Project 365 – Day 140: Île de la Visitation

May 19 2012

Tonight I went up to Île de la Visitation with some friends for a picnic, and of course to take some pics. With plenty of food and wine flowing, I almost missed the sunset, but just managed to catch the following shot looking across the Rivière des Prairies towards Laval.

Sunset over the Rivière des Prairies

Île de la Visitation is on the north of the island of Montreal, just east of ave Papineau. I didn’t end up taking too many pictures and will be revisiting over the summer to get some shots of the key attractions including; the ruins of the des Moulins site, the Maison du Pressoir and the Maison du Meunier. This evening I mainly shot the inlet of the Rivière des Prairies that separates the Island from Montreal.

Île-de-la-Visitation Nature Park

The main entrance to the park takes you by the ruins of the des Moulins Watermill. Unfortunately much of the ruins are fenced off currently, perhaps for renovation work. The watermill was in operation from 1726 to 1960.

I should have photographed the ruins on my way in, as it was dark by the time we left and the ruins weren’t illuminated as much as I had remembered on my previous visits – maybe due to the renovation. So, unfortunately on this trip I was only able to get a shot looking across the bridge leading to the Île de la Visitation.

Ruins of des Moulins Watermill

At the entrance to the park there is a pretty good restaurant called the Bistro des Moulins. It has a nice terrace that runs alongside some small rapids. You will often see a heron sitting on a rock in the center of the rapids catching fish.