shore and is home to one of the largest colonies of gannets in the world, which make it one of the largest and most accessible natural bird sanctuaries in the world. We can easily take an excursion to this island from Percé doc during summer.
Do you know Gaspé, a city at the tip of the Gaspé peninsula is one of the oldest settlements in North America and it is the birthplace of Canada? Who would've thought, right? I mean, I know Quebec City is the oldest city in Canada, but it's only during our trip to Gaspésie that I learn the fact that Jacques Cartier, a french explorer, the first European who map the St. Lawrence river, took possession of Canada on behalf of the king of France from the indigenous people and then build the first French colony in North America, which make it the birth of Canada. We can discover the history of Gaspé as the birthplace of Canada at the outdoor interpretation center in Gaspé. I personally call this the white version of the story.
To counter balance the story we visit the Micmac de Gespeg Interpretation Site to learn from the indigenous perspective about the birth of Canada. The Site showcases the Micmac (the indigenous tribe of Gaspé) culture of the Gaspé native community. Through its lively interpretation activities, the Site sheds (less white-washed) light on the history of the community from 1675 to the present day, offering visitors an authentic and original experience.
One of the highlights of our trip was spending time on the beach. The soft sand beneath my feet and the gentle waves crashing against the shore provided the perfect backdrop for zoning out relaxing. Apparently, human are not the only one who loves to enjoy the beach in Gaspésie. During summer time especially, you can see seals casually posing like a banana along the road 132, soaking up the sun and just relax. We found the best spot to hang out at the beach by accident while having a picnic is at the Sentier du Banc or the du Banc trail. Du Banc trail is part of Forillon park and accessible from the main road. not far from the Cap-des-Rosisers lighthouse. The seashore at the Du Banc trail is perfect for admiring the sea as far as the eye can see with the Cap-des-Rosiers lighthouse in the decor. From times to times we saw seals popping up their head above the water and belugas (or was it dolphins??) in not so far distance. I wasn't expecting to see any of them so it was amazing, but apparently this is a normal day like for the locals.
This trip is our first road trip with our newly adopted four-legged furry third wheel; Spike. We went on this trip just a month after we got him. I sometime wonder what he thought he got himself into when he comes home with us. LOL... You know how travel can make or break a relationship? This first trip with Spike was some kind of a compatibility test for us too. Preparing a trip with a pet needs a bit more preparation, we have to check which hotels, sites, restaurants that accept pets. Luckily, Gaspésie is a pet-friendly destination, so taking Spike with us was easy. Most of hotels accept pet (with an additional fee), the parks and forest accept dogs too as long as we keep them on leash. And as for restaurants, during summer, pets are always welcome to join you at the terrace/patio. And we were more than glad that Spike actually loves being on a car-ride! Yeay!!
Yep, apparently all those awesomeness are right in our own backyard. There are so many things to see, to taste, and to experience. Plus, Gaspésie is also one picturesque destination, a perfect playground for those who loves outdoor photography. I can’t facepalm myself enough to shake off my own disbelief that it took me more than ten years to finally do the Gaspésie peninsula loop. I’m so glad we finally did, twice. First one was during the shoulder season between summer and autumn to avoid the crazy amount of visitors this place receives every summer, the second one was in autumn when the leaves start to change colour. I loved every bit of each trip to the peninsula.
The essentials:
- When to go? Summer to early Fall/October. But best is on the shoulder season, September to October when schools aready started so it's less crowded and the weather is cooler which means less insects and heat. Autumn foliage starts normally around October, it gives a different look to the environment as well.
- How long? Expect to spend at least five days if you start from Quebec City.
- Public transport or a car? Definitely a car, public transports is limited to intercity bus so it's better to have your own vehicle to move around and visit stuff
- How are the roads? The roads in Gaspésie are definitely well maintained. First of all, it's important to remember that this is a tourist region, so it's not really off the beaten track anymore. So it's impossible to get lost, get stuck or not find a gas station.