Chris Ames visits Paris 2024 by public transport, swims in a Bruges canal, and lives to tell the tale.
It wasn’t a great start to our Olympic adventure to hear the day before our departure that vandalism had caused severe disruption across most of France’s fabulous high speed rail network, including the bit used by Eurostar between London and Paris.
As it happened, we already had a slightly complicated outward journey, with Eurostar tickets selling out almost as soon as they went on sale. A bit of lateral thinking saw us book on a train that was going to Brussels as far as Lille and then onto the French network.
Our onward train to Paris ran along the 'classic' line and we had enough leeway to catch our train from Gare de l’Est to our first holiday accommodation in beautiful but scorching Troyes, in the Champagne region.
With the Olympics greatly inflating accommodation prices in Paris, the plan was to stay at two other historic cities within reach of the capital and travel in and out for events. As it happened, Paris was reportedly quieter than usual, with many visitors put off by the profiteering.
Our first venue, the Stade de France, was hosting the (women’s) rugby sevens. It was reached by the regional RER rail line which runs underground at the Gare du Nord.
While all the stations were very well staffed with helpful Paris 2024 volunteers, they were not nearly as cheerful and enthusiastic as those at London 2012 - but perhaps they put that on for the tourists. After all, Parisians have a reputation to uphold.
Phase two of the holiday saw us again take the route between the two gares as we transitioned from our Troyes base to Amiens. A day later we were heading back to Lille by train before taking the metro to the Stade Pierre Mauroy for women’s basketball.
‘Allez les bleus’ was the cry as hosts France took on Nigeria, demonstrating the tenacious defence that nearly saw them overcome favourites and eventual winners the US in the final.
An unexpected bonus, courtesy of resold tickets, saw us back at the Stade de France the next day for the opening morning of the Athletics.
Paris 2024 employed sporting celebrities to open each event with the traditional theatrical ‘coup de baton’ – three strikes on the ground with a large stick. Opening the athletics was no other than legendary 1968 Olympic long jump champion – and long-time world record holder – Bob Beamon.
Returning to Amiens, we threw in our first boat trip – through the canals that run through the Hortillonnages, a picturesque patchwork of island allotments across the River Somme from the city.
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Amiens' Hortillonages with the city's historic cathedral in the background
A day later we were back in Paris to see women’s football at France’s previous national stadium, the Parc des Princes, involving a detour by metro for a picnic in the Tuileries, where even ticketless tourists could see the Olympic flame in its cauldron beneath the balloon.
Day eight brought the French leg of our trip to a close with a return to Lille. Over the course of the trip, SNCF did a great job of getting us around and we seamlessly transitioned to the Belgian railway to Courtrai, aka Kortrijk, and on to Ostende. This huge port may have its attractions, but we didn’t see them.
From there our journey depended on the astonishing tramline that glides the whole length of Belgium’s coast from France to the Netherlands. For our fare of two and a half euros, we could have gone the whole way, but our destination was de Haan, the pretty but almost unreal belle epoque resort that grew up as a result of a tram service that was originally steam-driven.
Now it was time to hire bikes and test out Belgium’s cycling infrastructure.
While the main danger in town was from meandering tourists, a trip up the coast involved a broad cycle lane demarcated but not segregated from a fairly busy road.
At the next settlement along, Google’s satellite view showed a solid path with a white line down the middle running along the top of the beach to our surf club bar lunch venue. Is it possible to cycle along there? If there’s no sign saying you can’t, then you can, was the reply from the locals, which seems to be the general attitude to cycling (and most things) in Belgium.
The final part of our trip saw us retrace our tram ride to Ostende, followed by a short train ride to Bruges, with the obligatory boat ride around the canals.
It is, apparently, safe to swim in a section of one canal and we took them at their word with no ill effects.
Our return to England was by Eurostar from Brussels with just 24-hours to look around the city. Unfortunately, the main route from our hotel to the historic grand place is currently a building site that will see the previously car-dominated Avenue de Stalingrad redesigned ‘to be an attractive and lively place for residents and any other user of the public space’.
It seems to be a regular feature of city landscapes these days but I’m sure it will be lovely when it’s finished.
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