Tuesday 24th July 2012

Bonjour!

Today I thought I'd do a brief update of my time here in Lyon so far. I've had quite an interesting experience trying to get to grips with navigating myself around the city and trying to communicate with locals with what little French I know. As we live in the more commercial district of Lyon we have a mall very close to us as well as several public transport links and the main railway station Gare Part Dieu. We also live a 20 minute minute walk away from the Rhone River which is a plus!

Yesterday, as a part of the program, we received a very informative 3-hour tour of some of the main attractions of Lyon, including the Fourviere hillside that is home to the awe-inspiring Renaissance Basilica as well as the ruins of the Ancient Theatre of Fourviere left behind from the Roman empire. We were told some general facts as well as given some rather heavy insight into some of the main attractions that we visited. Overall, I think one of the main things I've learned so far is that Lyon is extremely rich in terms of its historical and cultural heritage and that there is so much behind this extremely grand city. 

Ancient Theatre of Fourviere

The Basilica was huge so I had to capture it in 2 parts.
This is the top (evidently)...

...And here we have the entrance. 

The round metal structure located alongside the Basilica dubbed  the Lyonnais Eiffel Tower

Overview of the Inner City of Lyon 

My favourite part of the tour had to be our visit to Vieux Lyon (the old city). Walking along the cobbled, narrow streets of this historical gem you really get an authentic sense of Lyonnais history with rows upon rows of cute little boutique shops and restaurants. The remnants of the old city can be seen through the numerous traboules (passageways) around the old city alongside the intricately designed Gothic building that have survived from the Renaissance. Most of them are still used as a accommodation with signs asking tourists to respect the residents. Visually, this part of the Lyon is very beautiful. 

The view as we walked toward the old city 

 I didn't get much of a chance to check out many of the shops but I will definitely be making another trip pretty soon! 


Thanks for reading! 
x