La Baie, Quebec – October 6, 2011

 

Arrived during the night to beautiful LaBaie.    Temperature only to be 45 degrees as a high.    Coldest we’ve been.   But, the sky is clear and the sun is shining.   This port is absolutely beautiful. 

La Baie is a borough of the city of Saguenay, Quebec where the Riviere a Mars flows into the Baie des Ha!Ha! a bay of the Saguenay River.  Formerly an independent city its population in 2006 was 19,639.   LaBaie was created by the result of the merger of the towns of Bagotville, Port-Alfred and Greande Baie in 1976.   In 2002 it became Saguenay.   Saguenay is located on the edge of the majestic Saguenay Fjord.  Seventh most important city in Quebec, born of the merging of seven municipalities in 2002.   It is divided into three districts:  La Baie, Chicoutimi and Jonquiere.   La Baie opens onto the only navigable fjord in North America. 

 

We took a tour after lunch called “Greater city of Saguenay Heritage Route”.  In this tour we learned about the importance of the Saguenay Fjord which is deeply chiselled in the Laurentians Mountains, a natural trading route for the First Nations people of the area.   Continuing to Chicoutimi, we drove along its main street, rue Racine, and its Old Port.   We made a stop at the Cultural Quarter and the Little White House which miraculously survived the flood of 1996 and also at the Pulp Mill of Chicoutimi, which was founded in 1898 and played an important role in the development of the area.    We then drove through Arvida, “The Washington of the North” which is a perfect example of a 20th century company town.   We drove over the world’s first aluminum bridge, built to display the strength and diversity of aluminum.   Alcoa Aluminum has a large plant in the area and a great number of employees live in the “company town”.  

   

Above is an example of some of the homes that were built for the employees of Alcoa Aluminum.

After we returned to the ship, we enjoyed sail away through the Fjords.

Here is Kos with Ni Putin – our fabulous cocktail server.  She found us wherever we were and made sure we always were taken care of.   She even reserved us a table each night next to the window.