Lyon

Lyon is the third-largest city and second-largest urban area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, about 470 km south of Paris and the inhabitants are called Lyonnais.

The Rhône and Saône converge to the south of the historic city centre, forming a peninsula – the “Presqu’île” – bounded by two large hills to the west and north and a large plain eastward.

The northern hill is La Croix-Rousse, known as “the hill that works” because it was home to many small silk workshops, for which the city has long been renowned.

The western hill is Fourvière, known as “the hill that prays” as it is the location for the famous Notre-Dame de Fourvière basilica, several convents, and the Archbishop’s residence.

If you are interested in food and cooking, you’ve come to the right place. Lyon is known as “the gastronomic capital of the world”, to a large extent due to Paul Bocuse who made the Lyonnaise cuisine into a worldwide success and also gave name to Bocuse d’Or (the Concours mondial de la cuisine), the “world chef championships” which is held every second year in Lyon.

If you’re interested in wine, two of France’s best known wine-growing regions are also located near the city: the Beaujolais region to the north and the Côtes du Rhône region to the south – both definitely worth a visit.

The city is filled with amazing sites in addition to the ones already mentioned, such as (in historical order):

• The Roman ruins on the hillside near the Fourvière Basilica.
• Amphitheatre of the Three Gauls, Roman ruins of an amphitheatre.
• Cathedral of St. John, a medieval church and the seat of the Archbishop of Lyon.
• Vieux Lyon area, Medieval and Renaissance quarter of the town, with shops, dining and cobbled streets.
• Temple du Change, former stock exchange of Lyon, Protestant temple since the 18th century.
• Place Bellecour, one of the largest town squares in Europe.

Lyon also has a number of fantastic museums worth a visit, e.g.:

• Musée des beaux-arts de Lyon (Fine Arts Museum), main museum of the city and one of the largest art galleries in France. It displays e.g. a major collection of paintings by a range of world famous artists (including the likes of Rubens, Rembrandt, Monet, Gauguin, Van Gogh, Cézanne, Matisse and Picasso).
• The Gallo-Roman Museum displaying many valuable objects and artworks found on the site of Roman Lyon (Lugdunum).
• The Institut Lumière, built as Auguste Lumiere’s house, a fascinating piece of architecture in its own right and holds many of their first inventions and other early cinematic and photographic artefacts.

To cut a long story short – it’s not about what you can do in Lyon, it’s all about what you decide to put on the to-do-list when going there!