Dover and Calais

I have a curiosity about those two cities.
They are not two cities as many other cities.
Dover is the british town closer to France (and the Continent).
Calais is the french town closer to Britain (it is even closer to London than to Paris).
The two city are separated by a strait of sea that the british call "Strait of Dover", whereas the french call it "Pas de Calais" (french and british seem to have not exactly the same point of view about the fact whether that strait of see should be named after Dover or Calais ).
21 miles separate Dover from Calais in the probably narrower point of the "Pas de Calais" (uhm, sorry: "Strait of Dover" ).
In some high-visibility days, from France they can see the white cliffs of Dover and - I guess - from Britain they can see the french cliffs.
I sometimes wonder if those two cities share something as far as architecture, tradition and culture is concern.
I mean: in Dover can you see something that make you think that France is not so far away ?
I don't know: maybe the architecture-style of the houses or maybe something about traditions, culture, cooking, etc.
The same thing for Calais: if you are in Calais, could you think that that town is a "bit british" ?
Is there absolutely nothing in Dover that remind of France and nothing in Calais that remind of Britain ?
Should I believe that 21 miles of see is such a barrier to make those two cities like "two completely different planets" ???
And there is any kind of rivalry between those two cities ?
I mean: maybe people of Calais tell jokes about people of Dover and people of Dover tell jokes about people of Calais. (????)

 

I thought Calais was a shopping centre, like Westfields?

 

When in Dover it is possible to see something that makes you think france is not so far away. We call that thing, 'france'.

I think there are things in Calais that might make people thing of Britain. I've never been on a booze cruise myself, but I understand that it is easy to find hordes of Brits descending upon the cheap hypermarkets to buy the cheapest beer they can find, basing their choice entirely on just two factors, price and a.b.v, and with absolutely no regard for taste.

 

Something suggest me that you are not french . Am I wrong ?

 

One town is full of foreigners & the other is french.

 

the "french" town is Dover ?

 

If its anything like Bognor is now, it might as well be Russian.

 

You are correct, I did eat horse once though, and no it wasn't a pet, and yes I did eat it in France, they do like to eat furry things like bever so I am told (never put anything in to your mouth you cant swallow!!... as this is a family type of forum, I will stop.... I thank you

 

We call it 'The English Channel', Maksim, and the French call it 'La Manche' (the sleeve). I don't think either central Calais or Dover are exactly renowned for their beauty; they are just ugly places that you have to pass through in order to get somewhere else. However, there are pretty English villages not far from Dover and plenty of equally pretty French places that are close to Calais.

Dover is very English in its ugliness, just as Calais is hideous in a French way. There's not much similarity in terms of building styles. Both towns are old, and many of the buildings were constructed when sea crossings were still relatively difficult so they evolved quite separately. (The Channel might only be twenty or so miles wide, but it can cause a lot of problems - as the Spanish Armada found out.) We often use the ferry from Dover to take day trips to France, but we drive down the road to Boulogne, which is a much nicer town than Calais. There is a strong Flemish influence on the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region - that's what strikes you, rather than similarities with England.

Clueless: thankfully, the booze cruise is not quite what it was, now that you can buy cheap wine at your local Sainsbury's. We go to Auchan, a huge hypermarket just outside Boulogne, and buy all kinds of nice things but it certainly isn't cheap nowadays.

 

"STRAIT OF DOVER"
The English call it: strait of DOVER
1:0
The French call it: pas de CALAIS
1:1
The German call it: straße von DOVER
2:1
The Spanish call it: paso de CALAIS
2:2
The Italians call it: stretto di DOVER
3:2
The Dutch call it: nauw van CALAIS
3:3
The Russians call it: pa de CALAIS
3:4
The Portuguese call it: estreito de DOVER
4:4
The Danish call it: DOVERSTRAEDET
5:4
The Norwegians call it: DOVERSUNDET
6:4

Maybe some of this people call it after DOVER or CALAIS depending on - over the history - over the last centuries - they had some sort of rivarly/friendship against/with Britain or France for the power over the seas...

 

Remember the famous last words of King George V, on hearing the suggestion that he might recuperate in that fine seaside town? I can't quote them verbatim for fear of the profanity filter, but it was something along the lines of 'Booger Bognor', if you see what I mean.

 

The one thing Calais and Dover have in common is that you can't move for Juggernauts queuing up for the Ferries.

 

I

It seems as though he was successful.

 

Maksim,

Going back through history, France and England have not had a good relationship. Even now there are political tensions between the two. Again, back in time, Scotland had a better relationship with France than England did. You probably know that historical relationships between Scotland and England were intense too, with many battles taking place. Even now there is a certain amount of rivalry between the Scots and the English, quite often brought to the 'surface' by politics or sport.

The English Channel as we know it will be named differently in countries in Europe, according to who they think they have the better relationship with.

I think it would be fair to say that the people of France and England tolerate each others existence.

 

I dunno. I suspect that what the Channel/Manche gets called in various places is a bit more random than that.