The Last Word
More than a mere port, it’s a tale of two cities: Calais-Nord is a manmade island surrounded by canals and basins. St Pierre is the part of the mainland that hugs the island to the south and southeast. Calais has its own unique charm. Like Paris, there is a Notre Dame and a hotel called Meurice. The Calais variety is on Rue Ernest Lejeune in Calais-Nord. Since 1835, its Parisian equivalent has been on Rue de Rivoli. A glass of wine costs €4.50 in the former; €32 in the latter. To stay in one of the 41 rooms near Parc Richelieu will cost you at least €76; it’s a minimum of 12 times that for one of the 160 rooms overlooking Jardin des Tuileries. The interior of Hôtel Meurice Calais has mid 20th century geometric panelling and strongly coffered ceilinged rooms filled with local antiques. Le Meurice Paris was given an early 21st century cosmopolitan makeover by Philippe Starck. True to the designer’s form, it’s a luxurious whimsical creation playing with scale and form. The Paris hotel is two kilometres as the common buzzard flies from Notre Dame. The Calais one, 100 metres from Notre Dame.
Charles-Augustin Meurice (1739 to 1820) was an enterprising postmaster who realised the strategic location of Calais for English tourists travelling onwards to the French Capital. In 1771 he launched a coaching inn in Calais and eventually 46 years later opened another one in Paris, capturing custom at either end of the 36 hour journey. Monsieur Meurice trailblazed such innovations as laundry soap, currency exchanges and English speaking staff. The Calais hotel uses Damana bathroom products; the Paris one, Maison Francis Kurkdjian. Like much of Calais, Hôtel Meurice was destroyed in World War II before being rebuilt in a rationalist style in the 1950s. A sweeping staircase leads from the open plan ground floor reception to bedrooms on upper floors overlooking a walled garden to the rear.
