Lille: A Welcome Weekend Getaway

Long weekends are always a temptation for travel. There can be few better feelings than to have a Monday off. And when you get one such Monday off, you look for the closest getaway. A getaway which would do justice to the extra day off. We decided on hopping across the channel to Lille, France.

I was posted in Prague long back and hence had the fortune to see a lot of Europe. Despite that, we had not heard of this place Lille, a lively city in the north of France close to the Belgian border. In fact, we were targeting Bruges and came across Lille only because we were routed through there by the rail and bus websites. A bit of research was enough to drop Bruges and head for Lille as we were not in mood for too long a journey in a short span of time. 
I had heard about the legendary Euro tunnel or the channel tunnel which connects France and Britain and is operational since 1994 but somehow had little idea about it. In fact till the morning I was in the knowledge that our bus would be ferried across. I knew that the cars are loaded in the train which crossed the tunnel but little did I know that this applied to buses as well.

Lille – Grand Place

We boarded the Eurolines bus from London Victoria and soon we were close to the entrance of the tunnel at Folkstone near Dover. I noticed French flags which implied that we were in the so-called ‘border’ check-post where passports would be checked. Britain never bothers as to who is going out so there was no UK border control. The desk with a French flag checked our passports. The check-point was highly decorated with duty-free shops and was no different to an international airport transit lounge. However, we were strictly told by our bus driver that there was no time for shopping as we needed to board the train. As in, the entire bus had to board the train. It soon happened and we were packed into a  compartment of a gigantic train. The bus coming down a ramp on to a platform and then driving into the compartment. Very soon the train started moving. One can get down from the bus and move around in the compartment but there is little else to do or enjoy as the view outside the window is dark. So after a bit of a walk to somewhat live this first time experience, we went back to our seats in the bus and caught a power nap for the remaining part of the thirty five minute train ride. We reached Calais on the other side of the channel and soon got dropped off at the Calais Cite Europa bus stop. The place was a shopping mall,  Not that we were in a mood to shop but it enabled us to get the all important wi-fi connection in order to figure out our next plan of action. We had to board the train to Lille from Calais Ville railway station which was around three miles away and we had little idea how to reach there. Thankfully another gentleman who disembarked from our bus had the same plans and he generously offered us to share the taxi which he had booked to the station. This saved us of a potential hassle and soon we were in the train to Lille. As expected, the weather was typically European i.e. a very hot summer day. The sun was an absolute scorcher, killing us on its way down.

Lille looked to be a lively city. Our hotel ‘Le Grande’ was walking distance from the station. With the help of a map that we picked up from the station, we located it easily without needing our smart phone (which was not quite smart  currently without either data or wi-fi connection). We dumped our baggage and soon hit the city center to explore. By this time, it was dark enough for the lights to come on but it was still very hot. The place was bustling with tourists who were either walking, cycling or just relaxing at the fountain. The city center is called the Grand Place much like Brussels. The city was in the typical template of a European city – cobbled roads, fountain in the center, heritage buildings, a clock tower and most importantly lots of open air eateries. It was just the right set-up for a Saturday night. We had no idea that the entire area falling under the city center would be that large. Every lane we moved into seemed livelier than the one preceding it. Bars and restaurants were full with chairs lined up on the roads and with people moving around in bi-cycles like they do in such cities. It was far cry from most of the sleepy towns of Britain and it seemed even more lively than Copenhagen which I visited last year. Restaurants were all full and even at 10-30 PM there were no signs of winding up, with people still in queue. Fortunately, we did not have to wait much and got seats at a restaurant named ‘La Chicoree’, which looked to be quite prominent.  Though I do not have great fondness for French cuisine, we ordered a couple of great dishes which were enjoyed thoroughly (dishes were most definitely supplemented by French Fries in case something goes wrong). Post-dinner, now close to mid-night, people were still around and in no mood to call it quits on a Saturday night. We relaxed a bit on the fountain and then walked some distance down a different street and finally called it a day close to 1 AM.

Grand Palace

Unlike on other trips, we had no hurry to wake up and start early as we had that magical Monday off, which meant there was no hurry to get back that very day. We got ready and set off only at noon. We had a light breakfast of croissants and coffee at the city center and headed for a walk around the city, beyond the center and Grand Place.  Our first destination was the Grand Palace which was followed by a walk around the city and then back to our hotel. We freshened up a bit at the hotel and now set-off for lunch. This time we settled for a similar outdoor place opposite to the La Chicoree and had an equally delicious meal. After that I decided to go on a bicycle tour. How can one not do so in such a city. Cycle stands are available at a number of corners where you need to log in certain details in a kiosk, insert your card to block a deposit amount which would then release the cycle from the stand. Like I did in Copenhagen last year, I cycled around the city as my wife occupied herself at her favorite Haagen Daz shop. I covered as many lanes as possible and went slightly away from the center to explore. Unfortunately, being a Sunday a lot of shops were shut and tourists were probably on their way out towards Paris or Brussels. Talking of shops I must say it felt a bit strange that despite the place being full of tourists, I did not even spot a single souvenir shop open. I do not recall any city center not having a souvenir shop. As a result we missed purchasing our customary refrigerator magnet. After an hour of cycle ride, we decided on heading back to the hotel to catch some rest before coming back for the evening stint which would include one more open-air dinner. We caught up on some winks in the hotel room and were once again freshened up to hit the road. The weather was a lot cooler and more so once the sun went down. So much so that we needed our jackets. On our way we noticed that inside one of the buildings there was some dance program going on. The music was playing with couples dancing, rather waltzing, and many watching. It was beautiful entertainment and even we tried a couple of moves. The cool nip in the air made the atmosphere even more lively and pleasant. We headed off for dinner now on another open-air place next to La Chicoree and co-incidentally we found that the same two ladies who sat in the table next to us the day before were on our next table today as well. This enabled us to strike a conversation where we learnt that they were from Amsterdam on a similar weekend break like us. While the place still had enough people and enough food still on offer, the atmosphere was the not the same as the previous night. We hung around for a while and then on the way back we noticed that the dance session was still on with lovely music still on. We enjoyed the music for a while after which we took a night walk towards the well-lit up Lille Flanders station which was a stone’s throw from our hotel. The station had a beautiful fountain which provided some lovely night pictures.

The Monday was like a typical ‘return’ day. Check-out followed by walk to the station, having a light breakfast followed by hanging out a bit in the area close by which had a shopping mall and a structure depicting Euro 2016 , which was hosted by France a month back, in French colors. A thirty minute train ride, followed by bus, border checks by both countries this time, train ride through the channel and we were back at London Victoria by 5 PM. The immigration at the UK border control was interesting as a family travelling on our bus did not have the necessary papers and the UK border control refused to let them proceed. They were asked to disembark and I wondered what would have happened to them after that.