Friday 11^th Aug: London ⇒ Paris ⇒ Lille

Our night at the Sofitel, Terminal 5 went smoothly but we were very surprised to see the place so busy; the hotel was choc-a-bloc full of travelers. We had an early dinner booking for 6 pm and the restaurant was full of other folk eating at this inhumane hour. The staff at the hotel were run off their feet and the airport the next morning at 6 am was no different, it was absolutely full to overflowing with people too!

We made it to Paris without incident and were immediately relieved to be experiencing some warm weather; it was 29⁰ degree Celsius! The rental car pick-up went smoothly but I had one rather major concern. The car, when packed with us and our luggage and Dagwood Defy, had not one square centimeter of spare room and I did wonder where our dear son and his luggage might fit into this melting pot when we collect him in a couple of weeks? Should you happen to read this Tom, do not worry, we will work something out. I might suggest leaving Dagwood behind somewhere and see how that goes down!

The drive from Paris to Lille and the apartment check in went smoothly as well which was quite something given our lovely young host, Cynthia, didn’t speak any English and we don’t speak any French, but thank goodness for Google translate. Our accommodation in Lille was a one bedroom apartment sourced through Booking.com and it was absolutely lovely. It was well appointed, with large rooms and large windows for good light, in a great location being right on the edge of the cobbled and mostly pedestrian section of the Old Town area of Lille and, even more importantly, it was clean!

Our son in law, Brett, will not be at all surprised to hear that one of the first things we did was a load of washing. Mark had spied quite a few interesting shops on his short walk back from the car so we later on ventured out to buy some breakfast supplies. The short 200 m walk from our apartment to the CarreFour took us a while though as the shops and scenery along the way were just mesmerizingly beautiful and a photographer’s (which I am not) dream; the patisserie with its magnificent offerings, the artisan butcher, the lovely cafes with elegant folk drinking even more elegant cocktails, it was just all that we’d been hoping to find once we reached this part of Europe. It was this and more, though, as we were to later find out.

We set out again a bit later to find somewhere for dinner and strolled further around the streets of Lille. This is one very beautiful and sophisticated city and, also, much larger than I had been expecting. I had visualized a small, rustic medieval style village but this was not the case at all. I’d made one mistake though. I’d changed into summer clothing and put on sandles but this wasn’t the best footwear for the cobblestones. I noticed nearly everyone else was rocking some form of sand shoe or athleisure shoe. Even the stylish women wearing beautiful linen skirts and dresses were all in some form of laced up flat. Note to self: put the sandals away.

We passed loads of chic cafes and bars brimming with people of all ages but we had to wait until 7 pm before we could find an open restaurant; apparently most restaurants in Lille don’t open before 7 pm. We found an area where the restaurants specialize in dishes of the traditional Flemish cuisine and chose one at random. Perusing the menus though left us with very few options that had dishes featuring vegetables though which was a bit disappointing for us. This article gives one view of local dishes and Mark did end up having a Carbonnade and I had chicken topped with Maroilles cheese but both came with fries which surprised me somewhat but my later reading showed these to be common accompaniments. Our meals were fine but we think we’ll try and eat at home for the next two nights given our apartment is so lovely and there are great butchers and options for sourcing vegetables and then we will be able to dine at an inhumane hour prior to 7 pm.

We were so glad to be here in Lille; it was an absolutely beautiful city, the streets were clean and the shops and people displayed an air of elegance we hadn’t experienced in quite a while. It had been a long day with an early start and we were both exhausted, Mark even more so given all of the driving he had done over the last few days. We decided then that we would take it a bit easier over the next few days and just enjoy this beautiful city, without the rush to visit all of the main and suggested attractions. We had a walking tour booked for tomorrow that was to run from 11 am to 1 pm and I’d had other things down on my itinerary for after that but I decided to ditch all of these. I would instead take a stroll through the lovely streets and poke around the many boutiques I had spied earlier this evening. Mark could fill his afternoon watching the replay of the Swans’ game.

 

Saturday 12^th Aug

It was a slow start for us today and we didn’t head out until 9.30 am in search of some produce for meals over the next two nights. We settled on a quiche for one night and we’ll bake some chicken on the other. It had rained overnight but was forecast to be dry and sunny throughout the day with a, thankfully, slightly lower maximum temperature of 25⁰ Celsius which was much better weather for browsing.

Our 2hr walking tour from the Lille Tourist office started at 11 am and our guide, Patricia, was very good. She was actually a native of Flanders across near Belgium and she had a very good knowledge of Flemish history. Flanders, today, refers to the northern part of Belgium but historic Flanders covered territory that is now split across a few countries, the Netherlands, France (including Lille) and Belgium, and this explains the presence of so much Flemish influence in the architecture and food of this region.

Patricia gave us lots of great background to Lille and the bits I found interesting are listed below:

• Lille used to be a very swampy area with lots of rivers and canals
• Lille: essentially means ‘island’
• Lille had been a very prosperous city in medieval period trading in textiles: cotton and wool.
• From 9-14th Century was ruled by various Counts of Flanders then the region came under the Duke of Burgundy, as the last Flanders heir was a female so she was married off to a French Duke who went on to become Duke of Burgundy
• A period of Spanish rule then followed the Burgundy period up until 1667 when Louis XIV captured Lille from the Spanish Netherlands. He built fortifications around the city which are still intact today.
• Flemish architecture was characterized by ornate buildings with sandstone, red brick and limestone but the newer French architecture brought more simplified lines, along the lines of the Ancient Greeks with balance and symmetry.
• Lille was a struggling city in the 1970s as there was high unemployment given the decline with the textile industry, due to dominance of China, as well as local coal mines closing. The Mayor at the time reimagined Lille to become a modern professional city and today the focus is on tertiary industries such as health, education and business. A key part of this successful transition was the Mayor’s advocacy for building the new railway close to the city, rather than on distant cheaper land as originally proposed. Today Lille is thriving!
• Lille Cathedral: this took over 100 yrs to build and was meant to be a Neo-Gothic building. Time delays and financing issues resulted in different architects working on the project and hence the Cathedral has very different presentations at its front compared to its side.
• Chips: I asked Patricia if chips were a traditional Flemish food and she said they were! She said French Fries actually followed on from Flemish fries! So that explains why every restaurant seems to serve these up with almost every dish on the menu! Now, burgers are big on all the menus here too and I now read they’re arguably as much of German origin as American so I wish I could ask Patricia about them!

It was well after 1 pm by the time our walking tour finished up and we went to have lunch in one of the many busy restaurants. It was interesting to note that there were loads of Americans here, individuals (some on our tour),  groups of College students and families. The streets, cafes and restaurants were all brimming with life and it was at this point that Mark proclaimed he could live here, such was his enjoyment of the lifestyle on display throughout the city.

The rest of the afternoon was a lazy one for both of us as I spent the time browsing the shops and Mark attended to his bike. We had a quiet night with a light evening meal and some Netflix (we’ve just started watching Painkiller on Netflix). It had been a good day!

 

 

Sunday 13^th Aug

It was a slightly cloudy start to the day but it was mild so Mark set off for his first ride around Lille and I went for a walk. It was lovely being able to retrace steps from yesterday’s walking tour and inspect the beautiful architecture without the crowds. There were even a few cafes to choose from at 8am this Sunday morning so we met up at L’Abbaye near the main market square and enjoyed a coffee along with a decent number of other early risers.

There were a few things on our itinerary that we had yet to tick off so we set about to accomplish this today. First stop was at Marche de Wazemmes. The second stop was to visit Le Passage des Trois Anguilles, a narrow passage way created in 1670. It is just 120 m in length and 1.2 m wide.

The trip to the markets not at all what we’d been expecting. We were thinking the market experience might be similar to those we’ve enjoyed in Paris, Lyon and other cities around France. This was far from the case though. The markets were a mix of food produce, which was as expected, but this was surrounded by a depressing mix of cheap Asian import toys, fabrics and junk. For those at home just imagine a downbeat version of Paddy’s Markets. The suburb was just a 25 min walk from the Old Town but it could have been years away; empty, graffitied and boarded-up shopfronts, smashed plate glass windows and dirt strewn streets and it was in marked contrast to the beautiful Old Town that we’d just stepped out from. It was at this point that and I had two main thoughts. First, I don’t know why this made it on my list of things to do in Lille and second, that I hope the Mayor who tried to rejuvenate Lille back in the 70s is still alive as he has a lot more work to do.

We didn’t stay long as it was rather confronting and so we headed back to search out the narrow passageway. This was another underwhelming activity making that two strikes for the day and I was starting to doubt my ability to curate travel experiences. This wasn’t helped by the fact that it was a Sunday and nearly everything is shut which simply added to the dull and quiet mood we were feeling after these two activities. It is something that travelers need to factor in with their itineraries when visiting this part of the world as many places shut down on a Sunday and it can greatly impact what you are able to see and do and, also, change the whole atmosphere of an area. It was then back to the apartment for a while as we’d walked for about 90 minutes and it was close to lunchtime anyway. I also wanted to more closely scrutinize the remaining activities on our to do list!

It was 2 pm before we ventured out again and we decided to tackle the GPS My City walking tour of Lille. There was a bit of overlap with yesterday’s tour so we left out those bits. The first stop was the impressive 1692 Porte de Paris gate that Louis XIV had commissioned after he took the city of Lille. Another stop was at the Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille where we stopped off to make a visit. Unfortunately, their audio-guide system was not working which rendered much of the visit less meaningful than what it could have otherwise been. It was only the last item I saw that I wished I could have stolen and it was a large 1889 ceramic fireplace piece which I would have struggled to fit in my luggage!

We drifted back towards home after the Palais des Beaux-Arts visit but with one final stop again at L’Abbaye for an aperitif before heading back to the apartment for a night of dining in and Netflix. We had greatly enjoyed our short visit to Lille and would recommend putting this city on your to-do list. A visit with 2 full days and 3 nights would be preferable but the essence of the city could be enjoyed even with just one full day. However, I would urge any visitor to make sure they take the Lille Tourist Office walking tour so as to get the most out of a visit to this beautiful city.

This is our last night in Lille as we head to Honfleur tomorrow morning.