Lyon

At the end of January, Amanda, Natalie and I went on our second trip outside of Spain to Lyon, France. As with Belgium, we had bought the tickets simply because they were incredibly cheap, and while I didn't love Lyon as much as I had enjoyed Belgium, it was still a nice trip. Although it is not necessarily somewhere you've probably heard a lot about, it is the third largest city in France after Paris and Marseille, and the historic center is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Views from the apartment where we Couch Surfed

Lyon is built around two rivers and two large hills. The hill you can see in the topmost picture (above), with the cathedral and what looks like a replica in miniature of the Eiffel Tower (it's actually a TV broadcasting tower) is called Fourvière. The apartment where we stayed was on another hill called Croix-Rousse. The two rivers are the Rhône and the Saône. In the far distance in the bottom picture (^ also above ^), you can see the Alps!

Because it is so hilly, there are several systems of long, steep stairs and narrow cobblestone streets snaking their way between the old stucco buildings.

There is also a system of "secret passageways" (okay, they are not actually a secret, but they seem mysterious to me) that allow you to pass through residential buildings without having to go out of your way. Most of these routes, called traboules in French, were created for workers in silk factories, as silk was Lyon's biggest economic driver in the nineteenth century. Some of the factories have now been turned into apartments, and apparently many of them are located in the somewhat Bohemian neighborhood where we were staying.

Patios in two of the traboules we explored in the city center

You could also take a funny little tram called the "Funicular," or Funiculaire in French, up the Fourvière hill to see the cathedral at the top. We were excited by its old-timeyness and by the possibility of great views, but upon exiting the station it promptly entered a dark, creepy tunnel and did not emerge until we arrived at the top of the hill! Still, it was a fun thing to do, and apparently the tram has been there since 1862!

The cathedral on top of the hill, more formally called Basilica of Nôtre-Dame de Fourvière, is actually not that old, having been constructed in the late 19th century, but it was nevertheless beautiful and impressive.

The best part of ascending the hill, however, was the amazing views it afforded of the city.

On the other side of the same hill are the remains of the Roman settlement Lugdunum, which at one point was the second largest urban center in the empire outside of Rome! The largest part of what remains is the Roman theater, the coolest part of which is that it is so carefully constructed acoustically that a person standing on the stage doesn't even have to raise her voice to be heard perfectly, even in the last rows. We were able to verify this when another tourist started talking in the center and we could hear her perfectly from high up in the seats.

Being minstrelsy in the Roman theater

Among other highlights of Lyon were a very lovely fine arts museum, an interesting history museum, several other old cathedrals, and lots of really delicious food! Lyon is apparently the gastronomic capital of France, and while we refrained from forking out tons of money to eat really fancy French food, we did have some very delicious crêpes, along with some other not-so-traditional things like pizzas and falafel wraps.