Lyon hosts three of the World Cup Rugby matches. It's a beautiful city - even better, it's noted for the best cooking in France and some of the nicest wine.
Lyon, on the confluence of the rivers Saone and Rhone, is France’s third largest city, after Paris and Marseille. It’s also one of the oldest, going back as far as the Romans, who called it Lugdunum. That comes from the same Celtic root as Laon in northern France – and London, too.
Lyon is said to be the gastronomic capital of France. With the Beaujolais vineyards just to the north, andCotes du Rhone to the south, Lyon early became a centre of the wine trade. Sausages (‘rosette de Lyon’), onion soup, and pike quenelles are specialities here, and so is andouillette – possibly an acquired taste (it’s made out of pig’s stomach and colon – try it if you dare). For a traditional meal, visit one of the 'bouchons' (small bistros) near the Town Hall.
Other trades were also centred in Lyon. It was a home of early printing – there’s a printing museum here – and also dominated the silk trade. Its rebellious ‘canuts’ (weavers) seem to have been early trades unionists; they held one of the first workers’ uprisings in 1831.
The old town, Vieux Lyon, with its ‘traboules’ (narrow alleyways between the houses) takes you back to the Renaissance. Some of its fine merchant mansions have an air of Florentine elegance with their arched galleries. Wandering round the old town can easily fill an afternoon; stroll up to presqu’ile (‘nearly island’), the area between the two rivers, to see an even older building, the fine Romanesque church of Saint Martin d’Ainay.
By the way, the maze of alleyways in old Lyon were originally used for transporting woven silk, but they had another purpose in occupied France during the 1940s – avoiding the Gestapo. Many are now blocked, but there are still a number that are open to wander through and admire.
Take a trip up to the Fourviere basilica, perched high above the city. There’s a funicular railway which makes the ascent from Vieux Lyon (EUR 2.20, every 5-10 minutes) – though you can walk if you feel particularly energetic. The basilica shows the nineteenth century at its most ornate and least tasteful, adopting a pseudo-Byzantine style (like the contemporary Sacré-Coeur basilica in Paris); there’s gilding, marble, mosaic, and everything is done to excess. And if the views from the park aren't good enough for you, there are tours of the roofs of the basilica at 230 and 4 in the afternoon.
Since Lyon is on the confluence of two rivers, it would be a pity not to take the opportunity of a cruise – giving you a different view of the city. Tours run regularly during the day, but if you have a free evening, reserve a dinner cruise to watch the sun set over Lyon.
