Rue Saint-Paul and Place Royale (Old Montreal)

This is where you read the city's deepest layer. Rue Saint-Paul is the oldest street, and Place Royale is the founding ground; the grey-limestone warehouse façades are mostly Victorian over French colonial bones. Walk it at 7am when it's empty and the low light rakes the stone. The crowds erase the architecture by midday.

The city's oldest commercial street and its founding square — French colonial bones under Victorian warehouse façades, in grey limestone.

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