France – Saint Quentin (En)

Saint-Quentin is a city in the Aisne department, northern France and it has been declared a Historic-Artistic city, with buildings of many styles, ranging from Gothic to Neoclassical, passing through Art-Deco. It is named after Saint Quentin of Amiens, who is said to have been martyred there in the 3rd century.

We stayed at the Municipal Camping (49.854599, 3.31035 lat, long) which has big plots with trees, emptying and filling of waters and facilities clean and good. The only downside is that you couldn’t regulate the water in the showers and it didn’t come out very hot. 17,50 euros per day all included. It is located next to the public swimming pool and the river, 15 minutes walk to the city centre and we went there with Asha walking. The first thing we found was a park with a square dedicated to Winston Churchill and with views of the Gothic Saint Quentin Basilica.

We went to see the Basílica, built between the end of the 12th century and the end of the 15th century to house the relics of Saint Quentin, this elegant monument houses within its walls a choir gate with sculpted decoration, a 16th-century Joshua tree and an ancient labyrinth that adorns the pavement of the church.

From there we went to the Town Hall Square where we found out that they had done some western celebrations. The square is surrounded by pubs and restaurants but the most impressive is the Town Hall building. The Town Hall is a jewel from the 16th century. Its splendid facade is in the Flamboyant Gothic style and is adorned with 173 finely chiselled sculptures illustrating scenes from the life of the city. Topped by three pediments and a carillon of 37 bells.

Then we went for a walk through the adjacent pedestrian streets, and we saw buildings from the 1920s, in which the facades of the street de la Sellerie and the Sub-prefecture stand out; the Post Office building with its lobby decorated with mosaics; the Conservatory with its facade surrounded by viewpoints, until we arrived to the Butterfly Museum where more than 20.000 specimens are exhibited, but which was closed because it was a holiday and everything was closed except bars and some restaurants.

And we went to our last stop in France, Calais, a port city where we will take the ferry to England, and which you can see in the next post.