Bike tour from Dunkirk to Gravelines

The Petite-Synthe Fort Park is a nature area, a reservoir of Dunkirk's biodiversity (beehives, lake, etc.) In addition to its recreational and recreational dimension with its playground, its skateboard module, and its vast plain, this place is a privileged ground for the practice of sport thanks to its dedicated equipment. The "work" within it, which gives its name to the fort of Petite-Synthe, is the last witness of the military architecture of the beginning of the 20th century. Highly historical, the building is open to the public during guided tours organized on the occasion of the European Heritage Days (3rd weekend of September). Fort Petite-Synthe also hosts throughout the year flagship events of the territory, including the race Fort, the Fort en Fête (first weekend of June) and the "Cine Plein Air", film session in outdoors (August)

The peculiarity of this 3-hectare park is to offer visitors a little walk and discover small gardens accessible to all. It offers 4 remarkable playgrounds (from 1 to 12 years old). You will find several collections of annuals, perennials, shrubs and trees, supplemented by novelties every year. On-site services and activities: toilets-toilets, bandstand, weddings, children's playground, boules pitch, swings, educational activities, dogs not allowed, free parking. Schedule: Open all year. Every day except the mornings of Nov. 1, Nov. 11, Dec. 25, Jan. 1 Monday to Friday from 8am and Saturdays and Sundays from 10am. Closed at 17h from Nov to February; at 6 pm March and Oct .; at 7 pm April, May, June and Sept .; at 8 pm in July and August. Closing of the public garden from 11h50 to 13h30 except July and August.

The 130 hectare protected natural area of ​​Puythouck, known for its discovery trail, its 30-hectare lake, its wooded area (trees, flowers, lawns) and the great diversity of its fauna and flora, provides an ideal setting for relaxation and recreation. •• The experimental orchard is made up of many varieties of fruit trees. It's a place of research, of observation and learning, which is part of the protected natural area of ​​Puythouck. 03.28.21.64.24 •• The gardens of medicinal plants include more than 300 varieties of rare and common plants in phytotherapy. Guided tours, commented and free are proposed by the creator of the gardens, Professor André Caudron. (03.28.27.84.10). •• The Public Garden consists of 3 hectares of promenade and playgrounds for children. Opening hours: open every day from Monday to Friday from 8am and Saturdays and Sundays from 10am. Closed at 17h from November to February, at 18h in March and October, at 19h in April, May, June and September, at 20h in July and August. •• The Noord-Gracht is a 10.5 km water-based hiking trail with two circuits: a city loop and a loop at Puythouck. •• Prédembourg. Created in 2003 as a landscape protection between the city and the industrial zone, Grand-Prédembourg offers an ideal ecological walk to observe the local flora and fauna, including water birds. A total of 160,000 trees and shrubs were planted on its 80 hectares of woodland, grasslands and wetlands

The Nature House of Loon Plage offers you to discover Nature and the Environment through its different open spaces. Also, you will find, during your visit, a permanent exhibition and a temporary exhibition on the themes of nature, a space of discovery around bees, a teaching pond and specific punctual animations, educational workshops around bees and the biodiversity. The House of Nature also invites you to slip into the skin of a bee: for 30 minutes, you will enter a "simulator of life of bee" for an unprecedented experience! So it's up to you to play and succeed in your mission within the allotted time ... The House of Nature is also a complete service for you, visitors: a shop of books, souvenirs, discoveries and games; a multimedia area with games and applications and a children & family area.

Housed in a former Flemish farmhouse, the museum of traditional games will make you discover the pleasures of these games of yesterday and today. Possibility to organize birthday snacks.

Since 2008, Bourbourg has been fighting for his Chœur de Lumière. Be amazed by this majestic work that found its place in the choir of Saint Jean Baptiste Church, where Gothic, modern and sacred intertwine. The Choir of Light, one of the major achievements of the English artist Sir Anthony Caro, exudes strength and beauty.

The CIAC is offering this year to discover remarkable pieces by the English sculptor Sir Anthony Caro and his wife, the painter Sheila Girling. The CIAC offers year-round temporary exhibitions, conferences, residencies of artists, but also artistic workshops that resonate with the Choir of Light.

Building named prison in 1550. Façade, roof and dungeons are classified Historical Monuments. Built in yellow brick with windows framed by stone. Above the entrance door is a sundial. Behind its heavy oak door, two isolation rooms are located upstairs decorated with authentic graffiti, mostly dating from the Second World War. Other convicts were locked in dungeons with double doors of the basement. On the ground floor, a Flemish cuisine is restored. Guided tour: Discover the old prison of Bourbourg! An unusual building welcomes you to 29, Place du General de Gaulle: A former communal prison of the sixteenth century, Flemish bricks. This prison is one of the oldest and most curious in the region. Listed as a historical monument since 1972, this unusual site contains innumerable written testimonies of the prisoners who were locked there in the cells and dungeons still intact. We invite you to take a trip back in time and in history, following an original stroll! Duration of the visit: 1h Guided group tour by reservation only Price: 3.50 € / adult and 3.00 € / child Children, aged 5 to 12, can discover Bourbourg prison in a fun way with treasure hunts lasting around 20 minutes. The booklets will be given to the public who will be visiting freely. Warning: closure of the prison at the following dates: 8, 15, 19 and 22 July.

The region chosen to host the Tourville project obviously had to answer to a historical legitimacy: to correspond to an area where this type of ship could have been built in the 17th century. Under Louis XIV, five large arsenals, Toulon, Rochefort, Brest, Le Havre and Dunkirk were intended for the construction of the kingdom's warships. The coast of Dunkirk, facing England and Holland, occupied a place of strategic importance and was the object of all the attention of Louis XIV who entrusted engineers Vauban and De Combes the task of developing the arsenal of Dunkirk and the fortified places of Gravelines and Bergues.

The belfry tower, 27 meters high, is part of the historic ensemble of northern belfries inscribed in 2005 in addition to the Belgian belfries on the UNESCO World Heritage List. The square brick tower is topped by a lantern which houses the last bell of the city (which does not ring anymore). The austere architecture of the current belfry dates from its reconstruction in 1827, but the belfry exists before 1582. Repeated constantly since the eighteenth century, ruined in 1821, the old tower is deliberately demolished. The architect Gravez is responsible for a no-frills reconstruction. From the old tower it takes the foundations and the silhouette but simplifies the decoration.

Sheltered in the powder magazine Arsenal built by Charles V from 1528, the exhibition "Estampes? collection (im) permanent "deploys by rotation 200 prints covering the five centuries of the western history of engraving. The presses, the tools, the demonstrations, the videos make it possible to apprehend an art which remains very close to the crafts. Since 1982, the Gravelines Museum of Original Drawing and Printmaking remains the only museum in France devoted solely to printmaking. Its educational workshops, its library, its artists' residences, its editions, its collection make this museum a place of reference and a place open to all. Each temporary exhibition shows the diversity of the practice of printmaking, its dynamism and its timeliness. The recent techniques of image creation and printing still promise a very bright future for this art that is both intimate and generous.