Lyon, France
where i stumbled upon pink pastries
I left Barcelona on another long bus ride, this time to Lyon. The bus was cheaper albeit longer than it would have been to take the train, but I’ve got the time and I’m trying to cut costs where I can. I ended up arriving in Lyon pretty late on Sunday and was planning to walk the not quite mile to the hostel but at the last minute I decided to just take the metro. And I ended up checking into the hostel around 11:15PM.
Monday
Lyon, the third most populated city in France, wasn’t exactly on the list of places I had wanted to visit on this summer European adventure, but it just worked out because it was on the way to Switzerland, where I was headed for a house/pet sitting gig. [I use the trusted housesitters website] And the more I looked into it, it would be cheaper to stay in Lyon than just across the border in Geneva. So as per usual before heading out to see the town I did a quick google search of “things to do in Lyon.” I found some landmarks to check out and pinned them on the maps.me app on my phone which allows me to have gps without data or WiFi because I downloaded the maps ahead of time (that’s just one of my little hacks that I use for navigation and so I don’t have to buy a SIM card while I’m in a different country).
I crossed the first river and then the second, see Lyon has 2 rivers that split the city but they come together and join in the western part of town. As I was walking my gaze was distracted by a pastry in the window of a bakery and I stopped because it was tinged with red pieces. I read that it was a brioche aux pralines and I like pralines so I went inside to buy one. Then a little further down the street I started seeing them in every bakery window. I had hit upon a popular food of Lyon unknowingly. I later read that the man who made it created it by accident when the pralines spilled into a batch of brioche dough. With the pink brioche in hand I soon made it to the Lyon Cathedral; I toured the inside and saw the famous fourteenth century astronomical clock, which wasn’t working at the time. Then I climbed the many stairs to get up Fourvière’s hill to see La Basilique Notre Dame de Fourvière. The inside of that church was much more elaborate and I took my time checking out the crypt and the gold tinted mosaics. After that I walked to the nearby Roman amphitheater ruins and was surprised to see a modern stage at the bottom. They still use it for shows, how neat. …The rest of the day was spent sampling a local beer and getting groceries for dinner.
Tuesday
I didn’t have any particular plans other than walking to the confluence of the two rivers this day. It was a couple miles away but I had plenty of time to stroll. Along the way I passed several long, narrow river cruise boats and watched a swan family swim in between the boats and the bank. I ended up watching them for a half hour because one of the parent swans kept tapping the boat windows that were at water level because I think it saw its reflection and thought it was another swan. The swan literally did that to 8 different windows before backtracking out of there…Once at the confluence park I lounged and read enjoying the perfect weather. Later that day I walked to Les Halles Lyon Paul Bocuse cause I had read about it being a neat food stall market. However, I arrived just before closing so most stalls were packing up, but I did find what I had seen in an online pic- a double decker macaron with raspberries in the middle. Now I have never had a macaron up until this point because I wanted to have my first one in France, where they are so popularly made. So I figured I might as well go big or go home with macarons so I got the monster and it was divine. See I don’t spend money on taxis cause I can just walk, but I’ll spend 5 euros on a macaron.
I left the next day headed to Geneva, Switzerland.
Next: Geneva, Switzerland
