Falling in love with Lyon
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| Photo by Mitchell Henderson on Unsplash |
Let’s start with a story. Upon leaving university and finding myself one year into an administrative job that was cushy but not exactly my calling, I was feeling stuck. I longed for a challenge and realised that I missed studying; I wasn’t ready to give it up yet for the world of grey skirts and glass-doored offices. I got a place at Queen Mary to study marketing and had a gloriously long summer stretching ahead of me in between leaving my admin job and starting my degree. Giddy from my newly acquired freedom from office life and in the mood to learn, I booked a spot on a French course in Lyon. I knew absolutely nothing about Lyon and my French wasn’t so hot either, but I was fired up by the feeling that I could go anywhere and be anyone.
I landed in Lyon and made my way to the rustic pink stone student accommodation, feeling pleased as punch that I’d made it this far (to put things into context, I was a fairly sheltered suburban 23 year old at this point). But when I made an attempt at communication with the building staff to check myself in, the realisation that I was in a foreign country with an embarrassingly limited knowledge of the language hit me like a two ton baguette.
Several minutes of desperate gesturing later, they found the record of my booking and I made it into my room, unpacked my small suitcase and ventured out to search for some food. It was Sunday, though, which meant virtually every shop was “fermé”. By this point I was on the verge of tears, wondering why on earth I had thought I could waltz into a foreign city by myself with my sub-par French and get by like one of the locals.
So my first day in Lyon passed by in a haze of melodrama before concluding with a dinner of bananas and biscuits found in the one open corner shop I could find. I’ll bring the sob story portion of this post to a swift close by saying that things got better, much better in fact. The language school I attended, Lyon Bleu, arranged a whole host of extra-curricular activities, making it easy to befriend fellow students and get a flavour of Lyonnaise life. I met some amazing people from all over the world (including my boyfriend Jorge) and spent the next two weeks exploring the city with them. We whiled away afternoons in museums, scouted out the best patisseries and drank cheap red wine late into the evenings. By the end of the course, I had fallen madly in love with Lyon and it would be forever etched in my mind as a city of adventure, new friends and new beginnings.
Jorge and I returned five years later and the city still had the power to charm me as much as it had done back then. If you’re considering a trip to Lyon when lockdown is over, read my tips below, book your ticket and prepare to fall in love.
Jazz, wine and good vibes
Is there any combination better than jazz and wine? Throw the two together on a balmy summer’s evening and I think the answer is no. It seems that Lyon’s Opera House would agree, as they invite jazz musicians to play there every evening throughout the summer. The atmosphere is relaxed, the bar is stocked with wine and the concerts are free. Need I say more?Cuisine
Lyon is famous for its cuisine and gastronomy. Admittedly, as a pescatarian the city’s meaty delicacies are completely lost on me, but I can still appreciate a good crepe and croissant as much as the next Francophile. Here are a few places to add to your foodie bucket list:Saint Jean Délices
This brightly coloured sweet shop is bursting at the seams with all kinds of confectionary, including Lyon’s famed coussins (a vibrant green almond-flavoured chocolate shaped like a cushion) and pretty pink praline. You can’t leave Lyon without trying both. The sweets are wrapped up in the most beautiful, ribbon-bedecked packaging too, making them perfect presents for the sugar addicts in your life.
L'Epicerie
Jorge and I had dinner at the kitsch and cosy L’Epicerie on the final night of our first visit to Lyon with some friends from the language school. That night, the melting lava-like cheese on top of my tartine was tinged with the sadness of impending goodbyes and the inevitable return to reality. The cheese did provide a little comfort though. Five years on, Jorge and I visited L’Epicerie again in search of memories and melted cheese. We weren’t disappointed. The tartines were as good as we remembered, and this time there were no goodbyes. If crunchy toasted bread topped with warm goats’ cheese, tangy smoked salmon, foie gras and more is your kind of thing, make a pit stop at L’Epicerie.
À la Pêche aux Moules
It would be madness to visit France and not indulge in an oversized bowl of moules with a heap of salty, stringy frites on the side. You really can’t beat it. On the last day of our trip, we headed straight to the nautically decked out À la Pêche aux Moules for a final Lyonnaise lunch and gorged ourselves on moules marinière with an accompanying carafe of cold white wine. We paid for our gluttony with sore stomachs, but it was totally worth it.
Museums
Lyon has an eclectic mix of cultural treats from fine art to miniaturist delights, with the Lumiere brothers somewhere in between. Here are some of my favourites.Musée Miniature et Cinéma
This is a seriously weird and wonderful museum like no other. It unites founder Dan Ohlmann’s two passions: the magic of film special effects and the art of miniatures. Chances are you might not have discovered your penchant for shoebox-sized scenes crafted to perfection. I certainly hadn’t. But I challenge you to visit the Musée Miniature et Cinéma and not be blown away by a miniature recreation of a 1950s barber shop. If you’re a film buff you’ll also enjoy this museum (it houses items from films like Jurassic Park and Batman), but I mainly went to satisfy my inner miniaturist.
Musée Urbain Tony Garnier
Tony Garnier was an architect commissioned with building the first social housing in Lyon in 1920. The building has since become a canvas for a series of enormous wall paintings that represent the ideal city as imagined by artists from around the world. The 24 artistic frescoes form an incredible open-air museum and serve as a legacy to Tony Garnier’s social vision. Grab a sunny spot on a bench with some praline and coussins in hand and enjoy the free art.
Ancient Theatre of Fourvière
Lyon’s Roman amphitheatre has to be one of the most peaceful spots in the city. Some of my best Lyon memories are of afternoons spent perched on the theatre’s warm stone steps soaking up the sun. The whole Fourvière district is lovely and well worth an afternoon excursion. You can reach Fourvière by a rickety ride on the funicular, which is actually pretty fun in itself.
In a past life Lyon was known as Lugdunum, an important city in the ancient Roman Gaul. The ancient ruins are over 2000 years old and you can get stuck into the city’s Roman history in the Museum of Gallo-Roman Civilisation right next to the theatre.
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