Douai

A medieval fortified town swallowed up by the mining industry in the 19th century, and rather lost with its disappearance, Douai still has a certain old-world charm. It retains its University faculty, but not the English College, a product of the counter-reformation where English exiles trained missionaries in the forlorn hope of reconverting their native land. Some excessively traditional Catholics still use the Douai Bible, a translation into English of the Latin Vulgate.