A Eurostar to Lille in one hour twenty and into the Crowne Plaza a few minutes later for a three day stay. All fairly painless and the hotel location turned out to be a master stroke. Right next to the Euro station and ten minutes walk into the old town..
A visit to Lille has been on the cards for a little while; probably ever since it came to prominence as European City of Culture I suspect.
We were drawn by its reputation for fine architecture and its well preserved old town. Neither disappointed and the old town has more than its fair share of 17th century architecture. However, having picked up a walking guide of the town in the local tourist information centre, we discovered there was much more to Lille than just its old town. In particular, it has some very impressive 19th century buildings and many examples of the prosperous town houses that the well to do of that period liked to build and embellish in their efforts to outdo each other – keeping up with Joneses clearly began many centuries ago and the Lille wealthy were certainly not immune.
Would definitely recommend a visit. Food and drink a little expensive (but very good) but the beers in particular are worth sampling. Many Flemish beers on offer, given Lille’s proximity to the border. Lille appears to have its fair share of city centre alcoholics, gathering in the parks but harming no-one but themselves. More surprisingly, a fair degree of begging appeared to be the norm. Not sure if this is a local problem or a more general issue around France but there were beggars on many street corners, often mother and child(ren). Not sure if this is a function of a less benevolent welfare state, illegal immigration, availability of work or a combination of all three but it was disheartening to see. Locals seemed to accept it as the norm and it appears therefore that it is not a particularly recent phenomenon.
Anyway, worth a visit if you are fond of old towns, varied architecture and good food (and drink). Locals much friendlier than my recollections of their Parisienne cousins.