Lille-d

Lille wasn't particularly a choice destination. It was one borne out of necessity. We had to get a ticket to some place in France in order to get a visa and we chose Lille. We didn't know much about Lille or had had a chance to read up about it.

What we learnt about Lille was amazing. About a little over a 1000 years ago, Lille was probably an island and hence the name. It was not always French. It was Flemish and Spanish before it was French. Louis the IV fought for Lille around 1667AD and won it for the French. This is when Lille really started becoming the 4th largest metropolitan area in France. Traditional French character, values and architecture was introduced to Lille and most of the monuments we visited were created by the French after this time. The park in the picture is a good example of that: Used to be a downtrodden street and now has become a really nice park.

Once the French took this city over, this rapidly developed to be the Manchester of France, heavily industrialized with textile mills etc. These industries were put out of business by cheaper offshore products but resilient Lille reinvented itself. While re-modernizing itself with new town centre, fancy L shaped Euralille building [pic] and software and services industries, Lille rediscovered its culture and heritage and setup the old town as a perfect balance to the new hi-tech parts.

The Place du Général de Gaulle or the Grande Place [pic] is the centre of attaction. Right next to the The Palais Rihour [pic], a 16th century building that hosts the Tourist information centre, the Grand Place is at the cusp of the old city and the new shopping district. The new age shopping district houses all the big high street brands, specialized boutiques and cafe's and restaurants. Walking through to the city to the extremely well preserved old town, we came across a blend of modern and old. Most of the houses in the old town have been modified to be either very cool cafes or high end designer stores. It was quite an experience walking through the old town... and it is as far as old towns go.

All this was on north and north east of our hotel. Oh! by the way, we stayed at the Hotel L Hermitage Gantois. A 4* deluxe hotel which is a modified 16th century hospital. A fantastic historical building with a really cool setup.

Just on the south side of the hotel was the mini Arc de Triomphe. Smaller but not less significant for Lille than the Parisian counterpart is to Paris, this was once a gate of the old city. Adjacent to it is the Town Hall and its belfry.

A little further up were the Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille, the second largest museum in France after the Louvre, and the Republique building.

A walk further south revealed residential and industrial part of town. A nice walk through what seemed like the forgotten part of town. All in all, a restful Sunday in a very modern park watching people walk by ended a nice, relaxing weekend in a Lille that pleasantly surprised us.