Life in Lille
Sarah Daly discovers just how well connected this northern city brimming with culture and history is to Britain, France and Europe
L
ille is a beautiful and cosmopolitan city and one that has a vibrancy, partly thanks
to the number of young people studying at one of its universities. It is small enough to explore on foot, which is how I decided to enjoy it. My journey through the city took me from Lille Europe station, where I arrived by train from Calais, through the oldest part of the city. Vieux Lille is an eclectic mixture of architecture, with Flemish and even British influences, a number of spacious squares, wide boulevards and narrow winding streets. My meandering soon took
me to the Hospice Comtesse Museum. The 13th-century Countess of Flanders, Jeanne, after whom it was named, was a fascinating woman. She not only did a lot to promote
healthcare and women’s rights, but her economic policies also promoted the growth and development of many Flemish cities, including Lille, whose medieval prosperity was in part due to her governance. When I visited, art
installations wove through rooms filled with pharmacy displays, architectural decorations and paintings. The most unexpected of these was part of a temporary exhibition entitled ‘The Cosmic Serpent’. I was invited to remove my shoes and lie down in a room full of strangers, closing my eyes while a light and music show played around us all for 20 minutes. It was certainly one of the most surreal museum experiences I’ve ever had, but it was also weirdly relaxing and floating past exhibits like an ‘automatic writing’ machine that churned out English text
“From Lille, you can be in Brussels in 35 minutes, Paris in an hour and London in 80 minutes”
when I touched it seemed almost normal afterwards. I love visiting cities but find
I often gravitate towards their green spaces. In Lille, these aren’t hard to find. The city is dominated to the northwest by the imposing five-pointed citadel, created by Vauban on the orders of Louis XIV after the city was seized from its Spanish rulers in 1667.
L’Hospice Comtesse in Lille’s old town was founded in the 13th century 64 FRENCH PROPERTY NEWS: March/April 2023
RIVERSIDE WALK This vast fortification was where I headed next. It is surrounded by the canalised River Deûle, and a large zoo seems almost lost in its extensive grounds. In fact, walking below the enormous walls, you could almost forget you’re in the heart of a city at all as the level path takes you through fields and woodlands alongside the river. While I walked, many other visitors were cycling. Lille
has an innovative bike rental scheme, which is included in the Pass Pass – a travel card that gives you unlimited travel on trains, trams and buses in the five departments that comprise the Hauts-de-France region, including Nord. With a monthly or annual subscription, this scheme is ideal for commuters and students. Given that the city centre houses around 250,000 people, while the wider metropolitan area has a population of 1.2m, public transport is vital and keeps the city centre traffic-free. Metro and tram systems take
you easily from the suburbs and villages beyond Lille into the heart of the city. From there, you can be in Brussels in 35 minutes, Paris in an hour and London in 80 minutes. Amsterdam is just over two hours away, as is the German city of Cologne. It takes three hours to get to Lyon, and
©SARAH DALY
© RCRTC HAUTS-DE-FRANCE N BRYANT
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