Calais, France Hotels, Vacations, Tourism

CALAIS is less than 40km from Dover – the Channel's shortest crossing – and is by far the busiest French passenger port, especially now that its rivals Boulogne and Dunkerque have been deprived of ferry business. 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 … more »