Nord
- Pas-de-Calais is a region bordered on the north by the English
Channel and the North Sea, on the northeast by Belgium, and on the
south by Picardy. In historic terms, this region covers most of what
was once the French part of Flanders, and the old province of Artois.
Yet if we are to be quite honest, it is not a region that people in
France tend to think of in terms of tourism.
That being said, it
is nevertheless a
region that has plenty to offer in its own way: the "Cote d'Opale", or
Opal Coast, is an attractive west-facing coast with chalk cliffs,
elegant resorts, and many sandy beaches; inland there are many areas of
unspoilt countryside, particularly in the Pas de Calais. The area has
many interesting towns and cities starting with
Lille,
the regional capital, and one of the great historic cities of Flanders;
other interesting towns include Arras, Saint-Omer, Boulogne, Douai and
Valenciennes, and there are many more places and sites of interest.
One factor that is above all
in favour of the
Nord–Pas-de-Calais as a place to visit is its proximity to the densely
populated areas of the south of England and the Low Countries. Lille is
under two hours from London by Eurostar, and Calais is even closer
(though unfortunately few Eurostars from London actually stop
there...). For anyone travelling by car from the UK, this region is
very accessible for a weekend break or short stay, taking advantage of
the cheap short-stay return fares offered by
Eurotunnel and the Ferry
companies.
History:
Flanders and Artois were areas that lay
historically
at the heart of Europe; before becoming definitively a part of France
under the terms of the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, this region had been
fought over by the French, the English, the Austrians, the Spanish and
the Dutch. More recently, it was a region that witnessed the
terrific carnage of trench warfare in the Great War, and the
the
evacuation of Dunkirk in the Second World War.
If the region was
much fought over in
past centuries, one of the reasons was its wealth. This part of France
has fine agricultural land, mostly flat or with gently rolling hills,
like the South Downs in England: it was part of the great European
cloth-weaving area, and the weavers and tapestry-makers of Lille, Arras
and Valenciennes were famed throughout Europe. The fine historic
squares of Lille and Arras bear witness to a prosperous past, as do the
great belfries and fine churches of towns like St. Quentin and Douai.
But it was in the
nineteenth century
that this part of France built its modern identity. From its weaving
tradition grew a modern textile industry, powered by the area's
plentiful underground resources of coal; and from that grew much more.
Nord-Pas-de-Calais - and notably the department of the Nord - was for a
long time France's great industrial heartland. Lille was to France what
Birmingham was to England, the capital and hub of a seething industrial
complex covering mining, cotton, tranformation industries, transport
and agriculture. It grew to be, and is to this day, the most densely
populated region of France outside the Paris region.
Like neighbouring industrial
regions across
the border in Belgium, and like similar areas in Britain, the USA and
other countries, the Nord–Pas-de-Calais region went into economic
decline in the 1970's, as the industrial age came to an end; factories
went out of business, the mines were closed down, and the future looked
sombre. Since then, it has done much to reinvent its economic base,
aided by the fact that it lies in the economic heartland of Europe, the
triangle between Paris, Cologne and London. Nonetheless,
Nord–Pas-de-Calais remains the region of France with the highest
unemployment rate (about 12% in the second quarter of 2009, three
points above the national average)
.
Going further: Official
Nord-Pas-de-Calais tourism site
The Cote d'Opale, south
of Calais