There must be many and much more emancipated Macedonian than my conservative self, but I speculate that even they would have some difficulties accepting at least some of the historic and demographic facts of this region. For me - they remain a mystery. Even further south from Arras there are townships with purely Dutch names and the telephone books show perfectly Dutch names, and those people say they are of Dutch descent - but none speaks a word of Dutch. Now: Arras is deep in France territory and there is another sovereign kingdom, the one of the Belgians (who do not have a Belgian language, true?) between The Netherlands and France. My point is: this was actually the border line (once upon a time) between the Dutch and the French.
This was the province of Artois.You may roam and see the fortification which helped the French keep it once they have conquered it in the 17th century. Dutch call the place Atrecht.
We arrived sort of late and while I was parking Irina (my daughter) had found a three bed room in a fine, inexpensive, clean, centrally located, very friendly three-floor hotel called Les Trois Loupards.
Where I stayed:
Les Trois Loupards
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