The subtle charm of Lyon (Road trip to Freiburg part 1)
Despite having lived on and off in France for 7 years, and visiting family regularly, I had never been to Lyon. I don’t know anyone there, and never felt the urge to visit this city.
On a road trip to Freiburg in Germany, we drove through Lyon and decided to spend the night.
We booked a room at Hotel Victoria, a small old-fashioned hotel (with real room keys!) south of the train station. I consulted the Va Nu-pied (go barefoot, or a play in words on being a tramp, of sorts) map to try to understand what to visit in the city, and the receptionist also provided advice and directions.
After dropping off our bags in our tiny room, we set off north (having to cross through the train station) and walked up the pedestrian street lined with shops towards the Louis XIV noted as a landmark. Shops included cafes, clothing stores, bookshops… and a couple of manga stores, selling t-shirts, manga comic books, T-shirts and more. Japanese manga has been “en vogue” in France since over 20 years now, it would seem! I asked the cashier what style would appeal to my previously manga-obsessed son, and she chose for me, after I told her his age.
But! The famous statue was under repair and we couldn’t see it.
We crossed over to the old town; Lyon is at the confluence two rivers, the Saône and the Rhône, and there are many bridges! In the old town, on the Saône side, we found restaurants, cafes, people strolling, and it was very charming. We ate dinner outside a Breton restaurant, La Table Brestoise; at first all we wanted was a kir but were told that we couldn’t just drink without eating. So we ordered one galette (a buckwheat pancake)… then another… and finished off the meal with a Crêpe Suzette. I don’t think I have ever eaten such delicious crêpes before, even when I spent a week in Brittany working on a home renovation, back in my architecture student years.
We turned into a small street and walked southwards again, through streets filled with restaurants, some stores, and old buildings. We turned left to walk along the river, past a series of houseboats, till we reached a bridge that brought us back close to the railway station, and returned to our hotel.
The next morning, we wanted to have brunch on the east (Rhône) side of the central Lyon island. We located an open brunch spot (the first cafe we found was closed), Le Kitchen Café, that specializes in brioches (that are more like sticky buns). All kinds of brioches, but I could only eat one, filled with apple (it was very dense!). Service was a bit spotty as French restaurants are understaffed these past years, but the quality was good.
Lyon is charming, and I’ve read that it’s a great city to live in, with a mild climate. It doesn’t have the buzz of Paris, but it is the third largest city in France, and it’s a lot more tranquil.
