Delightful Lyon

We spent six nights total in Lyon, which was a function of the Easter holiday schedule. Both Easter Sunday and Monday are holidays in most European countries. Thus, knowing we’d have two “slower” days with limited opportunities to do things, we chose to stay in Lyon longer, which worked out well. We found Lyon to be charming, accessible, easy-going, and delicious. The city has a relaxed vibe, a first-rate transportation system with a metro, trams and buses, an array of cuisine options, and charm to spare. Plus, as noted in the previous post, opportunities to taste local wines. It’s easy to understand why the tourist office’s catch phrase is “Only Lyon”.

Lyon sits at the confluence of the Rhone and Saone rivers. Walking along the rivers and across the many bridges is beautiful:

You can see the famous Basilica Notre Dame de Fourviere from most points in the city. Mother Mary is always watching over and protecting Lyon:

The views of the city down from the church are just as precious.

We took a one-hour walking tour of Vieux Lyon, or “old Lyon” to learn a bit of history. The oldest parts of the city are built onto the hill above the Saone river. Clever builders connected the various buildings with “traboules,” interior corridors that hop directly from one street to another via inner courtyards and stairwells. If you know how to find them, traboules make for efficient transfers as you avoid going around the city blocks and they are great hiding places – they were even used by the resistance during WWII because the Nazis did not know they were there. Traboules are very "only Lyon."

Lyon was a very important city during Roman times (two Roman Emporers were born there), and has well-preserved ruins that are free to visit.

Finally, one of the most charming areas of the city is where the two rivers meet -- the confluence. The two rivers are actually different colors, and you can see the contrast as they join, albeit not easily in this photo.

The area has been developed recently and features interesting modern buildings. The Museum of Confluences (archaeology and science exhibits) looks like a Gehry-designed building, but it’s not:

We ate at bouchons, which are considered basic restaurants offering typical Lyonnaise fare. Most French restaurants in the city offer a three-course meal with farm fresh products. While the options may be limited, every dish is made with care, and the prices can be very reasonable. We also took advantage of the opportunity to eat good Vietnamese and Chinese food, which we don’t get back in San Sebastian.

In the end, six nights was not too many to spend in Lyon. There are still several places we could visit and many more restaurants to try. We would definitely return.

One last bit of praise: Lyon also has numerous easy to find, clean, free public bathrooms. Now that’s civilized! Sadly the graffiti is the norm around many European cities, San Sebastian included.

Au revoir,

Shana & Jeff