We enjoyed a relaxing morning and Ton whipped up a nice breakfast before we set out for Calais. We began by repeating our walk from yesterday up the promenade to see a giant mechanical dragon that had caught Tons fancy. It is a giant thing on wheels that is about 30 feet tall, for a significant fee you can purchase a ticket to ride on the back. Right as we entered the promenade I saw it in the distance moving around. By the time we arrived it had retreated to its lair (in this case a large glass building), and it didn’t look like it was coming out. We hung around hoping for a few minutes but then the crew that operates it walked away so we decided to move on.
We had a pleasant stroll thru town, and while it was windy we decided it was slightly less windy than yesterday. The first part of the town is on an island and guards the mouth of the ancient harbor that put Calais on the map. Today the main town is on the mainland, and the old town is mostly restaurants and hotels catering to tourists.
We had seen a large clock tower off in the distance from the campground that is attached to the Hotel de Ville (town hall) so that was the next stop on our impromptu walking tour. In addition to the clock tower which wasn’t as nice up close as from a distance there was a statue by Rodin in the gardens.
The statue by Rodin commemorates 6 burghers of Calais who surrendered the town to the English after a long seige in the 1300’s. They were to be executed but the English kings wife intervened to grant them clemency. I liked this piece a lot but Ton was not as impressed.
Calais was once a center for lace production so we decided to head to the lace district and check out the church there. After another longish walk we arrived at a square full of cars with a large church. Ton wasn’t impressed she looked at me and said since we walked all of this way I will take a picture. She took her picture and said what is next?
The art museum was free today, or possibly is free everyday we never quite sorted that out, but we arrived about 10 minutes before it officially opened at 1pm and took a seat in the lobby. There were four workers at the front desk staring at us and we in turn stared at them while we waited for the countdown to the stroke of 1pm. Finally, at 12:58 one of the workers came over and invited us in, only to be chastised by another worker, she then turned sheepishly to us and said 2 more minutes. Precisely at 1pm we were presented our free tickets and allowed to enter.
It was a mix of art from many ages and while small there were some interesting paintings and sculptures from different ages that kept us engaged. A large part of it was being remodeled so the displays didn’t take that long to get thru.
There was a film running about a French artist named Zlotykamien who may have been the original graffiti artist. He started out as a fairly renown artist in the 50’s, but was looking for a different canvas for his work. He found it by painting figures he called ephemerals on walls in cities. Art is in the eye of the beholder, I am not sure if I came across his stuff on a wall in Calais I would recognize it as the work of a famous artist. You can look at the picture below and be your own judge.
The next stop was the highlight of the day for me. This region is famous for a dish called the Welsh Sandwich. It is a dish consisting primarily of melted cheddar cheese with something floating in it. Why it is called a Welsh sandwich is a bit of a mystery as there is no bread in it, and no direct connection to Wales. We headed to the L’Hovercraft Cafe as they were supposed to have the best Welsh Sandwiches.
We sat down and I opened the menu to find they had 18 different Welsh Sandwiches on the menu. I went with the traditional one which consists of ham and an egg with lots of cheddar cheese. As a fan of cheddar cheese I was in heaven, but even I had to admit it was a lot of cheese. To give your heart a complete workout it was served with fries. Ton ordered the plate of the day which consisted of potatoes swimming in a different kind of cheese and a charcuterie plate.
We decided at lunch there were a couple of other places in the region we wanted to stay so we decided to add a third night to our stay here. When we arrived at the campground I asked for a third night and they were happy to oblige, and then told me it would cost €1.20. It turns out if you stay three nights the third one is free except for a tax. We were quite pleased.
Interesting blog post. How is Calais from a safety perspective? Akso, we “heard: that there are many migrants and refugees trying to get over to UK and that is a full-blown “crisis” in Calais. I never know how much to believe and how much is just hysteria. Many of the same words and tone are used ti descibe our Southern Border which, in my experience living on that Border, aren’t entirely accurate. Not trying to get political, just interested in your first hand impressions.
We did not feel that security in this area was a problem yesterday. Walking around town we did notice a larger police presence than normal. There were about 8 CRS police (they are a branch of the National Police and seem to be involved with border security) in a major park, and we noticed a couple of police vans parked at the train station with 4 police standing next to them. All of the police were relaxed and basically standing around. Later in the day a convoy of 8 police vans went by, but they seemed to be largely empty. The streets in Calais were pretty quiet overall as it is very early in the shoulder season, and the people there seemed mostly to be locals.