Category Archives: City Travel

Active City Travel’s best tips for where to go, where to stay, what to do, where to eat on your next active city vacation.

Discover Montreal’s Best Shopping for Foodies

Discover Montreal’s best shopping for foodies. Spade & Palacio Tours will show you the best places to buy and try all things edible in the north end of Montreal.

Good friends Danny Pavlopoulos and Anne-Marie Pellerin met in a Montreal tour guide course. And upon graduation, they decided to form their own company, Spade & Palacio.

Ever since then, they’ve educated visitors and native Montrealers alike on the very best food products available in their ‘hood: the Mile End and Mile X section of the city.

Pavlopoulos and Pellerin want their clients to walk away with a true local experience. So how do they select the stops for their tour?

“The selected locations are actually our favorite hangouts. We have spent hours in each of them enjoying their products. We call them our living rooms. The products are the best in their league, hands down,” says Pavlopoulos.

The lively three-hour tour starts with the best pupusas in the Latin Quarter at Salvadorian restaurant Los Planes and finishes with a picnic meal of Southern barbecue from Triple Crown at Parc de la Petite-Italie at the junction of St Laurent and St. Zotique in the north end of Montreal.

Les Bonnes Tomates du Quebec
Les Bonnes Tomates photo credit: John Cameron

In between, there’s serious food shopping at the Jean-Talon Market and surrounding areas.

“We show our guests around the way we would with a friend from out of town. We are proud to be part of only a handful of tour companies that share this ideology in the city,” adds Pavlopoulos. “We aim to teach and to share our neighborhood experiences with our guests.”

Since 1934, the Jean-Talon Market has supplied Montreal with fresh Quebec products and specialty items from around the world. Jean-Talon Market is open every day, year-round.

Visitors will find a variety of produce (including organic and pesticide-free items); flowers and fine herbs; fish and meat; and ice cream and sorbet made with local fresh fruits like sweet Quebec strawberries.

Delicious barbecued lamb, pork and chicken sandwiches as well as bison on a stick, makes the market a great lunch destination.

The Jean-Talon Market is also a great spot to sample Quebec wines and ciders around a cozy outdoor bar that allows for great people watching.

Danny Palacio of Spade & Palacio
Danny Palacio (on left) photo credit: Sherel Purcell

At the Jean-Talon Market, participants will meet unique vendors such as the “Sausage Pimp,” who produces tasty items like shrimp and scallop sausages.

Spade & Palacio can also show how to get the best deals on produce by shopping the back lanes of the stalls for bulk sales on produce that can be whipped into hearty soups and sauces to be frozen for later use.

Brasserie Harricana
Brasserie Harricana

At nearby Brasserie Harricana, guests discover a variety of tasty microbrews served with a spicy take on the famous French fry and cheese curd dish: poutine.

A short walk away into the light industrial area of Mile X, visitors can buy vacuum-packed bags of fair trade Ethiopian, Peruvian and Columbian beans from Dispatch Coffee , used in their excellent cold filtered brew.

Down the street, check out Manitoba restaurant, where the dinner menu changes frequently, based on the fresh and wild food items available – as it should be in a restaurant that prioritizes natural ingredients sourced locally.

These are all served in a cool redesigned space with an inviting patio attached that focuses on the great outdoors.

Rest assured that Spade & Palacio will show you the very best food products available in their ‘hood.

What’s New in Tampa

Hoping to join 2020 Stanley Cup Champs the Tampa Bay Lightning on the top step of the podium, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are hosting Kansas City in Super Bowl LV. The game will be played at Raymond James Stadium, home of the Buccaneers. This is the second consecutive year the Super Bowl has been held in the Sunshine State.

Tampa Bay, including St. Petersburg and Clearwater Beach, has a combined population of 3 million people. A diverse economy, a warm temperate climate and a lower than national average cost of living have made Tampa the third most populous city in Florida.

Where to Stay

The only Four-Diamond hotel downtown, Le Méridien has transformed a 100-year-old US. Federal courthouse into a 130 room boutique hotel.

Le Meridien, Tampa
Le Meridien, Tampa photo credit: Sherel Purcell

Impossibly high ceilings, wide hallways with polished terrazzo floors remain intact from its previous incarnation as a courthouse.

Bizou Brasserie
Bizou Brasserie photo credit: Sherel Purcell

Open for all-day dining, on site bistro Bizou Brasserie was a former courtroom. Le Meridien is a member of the prestigious Historic Hotels of America.

Fun things to do 

Get a day pass and explore Tampa Bay from the water on the bright yellow pirate water taxis. Board downtown and ferry up the Hillsborough River to Tampa Heights.

Walk or bike the Riverwalk which runs along the Hillsborough River and Garrison Channel for 2.4 miles.

University of Tampa
University of Tampa photo credit: Sherel Purcell

Look across the Hillsborough River to the west bank – the silver minarets and ornate Victorian gingerbread adorn entrepreneur Henry Plant’s Tampa Bay Hotel, opened in 1891, now occupied by the University of Tampa.

Tampa Museum of Art
Tampa Museum of Art photo credit: John Cameron

If you’re staying at Le Méridien, a guest day pass to the nearby Tampa Museum of Art is complimentary. The museum balances its permanent antiquities collection with a  strong commitment to showing contemporary art.

Amalie Arena Tampa
Amalie Arena photo credit: Sherel Purcell

Hockey fans are passionate about watching their home team The  Lightning trounce visitors at downtown Amalie Arena.  Amalie Arena is also used for music concerts and basketball.

TPC Tampa Bay
TPC Tampa Bay photo credit: Sherel Purcell

Golf where the pros do at the Bobby Weed designed 18-hole TPC Tampa Bay course, a 25 minute drive from Tampa. An annual stop on the PGA Champions Tour for 21 consecutive years, Golf Digest gave this course a 4 ½ star rating.  The course winds through natural wetlands, ponds and lagoons and a variety of tee boxes allows golfers of all levels the opportunity to score well.  After your round, grab a bite or a drink on the patio at iCUATRO Restaurant & Bar and watch golfers play into the 18th green.

Where to Eat 

Armature Works

Armature Works Tampa, Florida
Armature Works photo credit: Sherel Purcell

Tampa’s newest and most exciting spot for casual dining is Armature Works, a renovated trolley barn in Tampa Heights. Think multi-ethnic, tapas style, with the freshest ingredients and great prices. Try the creative cocktails at Fine & Dandy, the Cuban soul food at Hemingway’s or dine al fresco at M. Bird’s rooftop patio.

Pizza Margherita from Ava at Armature Works
Pizza Margherita photo credit: Sherel Purcell

Popular Italian restaurant Ava also serves its famous wood-fired pies in trendy Armature Works. Ava chef Joshua Hernandez wows with the classic Neopolitan pizza -the Margherita.

The Columbia

Professional and attentive service are usually a good thing but at The Columbia in historic Ybor City, I feel like a tourist cog in a well oiled money-making machine. Customers pour through the doors in busloads for dinner and a Flamenco floor show.

Oxford Exchange

Oxford Exchange, Tampa
Oxford Exchange, Tampa photo credit: John Cameron

A classic bistro with century old brickwork, diffused light from the glass roof and a contemporary menu make The Oxford Exchange a perfect, relaxed breakfast/brunch/lunch spot. After dining,  shop for curated lifestyle home furnishings,  the latest books and eye glasses.

Ulele

Ulele Tampa
Ulele Tampa photo credit: John Cameron

The owners of the Columbia, Florida’s oldest restaurant, created this popular restaurant in Tampa Heights and named  it for the Native American princess, Ulele. Ulele’s creative Native Indian inspired menu showcases fresh-caught fish from the nearby Gulf of Mexico. Start with the fantastic Barbacoa-grilled oysters, with garlic butter, grated Parmesan and Romano cheeses and wash them down with a flight of great craft brews from Ulele’s on-site brewery.