Tourist information -
Calais
Calais is less than 40km from England - the Channel's
shortest crossing - and is by far the busiest French passenger port.
The port (and its accompanying petrochemical works) dominates the
town; in fact, there's not much else here. In the last war the British
destroyed it to prevent it being used as a base for a German invasion,
but the French still refer to it as "the most English town
in France", an influence that began after the battle of Crécy
in 1346, when Edward III seized it for use as a beachhead in the
Hundred Years War. It remained in English hands until 1558, when
its loss caused Mary Tudor famously to say: "When I am dead
and opened, you shall find Calais lying in my heart." The association
has been maintained by various Brits across the centuries: Lady
Emma Hamilton, Lord Nelson's mistress; Oscar Wilde on his uppers;
Nottingham lacemakers who set up business in the early nineteenth
century; and, nowadays, nine million British travellers per year,
plus another million-odd day-trippers.
Calais divides in two: Calais-Nord , the old town rebuilt after
the war, with the drab place d'Armes and rue Royale as its focus,
is separated by canals from sprawling Calais-Sud , centred around
the Hôtel de Ville and the main shopping streets, boulevards
Lafayette and Jacquard - the latter named after the inventor of
looms, who mechanized Calais' lacemaking industry.
Although Calais-Nord is nominally the old town, its charms soon
wear thin. The medieval Tour du Guet , on place d'Armes, is the
only building in the quarter to have survived wartime bombardment.
From the Tour, rue de la Paix leads to the church of Notre-Dame
, where Charles de Gaulle married local girl Yvonne Vendroux in
1921. Rather spuriously dubbed the only English Perpendicular church
on the continent, it's not a particularly good example of the style,
especially in its present state of dereliction. Frill-fanciers can
enjoy the unusual lacemaking exhibition, along with a small collection
of nineteenth-century sculptures, in the Musée des Beaux-Arts
et de la Dentelle on rue Richelieu (Mon & Wed-Fri 10am-noon
& 2-5.30pm, Sat 10am-noon & 2-6.30pm, Sun 2-6.30pm; 15F/?2.29),
which runs alongside the Parc Richelieu, at the other end of rue
Royale from the place d'Armes.
Calais-Sud is scarcely more exciting. Just over the canal bridge,
the town's landmark, the Hôtel de Ville , raises its belfry
over 60m into the sky; this Flemish extravaganza was finished in
1926, and miraculously survived World War II. Somewhat dwarfed by
the building, Rodin's famous bronze, the Burghers of Calais , records
for ever the self-sacrifice of local dignitaries, who offered their
lives to assuage the blood lust of the victor at Crécy, Edward
III - only to be spared at the last minute by the intervention of
Queen Philippa, Edward's wife. For a record of Calais' wartime travails
you can consult the fascinating Musée de la Guerre (April-Sept
daily 10am-6pm; Oct-Nov & Feb-March daily except Tues 11am-5pm;
15F/?2.29), installed in a former German Blockhaus in the Parc St-Pierre
across the street, with exhibits of uniforms, weapons and models
from World War II and a small section devoted to World War I.
Don't bother walking into town from the ferry terminal
(Calais-Maritime train station): there's a free daytime bus service
to place d'Armes and the central Calais-Ville train station in Calais-Sud.
Buses for the outlying hypermarkets and the gare TGV (Calais-Fréthun)
leave from in front of Calais-Ville train station. If you're intent
on hitching to Paris, take a left out of the ferry terminal - the
new autoroute bypass begins almost immediately, leading to both
the A26 and the original N1. If you plan to rent a car we are there!
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