Today we set out to explore more of Lyon. Our favorite way to learn about a city and see places we would never find on our own is with a free walking tour. In Lyon we connected with Maggie, a local resident who volunteers her time to show people around the city through Lyon City Greeters, a service offered by the local Chamber of Commerce. Maggie kindly shared 2.5 hours of her day walking around with us to point out many sights.
During our tour we took another Funiculaire de Lyon to the St. Just Fourvière neighborhood where Maggie showed us several small streets and alleys that included a lookout over Lyon created by the city of Montreal, Canada. Our tour also included stops at Hotel Fourvière (a former abbey and chapel, now a 4 star hotel), the Lugdunum Roman ruins and amphitheaters that are still used for events, and La Fresque de Lyonnais (a large painted mural). During our tour we were shown part of a Camino de Santiago trail in Lyon. You can see signs for the trail by following seashell symbols and we saw groups of people on this pilgrimage.
After walking with Maggie we explored the neighborhood around the Lyon Opera House. We unfortunately were not able to go inside as it is closed on Mondays. The outside of the building is interesting. The first two levels are a Roman style structure and on top there is a large modern addition with a unique semi-circle roofline.
Although a challenge for our family is navigating everyone’s food likes and dislikes, we enjoy exploring local food options. This afternoon we spent a few hours on a Lyon walking food tour. The tour made four food tasting stops and our excellent tour guide shared Lyon history along the way.
At our first stop, Le Sirop de la Rue, we sampled dried sausages paired with wine and a special syrup the owner developed from the sweet, red praline almonds from Lyon. The sweet Cul Cul la Praline Sirop can be mixed with wine, used in cocktails, or has several other uses.
The second stop was at Fromagerie Cave a Manger to sample four local types of small batch, handmade cheeses paired with wine. Karen and Lindsey enjoyed having a couple of extra samples.
The last two stops were sweets. Up first was a bakery with a sweet roll using the red pralines that Lyon is famous for and last, but not least, was ice cream. La Fabrique Givree creates unique ice cream and sorbet flavors. We tried samples of the waffle cone ice cream and fresh basil and lemon sorbet. Both were delicious!
One interesting fact we learned about the midieval city of Lyon is that it is filled with around 500 Traboules, small “secret” passages that are shortcuts to another street and/or can often lead to an interior courtyard providing access to multiple homes. Most of the passages are now private and are behind locked doors or gates, but many are still open for the public to pass through. We ducked through several on our tour.
After our food tour we stopped into the Cathedrale Saint Jean Baptiste, another beautiful cathedral in Lyon.
We ended our day with another delicious French dinner and then drinks at a rooftop bar at the Lyon Intercontinental Hotel where we tried a signature cocktail created with
Cul Cul la Praline Sirop. Apparently Taylor Swift rented the entire hotel when her tour stopped in Lyon just a couple of weeks earlier. So sorry we missed her!
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