In this episode, I explore the historic city of Arras in northern France. I start with a tour of the well-equipped camping car aire on the city’s edge, an ideal stop for campervanners and motorhomers. Then I hop aboard the free city shuttle to uncover Arras’s rich heritage, stroll its cobbled streets, and admire the stunning Baroque architecture of the Grand Place. After a day of discovery, it’s time to pack up and head back to England via the Dunkerque ferry.
Welcome to Shaza’s Travels. Hi, I’m Sharon and this is my trusty camper van, Audrey. [Music] Together, we travel the open road, but I also love to jump on a plane or board a ship for new adventures. In this episode, I head to the city of Aras in northern France, starting with a tour of the camping car air on the city’s edge. Then I hop aboard the free shuttle bus to uncover Aris’ historic center and its stunning Barack Town Square. [Music] [Music] [Music] Heat [Music] [Music] just arrived at the air in uh in Aras. Um it’s a very modern air. Uh don’t know how long it’s been here, but it looks very new. Maybe a couple of years max. Um, as you come towards the entrance, um, there is a sign on the right which I recommend you reading um, all the way through. We, um, we didn’t do that. We only read half of it and didn’t quite understand some of the things that you need to do. So, yeah, when you arrive, you you drive up to the the barrier and um, just here there’s a a paying machine. If you haven’t paid beforehand, um, I’d recommend get out of your vehicle. It’s it’s quite difficult to reach even even as a passenger. Uh you you go uh pay for um either I think it’s about 4 or 5 hours or 24 hours. Uh the charge for 24 hours is €12 and then you have to pay 60 cents per person tourist tax and it automatically adds on for two people straight away. So, if you’ve got more or less, then I assume you just need to adjust it. And then it will give you a couple of uh tickets. One of the tickets is a QR code which you need to scan on the the next post which is sort of there um to actually get in. So, that will raise the barrier. And then the other ticket it gives you actually has the um the code on it for the the uh the toilet and shower. So, make sure you don’t lose that. Um, and that ticket you also have to put um behind the windcreen. Um, so it sort of shows uh shows proof of payment and receipt. Um, and to get in and out of the um barrier, you need to scan your QR code or enter your ticket number to open the gate. Um, if it doesn’t open, then you need to um it says contact reception, so there must be some sort of buzzer system there. But um so yeah, this is the entrance. Um quite easy to spot because there’s this huge tower with a big ball on the top saying Aras Valet Dascarp on top of it. So spot that. And it’s uh just off one of the the main boulevards coming into Aras. So like I say, you’ll come in and come up come up to this machine. So this is the machine where you uh get your tickets. So you’ve got the option of different languages. So English is there and it gives all the instructions and then you pay and then you move forward and you scan your QR code at this terminal and then the barrier will lift. And as you come in on the left there is uh water facilities. Have to pay extra for that. I think it was €2. But uh you can see plenty of plenty of spaces. And the actual um spaces themselves are huge. Absolutely huge. some of the campsites we’ve been staying on recently in Germany. Um, your actual pictures are less than probably half the the size of it. So, you got your your gray drop and also there’s a there’s eland there as well. And then you’ve got your uh water if you want it. Not quite sure why those those people decided to ride around me, but never mind. So, as you can see, lots of spaces here. I have read online that um by, you know, the middle of the afternoon, this place is full. So, it’s obviously very popular and is probably a good stop over from Calala or Dunkirk. So you can see here it’s actually how big the spaces are. So there’s the start of one. There’s the van. There’s still a huge room on the other side. So they’re very very big spaces. Still a lot of gaps at the moment, but we’ll see how busy it gets later. And here we are. I’m going to show you the hookup cuz the hookup is a little bit unusual as well. Uh took us a while to get it going. So So this button here is uh where you select your language and then you get the instructions coming up here. It’s a sunny day today and we were really struggling to read what was coming up. But um but basically you choose your language. Um I can’t remember which order it came in now cuz it took us so long to do it. But you scan your QR code, put your hookup in on the side, and then you’ll see buttons here. So, when it’s flashing, you just press it in, you hold it in until the green stops flashing. Um, if it’s the other way around, then you put your code in. So, you put in your hookup and then do your code QR code here. Press the button. But, um, yeah, a little bit different. Um, but once we got it going, it’s absolutely fine. and we’ve chosen a a pitch right by the canal. So, uh there’s the canal and then in the distance you can see a couple of spires. So, um it’s a really nice location right by the canal. Um I’ve read again that it’s a fairly peaceful night, but you get woken with uh bird noise, cockrols, and a donkey. We have heard the donkey already. And I’ve just heard some cockro so we’ll look forward to hearing them first thing in the morning. But um but yeah, so here we are in uh in Aris and like I say, really nice site and uh we’re going to go for an explore in a bit. There was a shower and toilet on site, but we never used them. Just across the road from the air is one of the stops for the free Mar Citadan electric shuttle bus which stops around the city. It’s great to use as a hop on and hop off for the sites. [Music] Aras is renowned for its two Barack squares, one of which is the Grand Plass, which is typically used for parking, but a market is held here every Wednesday and Saturday morning. A short walk from the Grand Plats and you’ll find yourself in the plaster zeros, a large historic square which is boarded by the town hall and the 75 m high belelfrey which had originally dated back to the 1500s. It was destroyed during the first world war but was rebuilt between 1927 and 1931. Not far from the plaster zeros, you will find the church of St. John the Baptist which was built during the 16th century. [Music] And a little further out you will find the 18th century Cathedral of the Assumption of Our Lady and St. Foster, more simply known as Aris Cathedral. After leaving Aras, we started to make our way further north to catch our ferry back to the UK. First, we stopped at the coastal town of Burke, where a colony of gray and harbor seals can be observed at low tide. Check out my earlier vlog to learn more about the town. After spending a night at an air in Burke, we headed to Dunkerk to catch a ferry back to Dover early the next morning and what would be the end of another European adventure. [Music] [Music] Hey, hey, hey. [Music]