The charm of Dunkirk, enhanced by the series The Black Baron, is nothing flashy. But all you have to do is spend a weekend in the city of Jean Bart to discover all that it has that is fascinating. From the large bulk port, which sees the arrival of both iron and exotic fruits, to the seafront of Malo-les-bains, the tourist spot of the city, the North Sea brings the city to life at the same time as it offers him a permanent spectacle.
Day 1
9:30 am An XXL dike
Although Dunkirk teenagers traditionally go there in the evening to meet up, the Braek dyke is sublime from the first light of day. To the west of Dunkirk, after the port, this strip of land is covered with bitumen for more than 6 kilometres. The site, reputedly closed to the public despite its intense attendance, is spectacular: you have to imagine a sort of airstrip riddled with wild grass, sloping towards the shore and bordered by a beach. This long stretched mound protects the canal which gives tankers direct access to the factories of the industrial port.
10:30 a.m. A big fire on the sea
At the end of the dike, a stone pier juts out into the sea as far as the Saint-Pol fire (1), a 36-metre high lighthouse designed in the 1930s by the architect Gustave Umbdenstock, to whom we also owe the Victor-Duruy high school and the Carrousel bridge in Paris. Its crown of lion-headed gargoyles and its three strange upper rings in reversed cupolas have earned it its classification as a historical monument, but you cannot climb it. From the roundhead where it is installed, Dunkirk can be understood in the blink of an eye: the gaze embraces the coast from the beach of Malo-les-Bains, to the west, to the three tanks of the Loon-Plage LNG terminal, to the East. Placid, a colony of seals lives on the small beach below.
11 a.m. Cinegenic cranes
Stuck in a road junction in the middle of the factories, the tiny Saint-André-des-Marins chapel is Catholic but ecumenical. Built in containers, it adjoins the home of the Seamen’s Club association (2), which comes to the aid of sailors. Ultra-friendly, this timeless place is both a bar, a library or just a meeting place to play cards. Around, the industrial sites – ArcelorMittal, Imerys, AstraZeneca or Indachlor – draw a very cinematic landscape of towers, chimneys and cranes. However, between steel, aluminum or hydrochloric acid, we do not produce very glamorous foodstuffs in Dunkirk. You can travel by car or bicycle between the factories, but for an organized visit, you must first go to the Port Center to register. This mediation space is located on the top floor of the port museum, right in the city centre. Very well thought out, we understand, for example, how Dunkirk became the gateway to bananas in France, then to all the exotic fruits transported by boat. Exciting.
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