10 photo tips for 'little Paris', Lille

Tuesday 27 November 2018, 15:51 by Michelle Peeters | 12,701 views | 4 comments

This article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.

Isn't Lille that drab industrial city you usually speed past when driving south? Not at all. Leave the motorway and you'll see why the largest city in northern France was rightly named European Capital of Culture in 2004.

Lille feels like a little Paris. Everything is within walking distance, which makes it perfect for a weekend or even a day trip.

The name Lille comes from l'ile, the island. The city grew on a small island in the Deûle river. Lille lies in the small French part of Flanders and in Belgium it appears on signs under its Flemish name: Rijsel, from 'Ter IJsel', on the island. In 2004, Lille shared the title of European Capital of Culture with Genoa. The city was brightened up with 'Metamorphosis' as its theme.

Vieux Lille and Grand'Place

1. Grand'Place

Grand'Place is the undisputed heart of the centre, at Place du Général de Gaulle. You can easily spend quite some time in the centre. Grand'Place has the goddess high above the fountain and the courtyard of the old stock exchange, where you can play chess.

All sorts of things happen around the huge fountain in the town square: couples in love sit there, people skate and hang out. Europe's largest bookshop, Le Furet du Nord, is on the edge of the square. Further on you'll find the well-known department store Printemps. And in the pedestrian area around the square, the restaurants, cafés and terraces in summer are almost impossible to count.

Lille also has a genuine city anthem: Le P'tit Quinquin. Every resident knows the lullaby, which was composed by Alexandre Desrousseaux in 1853. Ten years after his death, the woman and her constantly crying child from his song were immortalised with a statue on Square Foch.

The entire centre is easy to explore on foot. For attractions that are further away, such as the Wazemmes flea market, the Musée d'Art Moderne and Jardin des Plantes, it is best to take the metro.

Grand'Place and Le P'tit Quinquin

2. Vieux Lille

Vieux Lille, the old town, lies a little to the north of the square. Here you'll find fashion houses by Gucci, Prada and Louis Vuitton. Rue de la Monnaie is Lille's oldest street and the area's lifeline. The streets look medieval, and you'll find plenty of boutiques, restaurants and speciality shops here.

You can shop here and wander through the medieval alleys of the old town. The nicest shops are in the triangle formed by rue de la Monnaie, rue de la Clef and rue Basse.

Grand'Place and rue de la Monnaie

3. Euralille

Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas designed this futuristic new district, Euralille, with two large railway stations and a huge shopping centre with no fewer than 130 shops and department stores. It isn't beautiful, but it is impressive. Euralille borders the old centre. A must for architecture fans.

Lille's oldest railway station, Gare Lille-Flandres, is the former Gare du Nord in Paris. It was rebuilt in Lille, stone by stone. Later, a railway station went in the opposite direction: the metal frame of Paris' Gare d'Orsay was constructed in Lille.

What was a drab car park behind the station has been a surprising, emerging patch of greenery since 2009, with views of Euralille: Jardin des Géants.

The starting point for its design was the idea that a unique garden should be created where feelings had a place. Water features give a different view of the surroundings. Chinese wind chimes and dense vegetation are meant to drown out the traffic noise.

Euralille shopping centre and Jardin des Géants

4. Bois de Boulogne

Since there is hardly any greenery to be found in Lille, the name sounds very appealing. And on the map you can see a large green patch. You can enjoy a walk in the woods along the river and the Citadel. The Citadel is Vauban's 'queen of citadels', built by the master fortification designer under the Sun King.

Jardin Vauban with zoo and grotto
Jardin Vauban, on Boulevard Vauban near the junction with Boulevard de Liberté, is even livelier. Barillet-Deschamps, a famous Parisian landscape architect, designed the park during the time of Napoleon III, in 1865.

It is somewhat over the top, with waterfalls and winding paths, a kitschy grotto and a puppet theatre. On summer Sundays it is a picnic spot.

Jardin Vauban

5. Charles de Gaulle

The Maison Natale du Général de Gaulle is the birthplace of General, war hero and president De Gaulle, and the building now serves as a museum. You can see a photo exhibition about his heroic life. You can also see the presidential limousine he was sitting in during one of the six (!) attempts on his life in 1962.

The thriller 'The Day of the Jackal' is about this. The fact that it really happened is proved by the black Citroën DS in question: the bullet holes are still there. The grand house at 9 Rue Princesse is full of nostalgia.

The Cimétière de l'Est is nearby. The guard at this cemetery was bloodthirsty when it came to cameras, but turned into a docile, helpful lamb when shown interest in the prominent people resting here. Such as local folk hero Alexandre Desrousseaus

Charles de Gaulle's birthplace

6. La Piscine

La Piscine just outside Lille in Roubaix, easily reached by metro or train in 20 minutes from the centre, is an unexpected but spectacular setting.

It is a museum in a former art deco swimming pool. The water has remained, and the changing cubicles are still recognisable. A special art collection, supplemented each year with high-profile exhibitions.

La Piscine in Roubaix
In 1932, the 'most beautiful swimming pool in France' opened, a masterpiece of art deco. Its charm is literally and figuratively reflected in the museum's collection of 19th- and 20th-century art. Statues stand on either side of the long water basin. Display cases with ceramics and textiles fill the former changing rooms and showers.

La Piscine in Roubaix

7. VAL

The VAL, Véhicule Automatique Léger, is the world's first fully automated underground railway. There is no staff and not even a driver on board.

The platforms are separated from the tracks by a glass wall, and the metro rushing inside miraculously stops perfectly in front of the built-in sliding doors. Fully automatically, the platform doors and metro doors open at the same time. It feels like travelling with a ghost driver.

8. Palais des Beaux-arts

This second-largest museum in France offers a complete overview of European painting from the 16th to the 20th century. An impressive permanent collection and changing exhibitions. Tip: download the museum app.

Grand'Place and Palais des Beaux-arts

9. Hôtel de Ville

For the finest view from the 104-metre-high bell tower. The 104-metre-high Beffroi rises beside the town hall like a genuine skyscraper, made of reinforced concrete. A record height for the region. The bell tower symbolises civil liberties.

Its construction in 1929 was complicated: for the first time, a concrete frame more than 100 metres high was made. Piles had to be driven into the ground to support the 9,000-tonne tower. A lift also had to be installed to raise the materials.

The lift was extended as construction progressed. Together with 22 other belfries in northern France, this tower is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. To reach the lift, you first have to climb around a hundred steps. After that, you can choose to walk up another 300 or so steps or take the lift.

From above, you can clearly see the Chapelle du Reduit and, next to it, the grand Porte de Paris on Place Simon Vollant. It is partly a remnant of the old city fortifications.

10. Notre Dame de la Treille

Notre Dame de la Treille is a bizarre structure. A 19th-century neo-Gothic cathedral with a trendy 21st-century white marble façade slapped onto it.

It is a neo-Gothic cathedral in the old part of Rijsel. This listed building was erected between 1897 and 1947. The façade of the building might suggest otherwise, but the façade, an artistic masterpiece, dates from 1999 and was designed by Pierre-Louis Carlier and Peter Rice. The cathedral itself is the seat of the Archdiocese of Rijsel.

Initially built as an ordinary church, the building was given the title of basilica by Pope Pius X in 1904. On 25 October 1913, the Archdiocese of Cambrai was split in two, creating the Diocese of Rijsel. Notre-Dame de Treille thus became a cathedral. Inside the cathedral there is a statue of the Virgin Mary.

Notre Dame de la Treille and the Stock Exchange

Practical tips

Travelling to Lille by car? Park for free at Champ de Mars. The centre is within walking distance. Don't buy an expensive day pass for the metro. Chances are you'll be better off with individual tickets, because the metro's two lines don't go to anywhere near all the sights. Walking is usually the best way.

Bakker Dual is an institution in France. The flamboyant rolls, such as the Faluche du Mareyeur with smoked salmon, are tasty and affordable, from three euros. The cheapest restaurants and terraces are easy to find: the more students there are, the lower the prices.

Nightlife tips

When it comes to eating and drinking, Grand'Place and the adjoining Place Rihour are good choices. At the enormous Brasserie Flore, you can get your daily portion of mousse-frites for around 11 euros.

The part of Rue Masséna that runs alongside Les Halles is also known as the 'street of great thirst'. Pubs with names such as La Boucherie and Le Banana's stand here dozens in a row, and students come from all over Lille to quench their Great Thirst.

An Estaminet is a Belgian word that has fallen out of use for a café, pub or inn. Above all, it means that you can eat well there. Such as at Barbue d'Anvers at 1 Rue Saint-Etienne.

For modern Flemish cuisine, book a table for Sunday lunch at Bloempot, where chef Florent Ladeyn is at the stove. And get vanilla waffles, gaufre, from the Méert bakery. The story goes that Charles de Gaulle would go out of his way for them as a young boy.

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