Only Lyon - Definitely A Surprise

 Originally Written August 16, 2011


Lyon has definitely been the biggest surprise destination-wise on this trip. I was not expecting to love it so much. I travelled there this past Saturday with Mary, Susan, Alley, Marissa, Elizabeth, Jeff, Steve, and Leon. Since we were just going for the day, so we didn’t plan out that much to do. We had all looked up some information about it online, but many of the museums cost money and we really just wanted to get a feel for the city so we decided not to go to them.

The train ride wasn’t that bad - only around two hours - and we got there around 10:30. After a quick trip to Paul for a snack, we set off in the direction of the rivers, because we needed to cross them to get to the two things that we were sure that we wanted to see. For those of you that have never seen a map of Lyon (that would include me up until four days ago), the city is situated at the confluence of the Rhone and Saone rivers. Lyon is located on both riverbanks, as well as on the peninsula that divides that two.

One of the Rivers that cuts Lyon in two

As we walked, we could see one of our destinations - the large Basilica of Notre Dame of Fourviere - crowning the hill on the Saone side of the river. Next to it was something that closely resembled the Eiffel Tower, but was actually just a radio tower. After a half hour hunt for a public bathroom (note: department stores will normally make you pay 50 cents, but its totally worth it because they let anyone use them and they’re normally not totally disgusting) we found ourselves in a little square with a carousel.

I got really, really excited when I saw this. France has carousels EVERYWHERE and most of them are double decker carousels and I still hadn’t ridden on one. Luckily, the group obliged me and about half of us paid the the euro fifty price to ride it (I would like to say that apart from food, this was the only thing we paid money to do while we were in Lyon).

So happy to be on the merry go round!

Me and Mary

After the carousel, we walked for around ten more minutes and found the large square that are in many pictures of Lyon. There is this huge sign that says “ONLY LYON” with a lion (“only lyon” is their current tourist campaign, kind of like “cincinnati usa”) and we took a LOT of picutres.

Photo Credit: Mary Gianfagna

Photo Credit: Mary Gianfagna

The group in front of a statue in the center square

After the picture taking spree, we went and had some pizza and then started our trek towards the Basilica and some Roman ruins that are near it. It was a pretty steep hill and it was in the middle of the day (planning for the temperature is not our strong suit) so it was a little arduous. But the climb was definitely worth the the view from the top.

Roman Ruins

Those really tall mountains in the background (the light blue) are the Alps!

After the ruins and a search for water, we made our way to the Balisica de Notre Dame de la Fourviere. Its was built in the late 1800s (doesn’t it remind you a bit of sacre coeur?) and its so cool! We were calling it a double decker church - it has a really ornate chapel on top, and then a less decorated one underground.

Gorgeous!

Incredibly Ornate

Another shot

This was the view from the wall next to the basilica

On the descent down we could see more of the city

We wandered around Old Lyon for a little bit, baking in the heat. When we finally found this fountain and saw that a bunch of other people had climbed in, how could we resist? It felt amazing!

Fountain bathing

That evening we sat next to the river for a while, had dinner in Old Lyon, checked out some stores, took some jumping pictures next to the rhone (we’re so american) and then meandered at a very fast pace back to the train station to go back to Dijon!!