Taxi Lille → Douai

Douai is a city of art and history whose belfry, the oldest in northern France (1380), is inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site among the Belfries of Belgium and France. Rising to 54 metres, it houses a carillon of 62 bells — the largest in northern France — that chimes tunes every 15 minutes and gives concerts on summer Saturday mornings. Douai is best known for its processional giants, the Gayant family: Monsieur Gayant (8.50 metres), Madame Gayant and their three children parade each year during the Gayant Festival, the first weekend of July, listed as UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage. The Chartreuse Museum, housed in a 16th-century former Carthusian convent, holds an exceptional collection of Flemish and Italian painting, with works by Veronese, Bellegambe and Rubens. The town, crossed by the canalised Scarpe, was the seat of the Parliament of Flanders under the Ancien Régime, which explains the richness of its townhouses and architectural heritage. Douai is also an important legal centre (court of appeal) and university town.