Know much about Saguenay or Arvida?

[ironin]

Having a tough time getting good info. on the Saguenay area (other than the beautiful fjord and possibility of seeing beluga whales :)). One thing that caught our eye was the Arvida district. It's history reminds us a lot of Port Sunlight on the Wirral Peninsula in the UK. We had a marvelous time wandering around Port Sunlight. They also had a very nice small museum about the development's history. Is there anything similar for Arvida? I understand there is another former company town nearby.

 

Thus far, all we've found is a ship's tour that sounds like it just does a drive-by on its way to drive by other places. Our thinking is to rent a car ourselves and check out the boroughs of Saguenay and nearby area. Not looking to drive back down the fjord itself as we are also spending a day cruising it. Would greatly appreciate suggestions.

[alabama ghost]

We docked in Saguenay last year and took a ship's tour which was a drive by of various things: the house that survived the flood, the paper mill and a drive through several of the towns. Would not do that tour again. What we enjoyed most was being around the dock...the people put on quite a show for us, dancing, blueberry pies, animals, a little of everything. I had wanted to see the whales but we couldn't figure out a way to do that in the short time we would be there.

 

I heard last year several people on cruise critic talking about renting a car, think that would probably be a good option. I think the problem last year was finding someone who spoke English when they called the rental car companies.

 

Enjoy!

[cd]

For info on Saguenay

 

 

http://www.cruisesaintlawrence.com/EN/stopovers/activity/6/Saguenay.aspx

[ironin]

Thanks to both of you for the quick responses. Alabama Ghost: I think you took the same tour we were looking at and were afraid it was merely a series of "drive bys." Thanks for confirming our suspicions.

 

CD: Wow! What a great site! (Didn't come up when I did Google/Bing searches - maybe I just overlooked it or asked the wrong questions ;)) Had almost all the information I was looking for, what with the downloadable maps/brochures and tips about a self-guided walking tour book for Arvida. Really helps. Looks like we'll have no problem putting together our own loop of sites and views interesting to us. Now, I need to find out if National is still willing to have a car waiting by the pier instead of at the airport. I've heard they are very accommodating. THANK YOU AGAIN!

[Earl Rosebery]

Thanks to both of you for the quick responses. Alabama Ghost: I think you took the same tour we were looking at and were afraid it was merely a series of "drive bys." Thanks for confirming our suspicions.

 

CD: Wow! What a great site! (Didn't come up when I did Google/Bing searches - maybe I just overlooked it or asked the wrong questions ;)) Had almost all the information I was looking for, what with the downloadable maps/brochures and tips about a self-guided walking tour book for Arvida. Really helps. Looks like we'll have no problem putting together our own loop of sites and views interesting to us. Now, I need to find out if National is still willing to have a car waiting by the pier instead of at the airport. I've heard they are very accommodating. THANK YOU AGAIN!

 

Arvida itself was a small model city in the Lake St John area. It was a company town with many of the houses owned by the Alum Co.The largest city in the area is Chicoutimi. Others are Jonquiere, Alma etc. Arvida was named for ARthur VIning DAvis who was originally with ALCOA and I Imagine helped conceive the smelter which became the backbone of ALCAN and Canada's aluminum industry. It was located there because of cheap power and labor and the nearby deepwater port where bauxite could be brought in from jamaica and South America.

 

 

When I worked there in the summer of 1963 the bosses and professionals were English or European. I haven't been back but it must be 99% french speaking by now

 

Arvida boomed juring the war as perhaps the largest aluminum smelter in the world. But there is not much to see there except perhaps a tour of the smelter and a large Hydro electric dam at Shipshaw.