Boulogne's number one attraction – and one of the most visited in northern France – is the Centre National de la Mer, or Nausicaá, on boulevard Sainte-Beuve (daily: July & Aug 9.30am–8pm; Sept–June 9.30am–6.30pm; closed 3 weeks in Jan; tel 03.21.30.98.98, www.nausicaa.fr; €9.50–12, depending on time of year; combined ticket with the Château Musée). With ultraviolet lighting and New Age music creating a suitably weird ambience, you wander from tank to tank while hammerhead sharks circle overhead, a shoal of tuna lurks in a diamond-shaped aquarium, and giant conger eels conceal themselves in rusty pipes – definitely not for ichthyophobes. Compared with the startling colours of the tropical fish and the clownish antics of the sea-lions at feeding time, some of the educational stuff (in French and English throughout – one in five visitors is British) is rather dull. Despite the fact that the centre was built as recently as 1991, it's all beginning to look a bit tired and dated, though the half-hour 3D film show goes some way to alleviating the boredom. Environmental issues are addressed, perhaps too timidly for some tastes, even though the centre works on marine conservation projects together with UNESCO. But, as you'd expect in France, the sea as a source of food seems to be given more importance – witness the chic Bistrot de la Mer where you can sample suitably fresh fish and wine, making the whole place seem like one elaborate seafood restaurant.The quiet cobbled streets of the ville haute, southeast of Nausicaá and uphill, make a pleasant respite from the noise and drabness of the ville basse. Within the square walls, the domed Basilique Notre-Dame (summer 9am–noon & 2–6pm; winter 10am–noon 2–5pm) is an odd building – raised in the nineteenth century by the town's vicar, without any architectural knowledge or advice – yet it seems to work. In the vast and labyrinthine crypt (Tues–Sun 2–5pm; €2) you can see frescoed remains of the Romanesque building and relics of a Roman temple to Diana. In the main part of the church sits a bizarre white statue of the Virgin and Child on a boat-chariot, drawn here on its own wheels from Lourdes over the course of six years during a pilgrimage in the 1940s. Nearby, the Château Musée (Sept–June Mon & Wed–Sat 10am–12.30pm & 2–5pm, Sun 10am–12.30pm & 2.30–5.30pm; July & Aug Mon & Wed–Sat 10am–5pm, Sun 10am–5.30pm; closed 3 weeks in Jan; €3.50; combined ticket with Nausicaá) contains Egyptian funerary objects donated by a local-born Egyptologist, an unusual set of Eskimo masks and a sizeable collection of Greek pots. Alternatively, you can climb up the most ancient monument in the old town, the twelfth-century belfry (Mon–Fri 8am–6pm, Sat 8am–noon; free; access via the Hôtel de Ville), attached to the Hôtel de Ville, at the other end of rue de Lille from the Basilica, or stroll along the medieval walls, decked out with rosebeds, gravel paths and benches for picnicking, with impressive views over the town and port. Three kilometres north of Boulogne on the N1 stands the Colonne de la Grande Armée (undergoing renovation until summer 2003), where, in 1803, Napoléon is said to have changed his mind about invading Britain and turned his troops east towards Austria. The column was originally topped by a bronze figure of Napoléon symbolically clad in Roman garb – though his head, equally symbolically, was shot off by the British navy during World War II. It's now displayed in the Château Musée.
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