MARVELLOUS MONTREAL

Montreal’s an endlessly surprising, delightfully anarchic metropolis but it can be brutally hot in the summer and frigid come the winter. Fall being one of the best times to visit, here are some suggestions for your autumnal trip, writes Patrick Langston.

POINTE-À-CALLIÈRE MUSEUM (350 Place Royale)

Rising above the remains of Montreal’s birthplace, this complex is Canada’s largest archaeological museum and houses hundreds of thousands of artifacts dating back some 4,000 years. A lice comb, a Jesuit ring from the New France period, an ornate 19th-century cash register: combined with a tour of in situ archaeological remains, such artifacts create a keen sense of what it’s meant to be a Montrealer over the centuries and of indigenous peoples’ life before the arrival of Europeans.

In addition to permanent exhibitions, the museum hosts temporary exhibits.

Until Oct. 18: Of Horses and Men – The Émile Hermès Collection, which traces the history of the horse and its relationship with man.

Until Jan. 8, 2017: Fragments of Humanity, an exhibit of 350 artifacts delineating Québec archeology. The museum, a much-awarded national historical site in Montreal’s popular old port area, is open Tuesday to Sunday; see website for hours and admission prices. 514-8729150, pacmusee.qc.ca

JEAN-TALON MARKET (7070 Avenue Henri-Julien)

Markets generally sell fruit and vegetables, meats and cheeses. Montreal’s famed Jean-Talon Market, which dates back to 1933, sells those, and it also carries blood pudding (made by Cochon tout ronds), specialty beers and wines (get with the program, Ontario!), bison and cranberry pie (who knew?), woollen socks (winter’s coming), and bamboo toothbrushes (great stocking stuffers).

Fact is, you could outfit a good chunk of your home by visiting this beloved and rambunctious market in Montreal’s Little Italy. Even the website overflows with good things, including recipes such as cream of corn soup and fennel-apple-mint salsa.

Open seven days a week from 7 a.m., the market is a four-minute walk from the Jean-Talon Métro station, and parking at the market is just 50 cents for 30 minutes.

Also in Little Italy: restaurants, shops, people-watching and the stunning Church of the Madonna della Difesa, 6800 Avenue Henri Julien.

Market information: 514-9377754, marchespublics-mtl.com

ST. JOSEPH’S ORATORY OF MOUNT ROYAL (3800 Chemin Queen Mary)

It may seem quaint, but pilgrims still climb the 99 wooden steps of this magnificent oratory on their knees, in the belief that Saint Brother André, who built the original chapel more than a century ago, will intercede with the divine on their behalf. The thousands of crutches left behind by those claiming to be cured by André suggest the pilgrims may be on to something. André died in 1937 and was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1982.

One way or another, the site — including the Basilica, with its Renaissance-themed exterior and contemporary interior — is well worth your visit, especially when fall colours the leaves of Mount Royal. The site includes not just the monumental Basilica, but the original chapel, a smaller crypt-style church, and a votive chapel with 10,000 lights and candles. There are also lovely gardens.

Except for the gardens, the oratory is open year-round: 1-877672-8647, saint-joseph.org

FOOD TRUCKS

Urban food trucks aren’t unusual, but these gifts to lovers of street life seem never to pale. In Montreal, the menu ranges from Super Truck’s salade cone (smoked duck breast, amaretto poached apples and other delights) to DAS Food Truck’s chicken schnitzel and Bleu Homard’s Acadian lobster and its blue poutine made with cod fritters, cheese curds and blue cheese.

The trucks can also serve as an introduction to interesting areas; for example, Pas d ’cochon dans mon salon (pulled pork sandwiches and more) sometimes frequents historical Victoria Square at the intersection of Beaver Hall Hill and McGill Street.

Not surprisingly, the trucks are most abundant in the summer — from May to October, dozens congregate on the first Friday of every month at Olympic Stadium — but several soldier on through the winter and appear at events such as Montréal en lumière (festival of light).

Visit cuisinederue.org to discover the city’s food trucks.

CRESCENT STREET

The perpetually busy, jumbled strip of low-rise Victorian buildings between Sherbrooke and Sainte-Catherine streets has, since the late 1960s been a spot much favoured by hip young professionals, students and tourists for unwinding, seeing and being seen (plenty of outdoor seating), and partying late into the night.

The street abounds with restaurants, including Boustan, a Lebanese-Canadian eatery reportedly once frequented by former prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau. It also hosts a couple of art galleries and shops, such as Shan, which specializes in high-end swimwear, clothing and accessories for men and women. Some folks bemoan the strip’s lost, late-1960s “authenticity,” but mostly that’s a case of rosecoloured glasses impinging on their view.

Crescent Street is also within walking distance of the Musée des beaux-arts on Sherbrooke Street, the excellent Canadian Centre for Architecture museum on Baile Street, and pretty much everything else that’s cool about downtown Montreal.