A Weekend in Lille

I didn’t know that much about Lille before spending the weekend there. To be honest, it wasn’t somewhere that I had thought about visiting. For the most part I have, shamefully, stuck to European capital cities and places that I have driven through accidently on the way to somewhere else without really knowing their names. After visiting Lille, however, I can see why it’s such a popular destination. Lille is only 90 minutes on the Eurostar from St Pancras making it perfect for a weekend break. After arriving at Lille Europe my friend and I walked into the town centre heading for our hotel, the Best Western Grand Hotel Bellevue, taking the scenic route. Lille has a mixed architecture, being near the border of Belgium, and combines huge decorative masterpieces like the Opera House along with small shops covered in detailed facades. The town is literally a giant piece of art work. Our hotel is situated on the Grand Place, the Place du Général de Gaulle, but the entrance to it is in a quiet street behind the square. It looks as if the main entrance to the building was once on the main square but is now a very grand bookstore. I came at just the right time as in the middle of the Grand Place was a huge Ferris wheel towering over the square which had a great view over Lille at night. After dropping our bags off at the hotel, we thought it was time to explore the town centre, and more importantly, the numerous chocolate shops that we had passed on our way. The next day we took the metro to nearby Roubaix to visit La Piscine. No, we were not going swimming; it is actually an art gallery. It was built in the early 1900s and it full of fine art, sculptures and photo opportunities. It’s a little way out but it’s definitely worth the while of you’ve got a few days to spend, and it’s much quieter that the Palais de Beaux Arts in the centre of Lille. After viewing those masterpieces we decided to visit another one, a culinary masterpiece – La Restaurant de Fromage. This restaurant is not for the faint hearted, or those with high cholesterol. The restaurant is devoted to cheese and all things cheesy, cheese fondue, cheesecake, cheese salad, cheese on potatoes. Whatever meal you would usually order, but covered in cheese. I chose a ‘welsch’, which was a dish with ham, bread and melted cheese on top (basically a big cheese toastie) with potatoes. It was amazing but far too much cheese for any human being to handle without having a heart attack. The next morning we went for a walk around the market which is held in La Vieille Bourse on the Grand Place before taking a final few photographs and heading back to the Eurostar terminal for a glass of champagne as we were travelling in Leisure Select (First Class) on our journey home.