With the end of Erasmus approaching a lot faster than any of us like to talk about, it was about time that we got round to visiting Lyon, which is the major city to see after Paris (or so I’d heard).
When we first arrived, if I’m totally honest, none of us thought much of the place. The bit around the train station is very industrial and city-like; tall buildings (one of which is very ugly), lots of cars and generally a great deal of city noise, none of which we’re used to in Montpellier! It initially felt strange to be in a large city, especially given that Montpellier is so small in comparison.
We spent most of our time in Vieux Lyon, which is probably now one of my favourite areas in France out of all the places we’ve visited. It was so French-feeling, which may sound like a stupid thing to say (it’s in France, of course it’s going to feel French), but in some cities, the place can feel more cosmopolitan or touristy, and you get the feeling that you could be in any city in any country. This was most definitely France; lots of small streets with an abundance of cafés, restaurants (“bouchon Lyonnais”) and boulangeries – my idea of heaven! We were definitely going to make the most of being in the gastronomy capital of France…
Fuelled with cake from one of the salons de thé, we set off towards the Cathédrale Notre Dame de Fourviere, ready to climb the hill to get to the top and see the whole of Lyon. The trek was pretty tiring but, like with all these things, it was worth the effort. The view across the city was stunning. There’s even a metal tower up there, some sort of mini-Eiffel Tower that even lit up at night – obviously not as impressive or exciting as being impressive, but it made us happy nonetheless.
That evening, we experienced the “bouchon Lyonnais” – the typical restaurant of Lyon. The gastronomy capital did not let us down. We were all felt leaving rather full, sleepy yet very content after the 3 course meal of great French food. Our day in Lyon had been a success.
On Sunday morning, we treated ourselves to Starbucks; despite the fact that we live in France, where the coffee and patisseries are infinitely better, it just had to be done. The rest of the day was spent enjoying what Lyon had to offer us on a Sunday, and thank God it was a lot more than Montpellier ever does! This being a huge city, not everything had closed down completely for the day (as seems to be the norm everywhere else in France), so we wandered round the market (tasting a lot of fruit and cheese along the way), listened to a brass band playing on the bridge (they kept jumping up and down to make the bridge shake, had to leave pretty quickly after that) and, of course, had one more meal to end our gastronomy experience.
I was surprised by how much I fell in love with the place. I didn’t have many expectations of what it was going to be like – I’d been told by people that it was just another city, not much else, so I wasn’t prepared for it to be as gorgeous as it was. I’ll definitely be going back at some point in the future!
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