Car Hire in Lille, France
Lille, definitely the largest city in the north, is the very symbolic representation of French industry and working-class politics. Its mayor, Pierre Mauroy, was the first Socialist prime minister appointed by Mitterrand in 1981. In each and every direction the city spreads far in the countryside, is a mass of suburbs along with heavy industrial plants. Lille shows many of the problems of contemporary France: a number of the worst poverty and racial conflict in the area, a crime rate rivalled only by Paris and Marseille, including a certain regionalism - Lillois sprinkle their speech with a French-Flemish patois and some extent assert a Flemish identity. But there is also classic French affluence. The city contains an attractive centre, Vieux Lille, some vibrant and obviously prosperous commercial areas, modern residential squares, a large university, a brand-new métro system, and a very serious attitude to its culture and restaurants. However, you might not consider Lille a primary destination, in case you are venturing through this region; it's worth at least a day and a night.
The point of interest of the city is the
Grande-Place (also known as place du Général-de-Gaulle), which signifies the southern boundary of the old quarter, Vieux Lille. Towards the south is the central pedestrianized shopping area which extends along rue de Béthune so far as the adjacent squares of place Béthune and place de la République. On Saturdays, especially, the area is so jammed with shoppers that you could hardly move, and congested outdoor cafés add to the street life. The main festivity of the season, the Grande Braderie, occurs during the first weekend of September wherein each time a big street parade and vast flea market fill the streets of the old town by day, and the evenings watch a moules frites frenzy in all of the restaurants, with empty mussel shells piled up in the streets.
The central Grande-Place is merely a few minutes' walk from the gare SNCF (originally Paris's Gare du Nord, but brought here brick by brick in 1865). In spite of being the fifth -largest city in France, the centre of Lille is small enough to be able to wander around and, in the event you favor to travel to Villeneuve-d'Ascq in the outskirts, you won't even need to use the city's efficient métro system.
Ljao/jan/1v21
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