Avoid Calais if you want peace and quiet

[Gitane]

Just arrived in Calais and there is a fun fair across from the marina with continual loud thumping music and screams from people on the rides. Not sure what time it will finish tonight.

If you are looking for a quiet marina, you might want to give Calais a miss for a few days.

 

[Ohlin Karcher]

If not, I can recommend the dodgems!

 

[johnalison]

Do they still use live rounds in the shooting-galleries? They did in the last French fair we went to, maybe Calais or Boulogne.

 

[Gitane]

Apparently, fun fair is on until the 18th Aug.

 

[Supine Being]

Do they still use live rounds in the shooting-galleries? They did in the last French fair we went to, maybe Calais or Boulogne.

The last time I was there when it was on, they had salt rounds fired out of a pump action shotgun. Hard to imagine that over here.

 

[nigelm]

Is Calais worth visiting these days anyway , I always it was the frog equivalent of Brightlingsea - dire ...

Maybe it just me .

 

[Supine Being]

Is Calais worth visiting these days anyway , I always it was the frog equivalent of Brightlingsea - dire ...

Maybe it just me .

I really like Calais. Lovely beach and lots of great places to eat. Ok, the architecture isn't too hot, but there's a reason for that. Everything else is great.

But don't go when the fair is on.

 

[Tomahawk]

You can always go to the fair...

 

[johnalison]

You can always go to the fair...

French funfairs are great, at least, they were. The one in Calais was the undoing of our club cruise in '78. Two boats including us left for Boulogne and Honfleur, leaving the other seven in Calais, because they wanted another day at the fair. The following day the weather changed. Were were stuck in Boulogne for nearly a week and the rest never made it past Cap Gris Nez.

Our daughter on the dodgems in Boulogne 1981:

 

[STOL71]

Is Calais worth visiting these days anyway , I always it was the frog equivalent of Brightlingsea - dire ...

Maybe it just me .

l

What's wrong with Brightlingsea? Great fish and chips, French Marine, great chandlery, very helpful harbour master.

 

[Ohlin Karcher]

Is Calais worth visiting these days anyway , I always it was the frog equivalent of Brightlingsea - dire ...

Maybe it just me .

A short walk from the Marina, there's a little-known museum about the port and area in WW2, full of real and fascinating things, a unique weapons collection and lots of fascinating real propaganda posters from both the German occupiers and the French resistance.
It's in a bunker, hidden by trees in the little park near the station and well worth a visit.
Btw that park is not safe after dark.

 

[Athene V30]

Is Calais worth visiting these days anyway , I always it was the frog equivalent of Brightlingsea - dire ...

Maybe it just me .

Very nice art gallery with a section on Rodin and several other interesting pieces. Think there was a Banksy too.

 

[Gargleblaster]

Very nice art gallery with a section on Rodin and several other interesting pieces.

I find the Rodin stature of the 5 Burghers very moving because of the story associated with it. The old bell tower is worth a look too. Teh British destroyed it in 1320 or sometime and the Germans in 1940. the last time I was in Calais I rafted up against a German boat and we all had dinner together and visited sites of mutual destruction.

If I was to visit Calais again my option would be to take my boat to either Gravelines or Boulogne and catch a bus.