Yesterday was a glorious sunny winter’s day, perfect for a stroll around the Christmas market in Lille. I was never sure about the English fascination with foreign Christmas markets, it seemed like a hangover from the days when things like wine and cheese were actually cheaper across the Channel. Nonetheless, I rose bright and early yesterday morning, hopped on a bus and a few hours later we were in Lille.
The Christmas market was small and full of tat, as I had expected, but it was a fun day out and, amid some truly horrendous buildings, Lille’s old town is full of beautiful architecture and charm and there are oodles of nice shops (especially wine and cheese shops!) and great restaurants. The scallops I had were more than worth getting up at 6am for.
Great photos! That dish looks delish! I miss France sometimes.
Thanks! The scallops were lovely.
I love scallops. You had my mouth watering with that photo. We have a holiday market in my town here in the U.S. Seems they all sell a fair amount of tat as you put it. But there is just a different feel to the thing when the background is steel, glass and concrete as opposed to what I see in your pics. My favorite holiday market so far – the Christkindlmarkt on Marienplatz in Munich.
Yeah, Germany seems to understand Christmas better than most other places and their Christmas markets are legendary. I’ve been to Rothenburg where they have tons of Christmas stores which are open all year around, that was cool. It still felt Christmas-y with the music playing and the lights and the chill in the air, just not a whole lot of stuff I was aching to buy, except the mulled wine and hot apple cider with calvados!
Great images make me wish I was there.
Thanks for sharing. I’ve been to Lille a lot as my fiancé is from there. Yes, amid the horrible buildings, there is a beautiful town centre with gorgeous historical buildings, and I adore it!
It was lovely! I was ready not to like it, but I was pleasantly surprised!
Plus if you know where to go, theres amazing places to eat. And did you see the patisserie called Meert I have a glimpse of it in my blog: http://papayapieces.com/2013/08/27/meert-legend-since-1761/
Its wonderful!