A Brief Layover in Lyon
Lyon, France is part culinary destination, part university town, and part scenic get-away in the Southeast portion of the French countryside, complete with an “Old Town” and a bustling city center between two rivers. I’ll go ahead and admit, however, that I didn’t spend nearly enough time here — and thus, my short stay will also only necessitate a short post. Hopefully, things will work out such that I’ll be able to return and give this great little gem of a city the time it deserves.
On my constantly changing mental itinerary, I’ve had Lyon penciled in as a place to visit 2-3 weeks down the road. However, I found myself staring at a map of Europe a few days ago in the tickets office of a train station, looking for a way to break up the 3-solid-days of transit that would be necessary to get transport myself by train from Madrid, Spain (where I flew back into after Morroco) to Prague, Czech Republic (where I needed to rendezvous with my brother, who was coming to join in on the fun of my little adventure for a few weeks). And wouldn’t you know, Lyon happens to be right smack in the middle of the two. Thus, after a day-and-a-half of travel and night train, Lyon is my destination, right before I embark on another day-and-a-half of travels, again, with a night train involved.
The Catedral de Saint Jean in the mid-group, with the Basilique Notre Dame de Fourviere and the Tour Mettalique up the hill
The back-side of Notre Dame de Fourviere (on the right) and the Tour Metallique (the Eiffel-tower-looking object on the left)
Though
these market shots may seem similar to what I’ve posted in other
cities, the quality of the food being shown was out-of-this-world (and
unfortunately, had the price tag to match)
Pistacchio, Lavender, Apricot, Creme Brulee, Bitter Chocolate, and even a White Truffle flavored macaron
Luckily, however, through a feat that I can attribute to nothing other than my ninja-like stealth and fox-like cunning (with a little help from my guidebook, too), I was able to locate the one micro-brewery that exists here:
And eventhough I had to skip lunch at Les Halles, I couldn’t leave Lyon without indulging in at least one great meal. So after a recommendation from a few folks in my hotel, I headed towards a restaurant that serves typical Lyonnaise food (or that which hails from Lyon), and ordered what the waiter recommended as his favorite. Though they used a bit more of the animals than we may be used to in the USA, this was still a great meal that I enjoyed quite a bit:
As mentioned above, I’m hoping I’ll be able to swing back for another pass through Lyon, as my time spent here was both on very short notice and all-too-brief. But for now, I’m continuing my journey traversing half of Europe to meet up with my brother for a few days, with Prague being the first destination, and Vienna, Austria on deck. A votre sante, from Lyon!
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