With all due respect to Paris, which is usually mentioned when mentioning France, it is worth remembering that France has a variety of special cities. The city of Lyon is the second largest metropolitan area after Paris, with about 2.5 million inhabitants. And it is worth getting to know it, why? Because it is a beautiful city with impressive ancient parts, a pleasant atmosphere and the food, oh the food…
Lyon now has two direct flight routes from Israel, operated by Transavia and EasyJet, and can be found Cheap Flights Depending on the season. Lyonns love the good life. They love good food that can be found on (almost) every corner, they love to stroll through the city's alleys and bike paths, and they love to dedicate a large part of the day to leisure time: shops only open around 10-11 in the morning and close at XNUMX, some restaurants only open for two hours at noon and in the evening, and on Sundays it seems like a curfew is imposed on the city - almost complete silence.
This is a city where you can see a giant chef figure painted on a building, here there are mainly knife fights in the kitchen and not on a bloody battlefield. And those who storm the restaurants and stand in lines at these bakeries are not tourists but locals who come to eat as a regular and live.
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A few words about the city of Lyon
The city of Lyon is located in the east France – The capital of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. An hour and a half on the highway and you reach the Alps, to the city of Annecy on the shores of the clearest lake in the region and from there to ski towns like Chamonix and Mt. Mont BlancGeneva in Switzerland is also a similar driving distance. In France, north of Lyon is Dijon with its famous mustard and the nearby areas also produce the young Beaujolais wine.
The city is crossed by two rivers – the Rhone and the Saone, which join on its southern side. The city center is actually on a peninsula between the rivers. The Presqu'ile peninsula looks like one large fashion shopping center in some of its streets, with a variety of elegant brand stores on the pedestrian Republique and an impressive shopping experience, but the prices are not cheap. The locals are beautifully and elegantly dressed in the best fashion jackets.
https://youtu.be/ZAhRs6hXfLY
A culture of good food
It seems that the "Lions" live on the street in terms of food culture. In three days we came across six markets. The market can be located on a riverbank or in a neighborhood square: dozens of stalls with all the goodness of fresh fruit, beautiful artichokes, fresh pastries of all kinds, fish stands and fragrant cheeses, countless types of cold cuts and even a roasted poultry stand.
Most markets open at 7am and close at 1pm, and this lifestyle means that many people buy fresh food for the day and do not need the services of a "meat freezer". This can also be an opportunity to put together a varied picnic meal with various vegetables, bread, sausage or Cheese And even a sweet cake for dessert.
Bouchon is a symbol of a classic Lyonnais dining establishment. The culture of food and dining is a symbol of life. In one of the restaurants, I glanced into the stainless steel kitchen. Two chefs stood there, waiting for orders from the waiters. The kitchen was sparkling clean, as if they hadn’t prepared dishes for us just a few minutes ago. The arrangement of the table, the order in which the waiters behave, everything shows professionalism in its own right.
Meat is a main ingredient in meals, both as a starter and of course as a main course. You can see a "classic" Lyonnais starter consisting of layers of meat, feta and fat, sometimes with the addition of pistachios. All this is baked in a dough and looks like bread, but each slice is made of layers of all the goodness of meat. It is served cold with pickles and caramelized onions. Another typical starter for the region is a poached egg in a wine and mushroom sauce. For main courses there is a blood sausage stew, steaks and also fish, for example a fish cutlet soufflé.
Lyon has the local praline – almonds, nuts and more in a red texture. The red mixture appears in many breakfast pastries – croissants, brioche and also in a round loaf of bread – I saw a long line of people waiting to buy it. In many restaurants, there is a praline pie dessert that contains a thin layer of crispy dough and a red layer on top that is hard to the touch (you need a knife to cut it) and delicious to the palate (not sticky as the appearance deceives you to think).
Bocuse Food Market
The closed market of chef Paul Bocuse (who passed away a few days ago at the age of 91) may seem at first glance to be a source of inspiration for the Sarona Market in Tel Aviv. We arrived on a Sunday at XNUMX:XNUMX in the morning and already saw people sitting, drinking alcohol (wine or a morning cocktail), and enjoying oysters and other foods. For us, it was still early for such food, so we found a tiny cafe in the middle aisle of the market with about four tables where you have to choose pastries from the bakery opposite and then sit down to enjoy them while the waiter serves them along with your coffee.
The selection in the market dazzles the senses with colors, smells and the sounds of the people around, there is an endless selection of desserts in such a richness of shapes and colors that puts them in the category of art. Meat stalls and models where skilled sellers strip, cut and pack the product with skill and speed. On the other side of the market, a cook cooks a pile of cuts in a large pan, sprinkles spices and transfers them to an appetizing tray.
You can spend an hour or two here and of course eat at one of the restaurants there. Keep in mind that this is a modern, very organized space, not a decades-old open market, so some may find it a bit "sterile" in style and feel.
Lyon Restaurants
There are three main concentrations of restaurants in the tourist area of the city. First, there are lots of tourist restaurants in the old town on the hillside. On the Friscoll peninsula, on the west side there is a street of pubs and restaurants (Rue de la Monnaie) that close at 1 a.m. and on the east side there is a street (or rather an alley) of “bouchon” restaurants: Rue des Marronniers is a pedestrian alley that is filled from start to finish with restaurants crowded table upon table. In the evening everything is full, alive and vibrant.
Beyond that, there are of course many more restaurants and eateries scattered throughout the streets and neighborhoods of the city, and you can find 15 restaurants with Michelin stars. By the way, if you are interested in going to a specific restaurant, it is recommended to make a reservation in advance, as some are filled up weeks in advance.
The strength of the local food is evident at lunch and dinner. In the morning, we had a hard time finding a place that excited our palate, and most places offered a baguette with butter and jams and other pastries. The local coffee in most places also did not receive high marks from us.
Travel in Lyon
The people of the city turned out to be nice in general, but knowledge of the English language is not particularly popular, so in some cases we had to use hand gestures. There are a number of bike rental stations, the price per day is very cheap (a few euros), and there is a designated bike lane next to some of the roads.
Our hotel was located in the center of the Friscoul peninsula, an excellent location for a city tour, a five-minute walk from both rivers. We hardly needed public transportation, but when we wanted to, we took the metro to the Lumière Museum, for example, or to the top of the Croix Rousse hill where the subway goes uphill underground. In my opinion, the most special thing is to sleep in the Friscoul area or the old town, in an “old” building, in a classic room with a high ceiling and floor-to-ceiling windows – ideally with a beautiful view of one or another square. In the large square, Place Bellecour, is the very successful Lyon Tourist Office. Here they also hand out a map of the city and you can also get explanations about it.
On the west side – across the Seine River and on the slopes of a hill – is the old city – Vieux Lyon, founded by the Romans more than 2,000 years ago. On the riverbank of the old city, you can see rows of colorful houses – a beautiful sight to behold. The old buildings in the old city are connected to each other and some have beautiful inner courtyards. The staircases are also special in their appearance.
Lyon was famous in the past for its high-quality silk industry, and weavers used to move through internal passages within the buildings that crossed from "block to block," thus protecting the precious fabric from rain, for example. Even today, you can walk through these passages - Traboules - and some of them are truly special to the eye, but remember that these buildings continue to be used as residences to this day, so you should not shout in the passages.
אל Notre Dame Cathedral At the top of the hill, you can go up the easy and fast way with the funicular (located at the subway station in the old city), or on a winding path through the gardens. From the observation deck adjacent to the cathedral, you can see the city of Lyon from above and the countless tiled roofs, and right in front of us is the "Pencil" building. Notre Dame Cathedral is large and impressive, in the best Gothic style and with gold decorations on the ceiling, as well as tall colored windows.
Below the great hall is another prayer hall (there is a Hebrew inscription on the steps). North and west of the cathedral are the remains of the city built by the Romans, with an amphitheater where musical performances are held on summer nights. You can descend back to the city via winding paths in the gardens below the cathedral.
On the northern hill is the (former) silk weavers' neighborhood called Croix Rousse. We took the subway (which goes underground at a noticeable incline) up to the square with the same name as the neighborhood, where on the main avenue (Boulevard de la Croix Rousse) there is a second-hand, antiques and food market with a long row of stalls.
One of the most prominent artistic features in Lyon is the theme of murals on houses, if you like them, then a joyful discovery route awaits you through the streets of the city hunting for interesting building walls. The celebrity building Fresque des Lyonnais is a great example of this, it is a residential building with balconies overlooking the river, but if you come from the street behind it, then the real thing is revealed: a completely painted building that looks completely realistic when viewed from a distance.
There are two main boat routes in the city that depart from a point near the pedestrian bridge – Passerelle du Palais de Justice. One heads northeast and reaches the picturesque island of Île Barbe on the river, and the other heads in the opposite direction to the confluence of the rivers and ends at the modern area of Lyon with some special buildings in orange and green. This is a relaxed boat trip, you can sit inside in front of the large glass windows or up on the roof if the weather permits. The explanations are mostly in French only, which is a shame.
Some recommended museums and a summary
The Lumière Museum is a must-see for any film enthusiast. The museum is located in the magnificent family home. Here you can see magic lamps that cast colored images onto a wall using a candle, as well as the first motion picture cameras and the first movie projector that showed ten short videos of about a minute in length in 1895 and startled the enthusiastic audience with the realism of "The Train Enters the Station."
For your information, they filmed in 360D more than a hundred years ago and even a XNUMX-degree photo – long before they dreamed of sophisticated smartphone cameras. It’s just a shame that there is no air conditioning in the place (or it wasn’t working when we visited) and it was quite hot in early June. We arrived in the morning and there was a local food market in the square in front of the museum. The metro station (named after Lumière) is almost adjacent to the museum.
It is also recommended to visit the Miniature Museum of Cinema (Musée Miniature et Cinéma), where you can see real sets and costumes from famous films (such as Passenger 8, Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, Stargate, and more). The museum is located in the old city.
Lyon turned out to be a beautiful and pleasant classic city that provides one of the most unique culinary experiences I have encountered. I recommend you add it to your personal travel map, whether it is combined with a trip to the eastern region of France or whether it is a flight to the city itself for at least three or four days.
A few words about the author
Lior Koren, an avid travel enthusiast, is the site manager. Cheap Flights Explorer.
Did the article make you hungry?
Don't worry! I've carefully selected a list of excellent restaurants for you, from popular restaurants ("bouchons") to luxury restaurants. You can find all the information and even get up to 50% off the menu in the article. Lyon Restaurants in Lyon: Where is the best place to eat in the gastronomic capital of France?
Looking for recommended hotels in Lyon?
I have collected for you a series of excellent hotels that can suit both those on a modest budget and those who want to pamper themselves with a stay in a 14th-century palace. All of these hotels can be found in the article Recommended hotels in Lyon.
Looking for something else to do (beyond what's written here)?
Great! I've already done the research for you and found a series of fascinating and inexpensive activities for you, from walking tours to culinary tours to cruises on the Rhône and Saône rivers. You can read about all these activities and more in the article. What to do in Lyon.
Oh, the cakes look amazing.
Thank you for this wonderful post.