Quebec City

The walled city on the cliff

Samuel de Champlain founded Quebec in 1608 on a cliff where the St. Lawrence narrows, and the name comes from an Algonquian word meaning roughly "where the river narrows." It is the only city in North America north of Mexico that still has most of its fortified walls, and the old town inside them has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1985. The city's defining battle took just a few minutes. In 1759, British troops climbed the cliffs at night and met the French on the Plains of Abraham, and both commanders, Wolfe and Montcalm, died of their wounds. That battle effectively decided that Canada would become British, yet the city stayed overwhelmingly French-speaking. The Château Frontenac, a railway hotel opened in 1893, dominates the skyline and is often called the most photographed hotel in the world. Churchill and Roosevelt met there twice during the Second World War to plan the invasion of Europe. Every winter the city holds a carnival led by Bonhomme, a snowman with a red cap and a sash, and builds him an ice palace.