Dieppe and Rotterdam

View straight down from the Euroscope

Naming and shaming a Rotterdam taxi driver

Belgian Conductor on the train from Antwerp to Lille

DIEPPE

The Villa des Capucins in Dieppe (www.villa-des-capucines.fr) is an old presbytery, stepped in history. The rooms are small, but very pretty, overlooking the pretty gardens. Mt host, Mlle Bore, tells me that her tabby cat, Mme. Poussette, won’t stray far from her kitchen. Shortly after, I have a visitor outside my room. Cats know who their friends are!

 It’s quite a while since I have been to Dieppe. It’s a town which seems filled with the colour of flowers, the sound of church bells and the smell of lovely coffee.

It’s thirty years since the town launched its kite festival, now a nine day event which attracts entries from forty countries and a total of there quarters of a million visitors. It’s a wonderful spectacle, with kites of all shapes and sizes dancing around the skies above the beachfront venue.

I note with interest that the town has thousands of free parking spaces, something which some of our seaside resorts would do well to emulate.

I have been invited to dinner at ‘Au Grand Duquesne’, in the shadow of the impressive 600 year-old St. Jacques Church. On my way there, a couple ask me the location of another restaurant. I tell them, with the authority of someone who has just peered through the window of said restaurant, that it is closed on Monday and recommend the one to which I am headed.

The meal is excellent. The place is packed. Le patron tells me that it’s because a lot of restaurants close on Monday, but I think it’s rather more than that. The thirty or so diners are served by the boss and 16 year old Gabriel, who’s only been there for two weeks, but is clearly under strict tutelage.

As I leave, a couple dining on the pavement outside stop me to thank me for my recommendation.

Dieppe’s old swimming pool complex has been much modernised. Now ‘Les Bains’ incorporates a splendid indoor and outdoor pool and a big spa.

I am given a fifty minute ‘Sea water ritual’ treatment, which involves seven different creams being plastered on my face. I liken it to being iced like a cake. Jacques Pradines, the boss, tells me how wonderful my skin is looking, but the face that looks back at me from the mirror doesn’t look 50 quid younger to me. But I have enjoyed teaching English to my plasterer, Alexandra.

On a previous visit to Dieppe, I was entertained by the splendid Claude Olivier at his eponymous epicerie. Now, daughter Benedicte runs this glorious emporium of fine cheese, wine and much more besides. She entertains me over a lovely local cider and two local cheeses.

Interestingly, she advises that a dry white wine is a much better accompaniment than red for most cheeses and tells me that, at Christmas, the Olivier family always enjoys Stilton and some mature cheddar. Sacre bleu!

After a dismal meal at ‘Le Bistro du Pollet’, where Madame refuses to replace my inedible steak, it’s early to bed. I have to catch my train to Rotterdam at five thirty am.

TO ROTTERDAM

A Global Rail Pass gives you, in theory, unlimited travel on the rail services of twenty European countries. In practice, making reservations on the fastest and busiest routes can be difficult. Hence my early start.

Instead of travelling via Paris, I have selected a route via Rouen, Lille and Antwerp. While not quite as fast as the TGV’s of France and Belgium, I think it’s a much nicer journey, with morning commuters coming on and off at various stages. Having started 90 minutes earlier than I might have done, I arrive in Rotterdam within a few minutes of my original scheduled time.

My taxi driver is incredibly grumpy as he takes me the short distance to the Hilton Hotel and wants to extract double the seven euro fifty minimum fare. As if, as a stranger in town, I am supposed to know it would be quicker walking. My mood is not brightened by the Hilton Hotel giving me a room next to the lift and wanting to charge me 22 Euros to use the internet. Unbelievable.

But lunch at the eclectic Bazar restaurant, with its fusion of African and Middle Eastern dishes does much to improve matters.

It’s a windy day, which makes my trip up the 100 metre high Euromast interesting to say the least. At the top, you can take the Euroscope, a rotating lift, another 85 metres to the top. Wonderful views, if slightly scary in the windy conditions. I declare no interest in the abseiling and rope sliding options for descent.

To end my day, I climb on board the Splashtours bus, which can travel on land and water. To my mind, it’s more gimmick than practical and, if you sit at the back, incredibly noisy when you are in the water. But, travelling in a bus with lifejackets under the seats is odd, to say the least.

My Rotterdam Welcome Card gives me unlimited travel on the city’s excellent public transport service, so I take the metro home for an early night.