Swallows and Amazons, The Wind within the Willows – each literary picture of messing about in boats in essentially the most rustic fashion conceivable got here to me as we gently motored alongside the tree-lined waterways and floating gardens of Amiens.

As if on cue, a kingfisher darted throughout the water, including a flash of blue to the gray November sky and golden leaves that have been nonetheless clinging to the bushes. We have been within the Hortillonnages, the intricate patchwork of channels, islands, streams, floating gardens and even artwork installations that flip the River Somme right into a magical watery world.

Utilizing a quiet electrical engine, Pascal Goujon (or Paco, as he’s normally recognized) took us via this marshy mosaic of 300 hectares the place, for generations, the folks of Amiens cultivated their market gardens on these islets.

Whereas the present variety of market gardeners is just a fraction of what it was a century in the past, their seasonal produce nonetheless finally ends up each Saturday within the meals stalls in Place Parmentier overlooking the Somme and, by extension, on the menus of most of the metropolis’s eating places.

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It was one more nice shock about Amiens, the traditional capital of Picardie (now a part of the Hauts-de-France area), which I’d all the time handed on the way in which to elsewhere however someway by no means stopped. The lure of the close by coast had all the time been too sturdy, significantly the 2 villages going through one another throughout the Baie de Somme, St-Valéry-sur-Somme and Le Crotoy.

However right here inside a two-hour drive from Calais’s Le Shuttle terminal was a buzzing college metropolis with the biggest Gothic cathedral in France, some glorious eating places and museums, full of life studenty bars, imaginative avenue artwork and, due to the community of waterways operating via town, some splendidly quirky structure.

Like many cities in northern France that had suffered heavy harm in the course of the world wars of the twentieth century, Amiens needed to be reconstructed, which is why there’s a wealth of structure that appears as if it’s been undisturbed for hundreds of years.

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And till 29 December, Amiens hosts northern France’s largest Christmas market, which takes over the size of town’s major buying avenue, the pedestrianised Rue des Trois Cailloux. The market stalls additionally creep into the lanes resulting in the magnificent Thirteenth-century Notre-Dame Cathedral, whose nightly illuminations kind a part of the Christmas festivities, earlier than diving deep into the medieval Saint-Leu quarter and throughout the River Somme into the restaurant-lined Quai Bélu.

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I used to be there earlier than the Christmas market opened, however Saint-Leu didn’t want any seasonal sparkle to work its magic on me. Without delay I used to be captivated by its rows of vibrant little homes, some half-timbered, others in clapboard. The gabled homes alongside Rue du Don are accessible by particular person gated bridges throughout a slim waterway, a reminder of the medieval watermills that powered the work of weavers, millers and dyers. Operating parallel is the cobbled Rue du Hocquet with extra picturesque homes, a few of which have been was outlets and cafés.

This led me to Rue des Bondes, whose café terraces spill out onto the cobbles and straddle either side of the little canal that flows into the Somme. With the college so shut by, I wasn’t shocked to seek out the entire space thronging with college students. Issues have been marginally quieter throughout the Somme on Quai Bélu, the place a few of the riverside eating places have been already into their winter hours. An honourable exception was Le Dos d’Âne, a pleasant little place that specialised in galettes and produced essentially the most elegant quiche oozing with pungent northern French maroilles cheese (there have been extra tacky delights at close by Le Quai, too).

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In reality, consuming nicely isn’t troublesome in Amiens, I quickly found. At Hyacinthe, the place nearly all of its artistic menu comes from inside a 100km radius, you possibly can style greens grown within the Hortillonnages together with Picardie beef, pork and veal, and the prized lamb that feeds on the saltmarshes of the Baie de Somme. On this land of cheese and cheese dishes, Amiens has its personal speciality – ficelle, a savoury pancake full of ham and mushrooms and smothered in melted cheese and a creamy sauce. It’s normally served as a starter, so select your second course properly.

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The place there’s savoury there’s candy, particularly the confections at Jean Trogneux, a chocolate store that’s been operating since 1872. It’s now on its sixth era of chocolatiers, 31-year-old Jean-Baptiste Trogneux, who launched me to the macarons d’Amiens. Not, as I instantly assumed, the ever-present brightly colored meringues, however a chunky almond disc nearly like a spongey Bakewell tart.

“In France, there are greater than 20 sorts of macaron,” he advised me. “This one was created by Jean-Baptiste, my great-great-great-great-grandfather, and we haven’t modified the recipe since. After all, the primary ingredient is almonds, which come from Valencia. They’re recognized to be one of the best almonds on this planet.” The end result was deliciously tender and chewy, the almonds delicately sweetened by honey. It was solely after I left the store that I remembered that Jean-Baptiste’s great-aunt is Brigitte Macron, spouse of France’s president, each of whom have been born in Amiens.

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I didn’t need to go far to seek out proof of one other well-known Amiénois. Though Jules Verne was born in Nantes, he made Amiens his dwelling from 1871 till his loss of life in 1905. The 1mansion the place he lived from 1882 to 1900, La Maison de Jules Verne, is an interesting re-creation of the creator’s life and work, transporting me to the wealthy literary world of the Nineteenth century.

For a double dose of tradition, save a couple of euros by shopping for a mixed ticket to his home and the Musée de Picardie, the primary in France erected particularly as a museum. This palatial Nineteenth-century constructing takes you from antiquity to the twentieth century by way of a compelling assortment of artefacts and artwork from France and around the globe.

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My favorite salon was the one dedicated to work of atypical life in Picardie and neighbouring Côte d’Opale over the centuries. On the journey again to Calais as we stopped for a late lunch of mussels in Le Crotoy (the place, by the way, Jules Verne had a summer season dwelling and saved his boat), I recalled these Nineteenth-century work displaying ladies on the Picardie coast arduously amassing molluscs within the muddy sands. True, I couldn’t resist the waterside as soon as once more, however this time I knew what city charms lay simply up the river.

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How one can do it

Mary Novakovich was a visitor of Hauts-de-France Tourism, Amiens Tourism and Le Shuttle, which has return Folkestone-Calais crossings from £178. Ibis Kinds Amiens Centre is a trendy lodge close to the railway station with a cool restaurant and bar. Doubles from €127, together with breakfast. Boat journeys within the Hortillonnages are bookable by textual content to +33 06 89 43 21 and value €13 for a 50-minute afternoon journey and €24 for a 2.15-hour morning journey.

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