Gravelines

Gravelines has served as a port town in French Flanders since the 12th century. Set where the Aa approaches the North Sea, it developed around waterways that once connected a strategic frontier town with inland Flanders. Its compact historic core is enclosed by ramparts, moats and bastions shaped in the 16th and 17th centuries; Vauban later strengthened the defences. Offshore, the Battle of Gravelines in 1588 was a decisive episode in the defeat of the Spanish Armada. Today the town also sits on the Opal Coast, between maritime industry, broad beaches and the low-lying Flemish plain. Move on to other webcams in Hauts-de-France to compare coastal landscapes and town settings around French Flanders.

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