Douai stretches through and through the Scarpe. It is both an industrial, tertiary and cultural centre.  Marceline Desbordes-Valmore, standing here in front of the church Notre-Dame de Douai was born in this town. The city has kept this aristocratic and religious aspect that most of famous writers knew how to evoke it.

There are a lot of famous monuments in Douai to visit. The belfry of the town is one of the most well known of the North and was popularised by Victor Hugo when he was passing through the place. Dark at a first glance, maybe fierce, it stands as a big gothic squared tower. Its bristled turrets, dormer windows, pinnacles and weathercocks capping end with a lion of the Flanders that turn with a flag in its paws (as said Victor Hugo). The actual 62 bells carillon standing at the 4th floor replaced this very celebrity that was destroyed by the German in 1917; it plays the Puritans of Scotland melody when it is full time, a barcarolle when it is half time and some bars of the Gayant melody when it is quarter past and for time.

To visit other sites and monuments.