Lille, a small and necessary getaway
10:00 a.m. We have just arrived in Lille and to make contact with the city without stress we are going to take a walk through its Grand Place also called General de Gaulle Square because this French soldier and politician is one of his favorite sons. For a moment you are going to have the doubt if you are in France or in Belgium because Lille It has a very marked Flemish flavor with a Burgundian aftertaste. . A little history is going to hurt us, folks.
This city belonged to the county of Flanders (and by extension was Spanish for a time) and was in the orbit of the Dukes of Burgundy to end up being French , so we have a very interesting melting pot. Right between the Grand Place and the neighboring Plaza del Teatro is the Vieille Bourse, the building of the stock exchange, of Mannerist architecture, and in which caryatids, Atlanteans and garlands of fruit stand out. Nowadays many locals and visitors gather in the stock market to exchange their books and to play chess.
Games at the Vieille Bourse
12:00 p.m. It's 12 o'clock and in France it's time to eat. A few meters from the Grand Place, on Rue Esquermoise, we find the Urban Basilic Café, a place where we can have a frugal meal based on signature burgers and salads. Rich, rich, Arguiñano-style, and light, a perfect collation to be able to continue with our visit to the city.
Sanota stop: Urban Basilic Café
2:00 p.m. It's a good time to meet the Palace of the fine arts of Lille, in my opinion, one of the most amazing museums in France. Here classic pieces of French sculpture are combined with samples of contemporary artists. Before organizing your visit, I advise you to look at the temporary collections that this venue usually houses..
"Voyage au bout de la vie". Artwork by Wolfgang Laib
4:00 p.m. About a ten minute walk from the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Lille is the Saint Sauveur Gare . This old train station, converted into a multicultural space, hosts a multitude of exhibitions and events, some of them linked to the program lille3000 , biannual festival created as a result of Lille being European Capital of Culture in 2004.
Let it surprise you!
7:00 p.m. It's time for dinner and the recommendation that I'm going to give you, you're going to thank me for life. One of the best restaurants in Lille to eat delicious fish from the best fish markets is Jour de Pêche _(2 Rue de Pas) _, managed by the young and charming Stellio Lestienne, a businessman son of chef Tony Lestienne, a renowned chef from the neighboring town of Boulogne sur Mer.
treat yourself
10:00 p.m. To sleep has been said. A central hotel with incredible views of the Grand Place is the Grand Hôtel Bellevue, a true classic. It is not a cheap establishment but you will be in the thick of it if you want to go out at night.
You deserve a break at the Grand Hôtel Bellevue
10:00 a.m. After a peaceful rest and a breakfast of champions, I recommend you stroll through Lille to see other interesting places such as the Hospice Comtesse (Hospital de la Condesa), today a well-known Flemish art museum, and the Palais Rihour , a 15th-century palace where there are still Burgundian symbols such as the cross of Saint Andrew or the crown. To the north of the Plaza Mayor is the old town that preserves the medieval layout of its streets, and in which there are renowned art galleries and elegant estaminets, cafes where people meet to chat and have a delicious local beer . Taking a walk along the rue de la Grande Chaussée, where the famous Count of Artagnan lived (the real one and not the musketeer created by Dumas), or the Passage de la Treille transports the traveler to medieval Lille.
As I have told you before, Lille was the city of Charles de Gaulle and you can still visit his house, located at number 9 rue Princesse, where he was born in 1890. Currently, the Birthplace, declared a Historical Monument, belongs to the Charles de Gaulle Foundation and It has been open to the public for more than 30 years..
Open to the public for more than 30 years
12:30 p.m. We're going on a trip to the neighbor Roubaix , a district located ten kilometers from the center of Lille. We are going to take a short break there before the cultural visits in the afternoon at the Restaurant La Fonderie , located in a old foundry from the 19th century where you can try specialties from the north of France.
fifteen. 00 a.m. A few minutes from the restaurant is one of the best-known museums in this French region. Is about the pool (The pool) , Museum of Art and Roubaix Industry , located in an art deco building in the old municipal swimming pool. This space houses rooms dedicated to paintings, furniture, photographs, fabrics, ceramics and sculptures. For our last cultural visit we are going to move to ten kilometers from Roubaix, specifically to Villeneuve d'Ascq , where is the LAM Lille Metropole (Museum of modern art, contemporary art and brut art). Here are works by the great avant-garde artists who lived in France during the first half of the 20th century such as Braque, Laurens, and Picasso, as well as works by Léger, Joan Miró, and Modigliani.
Roubaix Museum of Art and Industry
7:00 p.m. Last night in Lille. My last recommendation is a creperie, Le Petit Flambée , where they make simply delicious crêpes and galettes that will put an excellent, very French finishing touch to your 48 hours in Lille.
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Lille or the French whim