With busy ports, beautiful beaches and a sea life centre housing over 32,000 living creatures it is not hard to see how Boulogne sur Mer earned its title as City of the Sea. Rosie Khdir discovers the towns most popular spot.

Boulogne sur Mer is a town packed with history, with its impressive watchtower, cathedral and crypt, all nested within The Old Town, but one of its biggest attractions is Nausicaa.

Nausicaa National Sea Centre has been around for 17 years and draws in over 600,000 visitors annually. The centre aims to not only provide its guests with an up-close look at the worlds underwater wildlife but also promotes public awareness of the need to protect our oceans and their resources.

The goal this year is to educate visitors about the ocean and its inhabitants, specifically whales and sharks. The centre gives people the chance to discover the sea depths through four key themes: Sharks- Essential to Ocean Life, The Extraordinary Wealth of the Deep, Amazing Whale Migrations and Fish, from the sea to your dinner plate.

Each theme will be presented via exhibitions, live TV broadcasts and of course with the help of 1000 different species kept in 36 aquarium tanks. You can visit this centre and explore the wonders of the deep, learn how to help save our Blue Planet and even stroke a sting ray!

There is also a great exhibition entitled “Madagascan Encounter”, in which visitors can discover the mangrove swamps, the Mozambique Channel and meet the nomadic Vezo fisherfolk.

Nausicaa has just launched Europe-wide campaign called “Choose the right fish” which aims to balance to consumption of fish in Northern France to help prevent extinction.

This campaign is running until the 31st December 2009, so to learn more about the mysterious deep blue sea and help protect its inhabitants Nausicaa is the place to go.

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Image credit: Christophe Alary

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