degas

We plan to visit the Oratoire St-Joseph, St. Patrick's Basilica and Notre-Dame Basilica, but can usually fit a few more in.

What are your favorites and where are they located? Isn't there a "sailors church" in the old town area that not many tourists see?

JQReports

The sailors' church is Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel at 400 St-Paul East, also the site of the Marguerite Bourgeoys museum.

At Union and Ste-Catherine is Christ Church Cathedral.

St. James United Church at 473 Ste-Catherine West. This is trickier, the facade is blocked by a block of store fronts, though plans are in the works to remove them and restore the church. If you walk up City Councillors to Mayor, you can see the back of the church, recently cleaned, and its beautiful architecture.

This is my personal opinion only, but I would skip St-Joseph's Oratory unless you have promised to light a candle or you are doing penance and are planning on scaling the stairs on your knees.

degas

Thanks JQReports, but why so down on St-Joseph's Oratory? Will be going there as part of a walk in the park/cemetary's and thought the views would be nice.

JQReports

Architectually or artistically, the Oratory has no redeeming qualities inside or out. As for views, it is on the backside of Westmount and while you may be able to see a long ways it is a lot less interesting than the view from the other side. Westmount has a smaller lookout than Mount Royal.

zootsi

We visited St. Joseph's a few years ago. It is quite impressive from the outside, and the grounds are pleasant, but the inside is nothing special.The most memorable sight was seeing people climing the many stairs to the church while on their knees, and in prayer.

degas

Okay, I'll keep my expectations low and expect to move on quickly.

We plan to take the metro to St-Joseph's and then walk down through the park on Mont Royal. Guess we'll have views on both sides. Thought this would save us some hill climbing.

Think I'll pass on the knee prayers on the stairs.

christellefv

I was told that at 3pm at the ORatory, there is a special bell ringing thing.. The guy plays many bells, the old fashioned way, making songs.. The person who saw that said it was very neat.

Daniel_Williams

While I'll agree that the inside of the Oratory (Metro: Cote des Neiges, blue line) is nothing special, while the outside may appear to perhaps an architect's eyes is not noteworthy... to a simple commoner as myself, I find the Oratory majestic in its enormity with copper roof and tamed ground. I live in its shadow and even though I work miles away I can still see its body and roof clearly. I will tell you though that you have a bit of a walk from the Oratory to Parc Mont Royal, but the frequent 165 bus on Chemin Cote des Neiges will get you there (get off at "the Boulevard" for the mountain... ask a pleasant-seeming fellow passenger in French or English). While near the Oratory, I highly recommend going to Atlantique at Queen Mary/Cote des Neiges corner for a bit of strudel. Yum yum.

BTW there are a TON of *gorgeous* churches in Montreal. Ones I like include (I never remember church names!) Eglise St. Viateur (near corner of Laurier & Cote Ste Catherine), another Protestant one (St. Peter & Paul or something) on Sherbrooke next to the Musee des Beaux Arts, the church on the corner of University & Ste. Catherine downtown (totally forgot name), not to mention the Basilique Notre Dame in Old Montreal. This is a very incomplete list, but gorgeous churches is not something Montreal is lacking in...

Cheers, DAN