1. CATCH SOME RAYS
A
visit to Nausicaa, France's national sea-life centre, gives you a
exuberant, colour-packed taste of the world's oceans. You'll enjoy close
encounters with about 35,000 fish - from the shy cockatoo wasp fish to
rays that lie on the surface and let you tickle them.
There
are also sharks and sea lions but the last big tank is the best, with
masses of different fish gliding and twisting to kaleidoscopic effect. Signs are in English and French.
2. SEE THOSE COOL ESKIMO MASKS
The museum in Boulogne's 13th Century castle, wrapped around by the walled old town, is a delight.
We started in the South Sea Islands and moved on
to France's largest collection of Egyptian artefacts and Greek and
Etruscan vases outside the Louvre.
Next came
Europe's most extensive collection of Eskimo masks, brought back by a
Boulogne-born anthropologist. The big finale, deep inside the castle,
are the foundations of the Roman settlement at Boulogne.
Good
pavement cafes, restaurants, and shops are more reasons to take the
steep walk up to the old town. We stayed in Enclos de l'Eveche, a
spacious B&B near the freshly scrubbed cathedral.
3. REMEMBER THE SACRIFICE
There
are few physical signs of the horrors of the First World War left in
northern France - just the restrained dignity of the military
cemeteries.
The cemetery at Etaples, 20 minutes
south of Boulogne, is the biggest of all - resting place of 10,773
soldiers from Britain and the Commonwealth who never made it home from
the hospital tents among the dunes here.
We entered
under the ceremonial entrance designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and stood
above the poignant vista of line after line of identical headstones.
4. PICK OF THE CHIC
Devotees
of Twenties fashion will want to make the 20-minute hop from Lydd airport in Kent to the stylish little seaside town of Le Touquet (Lydd Air). Remade by two Englishmen after
they bought the land in 1903, the resort looks like a British garden
suburb.
We drove down from Boulogne (25 minutes) and found it in a quiet time warp behind a buffer of forest.
The big appeal is the enormous westfacing sandy beach which stretches for miles to the south of the town.
The tight little town centre has some smart shops and a big choice of restaurants. There is a posh cinema for rainy afternoons.
5. TASTE THE SEA
La
Matelote is a small and cosy fish restaurant with one Michelin star
adjoining a hotel of the same name on Boulevard Sainte Beuve. Proprietor
Tony Lestienne works hard at presentation - my sea bass came with a
filigree vegetable sculpture on top. My wife chose his specialty, roast
turbot steak with thyme butter.
A good lunchtime stop is Les
Pecheurs d'Etaples on Grande Rue, its walls filled with photographs of
trawlers, and with nautical knots and wooden seagulls all about.
6. VISIT THE BIG CHEESE
At this
year's World Cheese Awards, Philippe Olivier's Livarot (soft, pungent,
cow's milk cheese) won a gold medal. He took another gold for his
Reblochon, a silver for the Mimolette and a bronze for his Pont
l'Eveque. All are available at his shop on Rue Thiers.
Other
stars among Boulogne's small independent shops include Chocolats de
Beussent (also Rue Thiers) and Maroquinerie Florence in Rue Faidherbe,
an Aladdin's cave hanging with 600 handbags.
If you take a cold box, buy fish at the stalls on Quai Gambetta - ask for ice - and cook a special supper back home in Britain.
by Gareth Huw Davi: November 2007
