July 1, 2006
After my official Montreal bike tour, my individual explorations of the Lachine Canal and my chat with André from Ça Roule, I decided to go for a little stroll to explore Montreal’s Port area which was hustling and bustling with celebrations on this Canada Day. I strolled out on Jacques Cartier Pier to an outdoor concert stage where two well-known Canadian singers, Kim Richardson and Sylvie Desgroseillers were enchanting the audience with Mo-Town and R&B melodies.
I walked east and happened onto a huge playground area on the little island in the Bassin Bonsecours that was a family entertainment zone. Kids were sliding up and down and in and out of a whole variety of huge inflatable slides. Freestyle skiers were jumping off a large ramp and performing summersaults and various aerial acrobatics. The whole area was packed with people enjoying themselves on a beautiful summer day. I walked up Place Jacques Cartier and into a small pedestrian street called Rue des Amables which is full of portrait artists and galleries. At the end of this little street I found my dinner destination: Galiano’s.
Galiano’s is located in a 200 year-old building on a small cobble-stoned street in Old Montreal. Formerly a “boîte à chanson” it opened its doors eight years ago. The restaurant stretches over two floors with an open area in the middle and a wooden staircase leading up to the second floor with seating on an interior balcony. The street-side patio adds additional seating capacity and ambience to this rustic restaurant.
Always a big fan of Italian cuisine, I was looking forward to a filling meal after a day packed with exercise and activities. The whole area around the restaurant and Old Montreal in general was absolutely hustling and bustling with people and everyone was in good spirits, ready to celebrate since it was Canada Day. Street performers were entertaining the crowd. At just before 6 pm it was still a bit early and I was fortunate to find a seat in the lounge area of the restaurant that features several tables flanking an arrangement of leather couches in front of the fireplace.
For a few minutes I was able to catch the owner, John Tsinas, to find out more about this culinary establishment. John is part of Montreal’s famous Antonopoulos family that owns a variety of hospitality restaurants and hotels in Old Montreal. His uncles are silent partners in Galiano’s. John’s younger brothers Manny and Peter also work with him in the business. At 40 years of age John is the oldest, and the two other brothers are each five years apart. John says that Manny is the people person and today Manny was seating customers, tryig to keep up with the sheer onslaught of customers that were just streaming into Galiano’s.
Manny is also the man with the creative ideas and he was the one that came up with the idea for lounge area and some of the new decorating styles featured at Galianos. Another new idea is to use a small balcony area above the entrance door as a location for a DJ or some live music. And a wine cellar next to the entrance is presently under construction and will be opened in the near future.
John has a lot of experience in the hospitality industry: he started working in the restaurant business at age 14 and has worked his way up all the way from the bottom. He even ran a food warehouse for McGill University which included restocking the vending machines and was a waiter at three different restaurants prior to opening Galiano’s. John added that he still thinks like an employee and because of his hands-on experience he always treats his staff members with respect. His working style is very hands-on, he says that today he will be calling out the orders in his kitchen and preparing them for the waiters.
Galiano’s is known for its Italian cuisine and its generous portion sizes. Everything is made from scratch at Galiano’s. John mentioned their signature dishes: Scaloppini alla Veronica, their Antipasto Misto, a Filetto Tre Sapori, home made Lasagna as well as their Quattro Stagioni Pizza. John recommended that I try Galiano’s Calamari Fritti. Just about 10 minutes after my order a steaming plate of juicy and tasty calamari arrived, the perfect introduction to a filling meal. I followed it up with a Galiano Salad: a huge plate of salad with cold cuts and cheese. John wasn’t kidding when he talked about huge portion sizes!
John of course had to get back to work after our little chat, but I thoroughly enjoyed my evening meal and by the time I was finished, the lineup was stretching all the way out the door and down the street. Galiano’s is obviously a favourite destination for many in Old Montreal and for me it was a great starting point for my evening discoveries which would include the official Canada Day Celebrations and a big concert in the Old Port of Montreal.
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Montreal which is in Quebec is not very far from Toronto and actually has a lot of similarities with Toronto. Montreal is far less diversified and populated then Toronto though, but you can find a lot of world class attractions to visit while in the region. Montreal has a lot of French speaking Canadians living there so it would help if you could speak French, some of the locals only speak French as well so you might have trouble communicating with locals like vendors and taxi drivers if you don’t know a bit of French. Apart from that though there is nothing else you need to be concerned about when traveling to Montreal as it’s one of the premiere destinations for tourists in Canada.
Like most Canadian cities that boast good tourism there is an NHL hockey team the Montreal Canadians. They are adored by the home crowd and over the past couple years have really turned things around and began competing deep in the playoffs. This has only increased the tourism in Montreal as more people want to see them over their rivals Toronto and with good reason too. Partly because there better then Toronto and the other reason begin because ticket prices are overpriced in Toronto.
Once you get a hockey game in then you’ll feel a lot more comfortable and you can then begin seeing some of the marvelous attractions over the next few days that you’re in the region. One of the most visited attractions would be the Botanical Gardens in Montreal which has over thirty different specialized gardens for there over 20,000 plant species. If you’re a plant lover then you’ll see nothing more wonderful then the Botanical Gardens except for possibly in some areas of Asia. The attraction also has the largest Chinese garden in the world apart from Asia which makes it a definite hot spot on many world travelers minds. A lot of tourists come from Asia to visit the Gardens and Montreal’s tourism relies heavily on the Botanical Gardens.
There is also a part of the city known as Old Montreal which is given its name due to the old dated architecture and it’s another piece to the puzzle as to why Montreal is such a popular tourist area. It’s like Europe away from Europe and many European travelers make sure too check out the architecture that so many people talk about.
Montreal is one of the most cultural cities in North America and offers a piece of every corner of the world in one medium sized city. Apart from all the tourist attractions Montreal is also popular for an active nightclub scene that features rows of bars and clubs for people to visit. Many are open all night and there are tons of clubs that are hidden and if you find them you may have the party of your life, so for young people Montreal also has lots to offer.
Summer festivals are the Canadian way of celebrating the season and truly enjoying the best of the glorious sunshine and all round good cheer. Across Canada, summer festivals add an air of festivity with a wide range of entertainments and exciting events.The Fringe Festival represents the spirit of summer festivals in Canada. This is where anyone can perform and get away with appreciation. These perform or perish events grant the performers one whole minute to win the audience or retreat. Events include dance, music, comedy shows, drama, musicals, theatre and more. Audience can use the festival guide to help decide what to watch from the literally hundreds on show. Fringe Festivals can be found in cities including Toronto, Vancouver, Edmonton, Victoria, Ottawa, London and many more.Canada’s summer festivals celebrate music like none other. The Cisco Systems Bluesfest in Ottawa, Ontario is a perfect example. Anything from Cuban music to jam bands can be expected at this extremely exhilarating music fest. To add to the melee there are the side shows and the overall festival atmosphere.Here’s one for the funny bone. Canada’s summer festival celebration sets great store by comedy shows. The Funnyfest Comedy Festival in Calgary, Alberta is where the good humor spreads good vibes all around. Hilarious comedy shows, stand up comics that make you double over, and plenty of laughing matter is on for about 16 nights incorporating over a hundred performers. It’s a punch line a minute attack that will have you ROFL.Montreal of course has the Just for Laughs Festival and the Giggleshots-International Comedy Short Film Festival in Toronto is the largest of its kind in the world and everything you’ve heard about it is true. This major event is now all set to be staged in the UK.The Canada Dance Festival in Ottawa began in 1987 and is growing stronger by the year. It is now the primary showcase for professional dancers to strut their stuff. Get ready to witness an awesome range of performances that will have you entranced. The Toronto International Tango Festival is another venue where dancers from all over the world come to stage their passion for tango.Folk Festivals are held as part of summer festivals in Canada in Ottawa, Calgary, Winnipeg, and Edmonton among other places. All sorts of music from all over the world including Celtic, aboriginal, country, swing, and anything else you can think of are performed with gusto, and uninterrupted for four days.No celebration can be complete without wine and beer. Canada’s summer festivals celebrate this in style at the Great Canadian Beer Festival in Victoria, BC. Contrary to conclusions one may jump to, this is not a drink all you can fest but rather an upmarket venture where the quality of the beer has to be irreproachable as does the integrity of the brewer. It’s more a celebration of the craft of beer brewing and its artistic aspect. The Niagara Wine Festival is a magnet that draws visitors in their thousands to the area. It runs in a series including the Ice-wine Festival, the New Vintage Festival, and finally the Niagara Wine Festival.
Cananda | 
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