LILLE – QUELLE VILLE

France’s fourth biggest city, Lille.

The charm of this city is that, despite being the largest in northern France, it doesn’t behave like a grand French city – all icy hauteur and spike-heeled arrogance. On a wet Monday afternoon, the outdoor cafés of its central “places” were buzzing, while the slow-moving traffic was patient, not an angry horn to be heard.

Possibly this agreeableness is because the Lillois feel no need to impress. Who would when the heart of your city is such a pleasing cat’s cradle of streets? Paved with stone and lined with steeply gabled houses, handsome in brick and golden sandstone, its 17th- and 18th-century buildings – now elegant shops – hint at its Flemish roots. The city only became French when Louis X1V captured it in 1667.

The house frontages range from quirky to majestic.

The city is nestled close to the Belgium border and is the main city in France’s Nord-Pas-de-Calais region, which like Lille does not really have a reputation for pulling in the tourists, despite being home to two Unesco World Heritage sites.

Lille is very colourful, welcoming and dynamic. It’s a far cry from the grey and rainy clichés of the Nord Pas de Calais region.

Known as “The Capital des Flandres”, Lille is particularly well-known for its culture and its Flemish roots. The city only became French when Louis XIV besieged and conquered it from the Spanish Netherlands in 1667. 

Strolling along the streets of the old city (Le Vieux Lille) is a showcase of the city’s French and Flemish architecture. As shown,above.

The streets are paved with stone and lined with tall red-brick buildings and golden sandstone houses which are now established upmarket shops and flats. 

The Palais des Beaux-Arts museum (pictured below), home to France’s second largest art collection after the Louvre, displays work from Goya, Rembrandt and Rubens.

A survey in 2017 found that Lille was one of the most satisfying and happy places to live in France.

Lille is the third-biggest student city in France after Paris and Lyon, boasting over 100,000 students – many of whom are international. In 2013, the University Lille 1 had more foreign students than any other university in the country, with just over one in five students coming from abroad. 

There is a telling impact even upon that sacrosanct facet of French Life – Food and Drink.

Beer is the drink and burgers the fayre – this May read like heresy but having sampled both this week,I can assure you that in the matter if beer, it was not unusual to find bars offering up to 40 different ales on tap – spoilt for choice.

The burgers are nothing like McDonalds’ – Local beef and imaginative fillings.

Of course, the classic favourites were available too – Carbonnade and Moules Frites,plus a ” Welsh”!

“ The Welch” was listed on many menus and it baffled us. Hannah discovered that it is a speciality dish of the the north of France, ‘Le Welsh’ is typically served in the breweries of Nord-Pas-de-Calais.

A variation on the classic Welsh rarebit, Le Welsh is basically cheese on toast, but with a few added extras – depending on where you are – like beer, mustard or ham

The traditional Welsh, or ‘the Welch’ as it is sometimes called, is made by boiling beer in a pot, adding cheese and pouring it over a slice of toasted bread and ham. The whole dish is then cooked at a high temperature until it turns golden and a fried egg is added on top.

 In 2004, Lille was elected European Capital of Culture and since then the scheme Lille 3000 has pushed to promote the city’s cultural heritage and contemporary artists through regular events and festivals. 

Alongside the highbrow culture, Lille is historically a market town.

General de Gaulle

Charles de Gaulle’s birthplace (the future President was born here in 1890 in his maternal grandparents’ home) is charlmingly small and exquisitely bourgeois.

It is currently undergoing renovation.

Madame Maillot only received visitors once a week, apparently, but allowed grandson Charles to play with his toy soldiers on the tiles of the conservatory floor.

Lille opened the world’s first driverless metro transport system in 1983.

We took the Metro north east to Roubaix, a town whose forlorn, windswept appearance is the unlikely setting for a sumptuous Art Deco lido now a fashionable art gallery, La Piscine: sculptures edge the pool, ceramics fill the tiled shower cubicles, textile samples are on the balconies.

If you only visit one museum,make sure it’s this one.

Included a comical Margaret Thatcher cameo! Lego and Picasso.

But it is the stunning baths themselves which take the breath away.

Even the changing cubicles have been slightly adapted to display objets d’art and textiles.

A walk along the canal and the Citadelle – on the outskirts of Vieux-Lille was a must.

The Citadelle, is an impressive, star-shaped fortress designed by Vauban in 1667 to help protect northern France’s borders. Still in use (by the French Rapid Reaction Corps), the wooded paths around its ramparts are atmospheric with moss-covered tree stumps, wood pigeon,pheasants and a zoo;hard to believe the city centre was barely 15 minutes’ away.

In 2020, Lille will become the World Design Capital (the first French city to do so), with design agencies and other creative enterprises opening their doors to the public, and exhibitions and festivities throughout the year.

Christmas time in Lille

Christmas has really taken over in Lille,epitomised by its Market and street decorations. The Big Wheel looks magnificent at night.

Though modest in size, the market is relatively tat -free and many stalls sell local and regional produce.

No Bratwurst TG !

From Monday to Thursday we walked 60 km in total.

It was effortless because there was so much to enjoy and take in.

Lille is one of the friendliest major cities I have ever visited and interestingly enough,despite the beer and burgers , we saw hardly any overweight people!

We did see and experience politeness and hospitality,usually accompanied with a smile.

Here’s to Lille – Salud!