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The last day in Lille was going to be a very short one. Basically I’d just have breakfast and bail. But considering how easy and quick it is to get there, I might just return for a day trip another time!
Since my train would leave quite early, I had my breakfast in the hotel. Then it was time to say goodbye to ibis Lille Centre Gares, and make my way to the station. I first went to the ‘wrong’ station Lille Flandres, to see if I could get access to the lounge, but apparently my very cheap first class tickets didn’t qualify.
So I spent some more time in the very modern Lille Europe train station, where I discovered some huge wall paintings in the metro station part. But eventually it was time to board my TGV INOUI and head home again…
After easing in to it with just a couple of hours yesterday, today was the day to fully experience the city of Lille! As usual I started with some culture, before drowning in coffee and beer.
My day started with the “Classic” bacon and egg roll at PADDO CAFE. It was definitely more fancy than any bacon roll I’d had before, but certainly a good way to start the day.
For the cultural part of the day I then first went to the Hospice Comtesse. Quite unexpectedly there was security with a handheld metal detector at the entrance, so I quickly had to move my pocket knife from my trouser pocket to my jacket, which foolishly wasn’t scanned or checked at all… Half of the exhibition was dedicated to the history of the building as a hospital founded by Flemish countesses—hence the name—and the other half was about the history of Lille in general.
Since I was still totally uncaffeinated at that point, I went for a coffee and a chocolate peanut butter cookie at Bloom Café.
Next on the programme was the Palais des Beaux Arts de Lille. Again there was security here, but this time even with metal detector gates. The jacket trick didn’t work this time—“Please put your jacket back on and deposit anything metal in the tray”—but luckily my knife is slightly smaller than my phone, so I managed to hide it underneath, and… they didn’t notice!
Once inside, I thoroughly enjoyed the museum. The collection was impressive enough, but I especially liked how the building was made into art as well, only fully visible when standing in very specific spots!
For dinner I went to Le Broc, specialised in cheese dishes. La Trilogie du Broc definitely didn’t disappoint! I do have to mention though, that a country so proud of their cuisine, it’s funny to see how here in the North they’ve adopted a dish from the ridiculed United Kingdom—Welsh rarebit—and serving as Le Welsh in every second restaurant here!
To finish the day in style, two breweries: Fives Cailand hôp[i].
Apparently it only takes a 34 minute train ride to get from Brussels to Lille! So this cloudy afternoon in December, I found myself once again in Brussels Midi for my shortest high speed train ride ever.
This train ride was unique in more than one way: it was also my first time travelling by TGV INOUI. It definitely wasn’t the train’s first ride though! One of the armrests of my seat fell off, and everything else felt a bit dated as well.
Age hadn’t slowed down this train, and it raced through Flanders—both Belgian and French—with a speed of nearly 300 km/h. Consequently, we arrived in Lille Europe perfectly on time.
Also near the station was HEIN – Brique House, the Lille taproom of said brewery. From there it was a ten minute walk to BeerChope. As the name would suggest, it is indeed a beer shop, but if you would walk in there unsuspectingly, you’d think it’s just a normal bar…
Just across the square was BBP Lille, another taproom of one of my neighbourhood breweries. Very recognisable as a BBP venue, both from the outside and the inside! And just like BBP Bailli, with a very prominent pizza oven.
For a taste of some northern French cuisine I went to A Taaable. Unfortunately that was a bit of a letdown… I probably should have known that there would be quite a bit of cartilage in Les Pieds de Cochon et Queue de Bœuf en Andouillette, so that’s on me. But the fact that it wasn’t even hot in the middle was totally on them! So when they asked the usual “Was everything okay?”, I actually told them the truth, and they comped me the meal.
On to more beer then, at Beer Square! I had hoped to get some more food there—since I only finished half my plate—but unfortunately the kitchen was already closed. The beers were nice though, as was the artisanal dry sausage!
To finish the evening, I went to La Capsule, the favourite bar during my last visit to Lille. The beer list was just as cracking as last time, and the bar staff was really helpful in helping me avoid the beers I would be able to drink at the Five Cail brewery taproom tomorrow anyway.
So today’s trip was to Lille, called Rijsel in Dutch, or in this case more correctly, in Flemish. Because although technically Lille is not in Belgium—hence the “+” in the title of this post—it’s in Flanders nevertheless. Lille is in French Flanders to be exactly, which used to be a part of the historical County of Flanders. While it has been a part of the Southern Netherlands for a while, it eventually ended up as a part of France in 1659. However, to some extent, apparently Flemish is still spoken here, although I haven’t seen or heard any proof of that on this trip…
The County of Flanders
My Off-Peak Unlimited train ticket was of course not valid for the border crossing, but the international add-on was only a couple of euros extra. With a fifteen minute delay—vandals messed up the signalling system—my train arrived in Lille-Flandres, a train station that was way bigger than I expected!
My first stop was of course at a coffee bar, Coffee Makers in this case, for an espresso macchiato and some banana bread.
Since my Museum Pass isn’t valid here, and I hadn’t been in Lille as an adult yet, for as far as I can remember, I just played tourist for a while. Of course, I had to visit the citadel of Lille as well. This fortress was built between 1667 and 1670, designed by Vauban, a French military engineer, apparently considered the greatest engineer of his time. Unfortunately, it’s closed to the public, because it is still in military use: it’s home to the Rapid Reaction Corps-France. From the outside, it doesn’t look like much, but just check out what it looks like from above!
From there I strolled past the future location of BBP Lille. There’s still a lot of work to be done, but it’s a really nice building!
My first actual beer stop was at Beer Square, right next to the quite peculiar Cathédrale Notre-Dame-de-la-Treille: modern in the front, old everywhere else.
Even though it was still quite early, the high ABV beers I consumed necessitated a food stop at Friterie Meunier. Their specialty is all kinds of croquettes, and they were tasty indeed!
The next beery stop was then the hôp[i] microbrewery. I loved their beers, the selection of guest beers, and the art on the walls!
After a short stop at La Ressourcerie, I then went to the highlight of the evening, La Capsule. I could easily have spent the rest of my evening here!
I didn’t want to risk missing my train home though, so I went back to Lille-Flanders train station, only to find my planned train had been cancelled… There was a train to Mouscron however, and from there, it was a direct train to Brussels!
That’s another adventure in the bag, next up: the Hopz beer festival in Hamont-Achel! (Although I doubt that warrants a blog post, since I won’t see much apart from the beer festival itself. The next post will probably be about Bruges!)
