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montreal plateau

Montreal is home to some of the best restaurants in Canada. Whether you're in the mood for Lebanese cuisine, African, Southeast Asian, Italian or Polish food, Montreal has got you covered and then some.

While you'll find some of the most delicious eateries in every corner of the city, the Plateau is easily one of the most culinary diverse boroughs across Montreal. With well-known streets such as Rachel, Mont-Royal, Saint-Denis and Saint Laurent all being home to some of the top restaurants, it's safe to say that the Plateau is the spot to experience Montreal's food scene.

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Montreal has a brand-new thermal spa just in time for the colder season. Located beneath the bustling streets of Montreal's Plateau-Mont-Royal lays Spa Carré Saint-Louis, a new addition to the city's wellness scene offering a complete thermotherapy and massage therapy experience.

Whether you need a massage, some much-needed time alone or a really good hot tub soak, Spa Carré Saint-Louis has it all. The spa includes a jacuzzi pool, a traditional eucalyptus hammam, a dry sauna, a cold bath, showers, massage rooms, a relaxation area and changing rooms.

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The City of Montreal has unveiled its 2023 bike path plans. Officials say the 53 projects are designed to both improve existing infrastructure as well as extend the city's cycling network, amounting to 59.1 kilometres of changes.

The 2023 projects aren't just about plopping new bike lanes onto city streets, Montreal Executive Committee Member Responsible for Transportation and Mobility Sophie Mauzerolle assured in a press release. Instead, she said, "we're looking for a better sharing of space so that all users can get around safely." She cited Montreal's Vision Zero strategy, which aims to achieve zero annual deaths on the road network by 2040.

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Part of the Plateau will become a pedestrian paradise ahead of schedule this summer, as several streets close to cars and open up to foot traffic and cyclists.

Mont-Royal will go car-free as of May 20, while Duluth will follow on June 19. The move is part of a wider push to make the borough more accessible to residents.

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Montreal's Plateau-Mont-Royal borough is about to become even more pedestrian friendly. Its borough council has committed to six changes to its road network aimed at making surrounding neighbourhoods safer for cyclists and people travelling by foot. Among the changes to select street sections are direction reversals, pedestrianizations and the institution of one-way traffic.

The complete list of traffic tweaks, per a borough council press release, is as follows:

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You probably know and avoid it: the 60-year-old underpass between Rosemont–La-Petite-Patrie and the Plateau-Mont-Royal on avenue Christophe-Colomb — three wide lanes of car traffic, narrow sidewalks and a bike path smushed together in a long stretch of concrete and asphalt. It's ugly and it's dangerous. Montreal counted 95 collisions involving cyclists and pedestrians on Christophe-Colomb between 2018 and 2022. The city knows it sucks. So it's going to redo it.

Montreal's Executive Committee announced on February 17 that it had awarded a $23,588,576.72 contract to renovate the underpass. The city says the work will "contribute to the safe sharing of the underpass' road space" and will include new and improved bike paths, better "user-friendliness" and urban integration, new vegetation, more accessible sidewalks, and a new "stopping and relaxation area to reduce heat islands and to promote a more appropriate sharing of the area between pedestrians and cyclists."

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You can keep an eye out for Rupi Kaur in the streets of Montreal this month. The Instagram-popular Canadian poet will be stopping in the Plateau as part of her world tour.

Fans can catch the New York Times best selling author recite her works — part angst-ridden, part balm for the soul — on December 14, accompanied by fellow poets Zoey Roy and Nēlla Tetam. The show will feature theatrical spoken word performances interlaced with original music scores and stand-up.

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After several pandemic summers during which the number of terrasses nearly doubled, the city of Montreal is granting the Plateau lower rates for reserving terrasse space in the hopes that it will help maintain the area's thriving commercial streets.

The rates had already been lowered during 2020 and 2021 as a temporary pandemic relief measure, so the new discount is measured against the 2019 rates. In some cases, it's almost a 50% decrease compared to 2019.

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The views expressed in this Opinion article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Narcity Media.

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An STM bus crashed into a building near the corner of rues Beaubien and Clark in Montreal's Plateau-Mont-Royal borough after a collision with another vehicle early Thursday morning.

Photos shared with MTL Blog and its sister outlet Narcity Québec show significant damage to the façade of a one-storey brick structure.

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If you've walked near McGill University or hiked up Mount Royal lately, you've probably noticed the massive new mural taking shape on the side of a Plateau residential building. The 160-foot tribute to famed painter Jean-Paul Riopelle was unveiled this week, commemorating 100 years since the Quebec artist's birth in the neighbourhood.

The work, titled Magnetic Art, depicts a bird swooping over a colourful circle, reflecting Riopelle's love of nature. It was painted by contemporary artist Marc Séguin, who has studied Riopelle for over 30 years and claims the artist as one of his idols.

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Montreal is a city of dense but distinct neighbourhoods, each with its own vibe and culture, history and personality. This eclectic urban patchwork has given rise to neighbourhood stereotypes, some misguided but most good-humoured, painfully effective jabs at some of our zaniest collective traits.

A recent Reddit post (shared here with permission) by Los Angeles resident Mark Rad (u/Persianx6) sought to expose Montrealers' perceptions of their neighbours, asking users to "imagine each neighbourhood in Montreal is a guest at a massive house party" and describe their behaviour.

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