There wasn’t much of a distance to
be done this day and very little scheduled in Calais. Hence, a late start was
decided upon with nothing to be hurried with. I did get up early to finish the
blog post and some documentation. Apart from that I had to make sure that the Navigator
was ready for guidance out of the city. By 8 am we went down to the street to
look for suitable breakfast. The first shop to the left of the hotel advertised
“All Day Long Breakfast”, and that caught my eye. It was an interesting
enterprise of two shops – one sold breakfast and the other beverages. Together they
offered breakfast on tables placed outside their shops. It was a bit windy and
we chose to sit inside the cosy restaurant that served the beverages. Moreover,
the young lady serving in the shop was extremely friendly and welcoming. The coffee
we ordered there was served with a biscuit, cream and sugar. The breakfast
ordered next door arrived soon. A plate full of sliced cucumber, cabbage, grated
carrot, a huge crusty bun, thick slivers of bacon and three eggs appeared in a
large plate! We were certainly hungry, but not so hungry as to take all that
down. However, large though it was it did not remain so within a half hour. After
I had finished the third of the eggs that was served sunny side up I wondered
if I had eaten it all. Once that was settled we walked out for a few more
pictures in the square of the Ferris Wheel, the Central Station and entrance to
the Chinatown. When I leave a city I often wonder if I will ever come back
there. I had been back in Antwerp this time after 18 years.
During the journey we have been
most careful with the water that we drank. It was mostly bottled water. I had
tried tap water in many countries as also public taps in some of the city
squares. It had not upset me in any manner. We walked into a store and picked
up bottled water for the journey. The person who facilitated the check out in the
hotel gave me clear directions to leave the city – he asked me to follow road
signs for Ghent. Since we could not locate anyone suitable to affix stickers
for Belgium Lal and I completed the formalities and shifted gears from the garage.
Car parking cost Euro 15 after 25% discount offered by the hotel. The consolation,
however, was that the car and its contents were safe. We had been fed some
horrid stories about crime in places like Amsterdam and Antwerp. The problem
seemed to emanate from immigrants, or so I was given to know.
The drive from the city did not
pose any problems, more so because the Navigator seconded the directions given
by the person in the hotel. The weather was bright too and it remained so right
through the day. The drive to Antwerp took us past the Belgian cities of Ghent
and Bruges and the famous town of Dunkirk in France. We reached the outskirts
of Calais in about 2 hours; there were some delays thereafter due to road
works. Locating the hotel was a bit tricky for the address I had mentioned it
to be at the intersection of two roads and the Navigator was blind to such
instructions! In the end we located the Balladins Hotel without much ado,
navigating through narrow roads and challenging road crossings. Two ladies were
at work in the hotel reception when we arrived. We had to wait just a while
before the room was got ready. The twin bed room was really small with hardly
any standing space. Using the table and chair was a challenge with my belly in
total disagreement with the space provided! We had to spend the night there and
that was that. The strong WiFi signal negated some effects of the small room. Once
the Facebook, WhatsApp and Gmail were done we asked the ladies at the counter
to affix green stickers on France. They were, as usual, surprised to hear of
our story of travel from India by car. With that done there were only two more
red dots to turn green. We had covered nearly 7400 kms in 19 Schengen countries
in 29 days as against 15250 kms in 6 Asian countries in 38 days. It has been
path breaking and deeply humbling at the same time. The experiences, the
people, the places, the food, the weather have all been amazing.
My first task was to book for the
ferry to cross the English Channel the next day. I was told by the receptionist
that the Ferry Terminal is just 2 kms from the hotel. On the way there we saw
some police action. Many young boys and girls of African origin were lounging on
the road close to the ferry terminal. Some were even running with police guys trying
to round them up. What it was for we did not know, but we surmised that they
could be in the country illegally. We soon
got to the parking lot of the P&O Ports Ferry Terminal. The business was
taken over by DP World with its acquisition of P&O Ports in 2007. The lady
at the booking counter was extremely happy to hear that I had worked for DP
World in India. She was shocked, to say the least, that I had driven to France
in a car. She soon took my passport and took details of the car to find me a
slot in the 9.40 am ferry to Dover. She asked me to be early, at least by an
hour, to complete the immigration formalities. She did also mention that in
case I complete the check in and immigration early I could find place on the ferry
that departed an hour earlier at no extra cost.
Despite the large breakfast before
leaving Antwerp the stomach started its protest once we spied the Ferry
Terminal restaurant. At the entrance to the restaurant was advertised a buffet
lunch for Euro 9. Lal and I plumbed for it. I asked for ham, potatoes, legumes,
fries and sauce. A huge helping of each found place on a plate that I could
carry only in a tray. Without knowing the size of the helping I had ordered an
apple pie too, which came with another coconut cake! Cold water was provided free.
Lal opted to have the Lasagne. With single minded devotion I attacked the food
and finished it without leaving many traces in the plate. I walked around the large
restaurant a bit to settle the food. The views of the terminal were amazing
from the glass fronted 2nd floor restaurant.
It was siesta for a while after
that. Once we woke up the receptionist suggested that we could go to the beach since
the weather was glorious. She gave us directions but we ended up driving around
the old city and landed in a large area full of super markets. We walked around
there a fair while before getting back to the hotel. Once in the hotel we
opened the bottle of Suntory whisky Rajesh had presented us in Den Haag. The smooth
drink was helped down with peanuts and olives in brine. I ordered spaghetti and
ham for dinner while Lal opted for the Salmon meal at the hotel restaurant. The
package came with a bottle of beer and a dessert. I took the option of Apple
Pie with cream. The food portion was just right and we enjoyed the meal. We
would be exiting the Schengen territory early tomorrow. It has been a
remarkable experience.
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