North America has only three countries officially, yet culturally manages to be an amazingly varied continent. There’s no better example than the robust, vibrant francophone culture of Canada’s Quebec province. Its historic capital (pop. 541,000, metro 806,000), even more than larger, higher-profile, and more multicultural Montreal, is a lovely place to experience this close up, and summer is when la Ville de Québec truly blossoms. Founded by explorer Samuel de Champlain in 1608 at the site of an Iroquoi village on the Cap Diamant promontory in the St. Lawrence River (whose name, Stadacona, is the original source of the name Canada). And the city’s historic old quarter, Vieux Québec, charmingly showcases its more than 400... keep reading