Every year in France during the first weekend in September, the town of Lille holds a huge brocante (that’s a second hand market to you and me) with virtually the whole of the town involved.
We travelled by Eurostar with practically empty cases, ready to be filled with our haul! How exciting!
Top tip for Eurostar: when your train pulls in, coach numbers are on the platform (we seemed to be the only people unaware of this!)
We stayed at the Best Western Grand Bellevue Hotel with an excellent view overlooking the square – these are the “before” pictures of the square above.
The staff were extremely friendly and helpful and pointed out on the Braderie map (supplied by them) where to go to find the good stuff. We were a little worried we’d had a wasted journey when we first got there as the stalls in the centre were just general market and food stalls, not the old stuff we were looking for!
I’ll let the photos speak for themselves – you may spot a theme going on!
Where’s my head at? ooo there it is.
I think Dexter had got here before us:
The lady below seems pretty armless though!
Who’d have believed it? French people with a sense of humour!
One word of warning: Unfortunately I had my purse stolen and my phone was inside just to add to my problems! (I thought) I was being vigilant against pickpockets but it was taken after I’d bought a big roll of fabric and my purse was in the bag with it. Again the staff at the Hotel were extremely helpful (and so were T-Mobile who let me off the nearly £100 of phone calls to Bulgaria that the thief had run up before I had a chance to get it cut off!)
Watch out for thieves and vagabonds 😦
I wouldn’t let this put me off going again because apart from that I enjoyed everything about the trip, it was easy (and quick) to get there, our room in the Hotel was great, and we found a fab French Bistro to have dinner – just a stones throw away. On top of that I got to admire the architecture, gander through the market and practise my school girl French “Combien?”!
Well I like it – each to their own!
My haul included lots of French fabric and this tapestry picture – a snip at five euros and now hanging in my living room.
We stayed for two nights, Saturday to Monday. At the end of the market on the Sunday evening, the place was absolutely full of rubbish. Clearly they don’t have a “take it with you when you leave” policy.
We woke up on the Monday however and the whole place had quickly and quietly (we didn’t hear a thing) been resumed to business as usual with commuters heading to work in their cars through the square and not a thing out of place! Very impressive!
Here are the “after” photos:
And here is the Best Western Grand Bellevue Hotel on the morning after – it’s the tallest building in the photo – the entrance is at the back:
The market got packed solid along some of the streets, literally a ‘people jam’, only resolved by police on mounted horses making their way through, so if you are claustrophobic the market is probably best avoided. Similarly the streets are, in the main, cobbled, so comfortable, sensible shoes are a must – if you value your ankles!
ArtyCraftyAli 