Lyon

A visit to this area wouldn’t be complete without a trip to Lyon. Along with being named a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its outstanding architecture, Lyon is also famous for its silk production and its gastronomical delights. We were all looking forward to experiencing everything Lyon was famous for!

Its architectural beauty was immediately obvious. The old part of the city is on a peninsula formed by the junction of the Soane and the Rhone rivers that is overlooked by the impressive basilica up on the hill. The buildings, with their distinctive red tiled roofs, wind along a maze of narrow streets that were used by the Resistance during WWII to evade the Germans.

Mario found a little clockmaker shop known from one of those French movies that he likes to watch so much. There were also hidden courtyards with small architectural treasures, and one that smelled deliciously of boeuf bourguignon!

And we could not resist looking at a few gorgeous churches with stunning stained glass windows and sculptures that offered a bit of quiet and cool respite.

We ran into some interesting sights, like this man paddleboarding on the Rhone...

... and this impressive mural of famous Lyonnais, covering the entire side of a building. Kate and Michael felt inspired to try to get into the picture.

  

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Kate and Vicki were on the hunt for some authentic silk scarves, and we happened upon the perfect place – a shop that’s been in business for literally hundreds of years. The man in the window is the latest in a lineage of silk craftsmen going back five hundred years. He works with the same looms and materials that his predecessors used. We watched him demonstrate how to make real silk velour and he even gave Joy a little thread of gold silk. Lyon was once the home of 30000 silk craftsmen. Now there are five. So we felt quite privileged to meet him and of course, we had to buy some of his fine products.

As for the food … one of the most famous restaurants in Lyon is Paul Bocuse's and although we would love to have eaten there, our budgets didn’t allow it. However, we discovered that the same proprietor ran another less expensive restaurant called Le Sud, and we happily “slummed it” there for lunch. The  food and the ambiance were wonderful.

On the advice of a friendly and helpful tour guide, we found ourselves at an off-the-beaten-track restaurant row around dinnertime and took a chance on a bistro called simply La Cuisine. We all agreed our meal there surpassed our lunchtime meal - in every category except the price!

Even the kids gave Lyon two thumbs up for having the best playgrounds in France (something never mentioned in the tour books!).

However, they were not allowed to bring back tattoos, no matter how much they begged...

It was late when we left Lyon, which meant we also had the opportunity to see its active nightlife along the beautiful square and wide boulevard surrounding the opera.

As we’ve said so many times on this trip, Lyon is a place we could see spending much more time exploring.

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