Friday, October 16, 2009

A DAY TRIP TO LYON - PART I

Two weeks ago, during our holidays, we decided to do a day trip to Lyon, the third biggest town in France after Paris and Marseilles. As we are lucky to have the TGV train stopping right here at the Geneva train station, it was the opportunity to discover that fantastic town which has the reputation of being the French capital of gastronomy...

There, we ate at a famous Bouchon (article soon to come) and played tourists in the old parts of Lyon. It is such a magnificent and peaceful city (the center that is, not the suburbs, unfortunately...) that we didn't see time fly. We loved it and will go there again very soon!

Lyon is a city of central France and is situated in the Rhônes-Alpes region, 160km away from Geneva. It has a rich history and is very interesting culturally-, architecture- as well as culinary-wise.

The romans named it Lugdunum (meaning "the hill of light" or "the hill of crows"). At that time (1st century B.C.) it was proclaimed capital of the three Gauls. During the 11th century, the church declared Lyon the seat of the Primate of Gaul in the 11th century, and then by the end of the 15th century, it became an important center of trade because of it's fairs and a well-developed banking system which attracted commercial interests from all over Europe. All that richness and commotion attracted the social, intellectual and artistic elite which settled there. Development continued through the 17th and 18th centuries with the Lyon silk industry. The city continued to gain in size and equipped itself with hospitals, public squares and impressive edifices. The French Revolution in 1789 brought a brutal halt to that expansion, but development was re-vitalized under the Napoleonic empire. Lyon became an industrial city, pursued its urban development and never stopped growing until today...

51 comments:

  1. capital of gastronomy? That's all I need to hear.

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  2. ..est-ce que tu savais que j'aimerais voyager avec toi??..

    ..merci car avec tes superbes images j'y participe un peu;)bo week~end Rosa..

    ~nancy xx

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  3. Hi Rosa, nice trip, I like visiting anywhere in France, and it's so great that you can go by TGV from Geneva. Look forward to hearing more about your trip.

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  4. Lyon is a very beautiful town and we enjoyed our visit there last year.

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  5. merci Rosa, pour cette balade dans la ville ou j'ai fais mes etudes.

    retourne a Lyon le 4 decembre pour les fetes de la lumiere, un spectacle a ne pas manquer

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  6. How great to be able to take a day trip to Lyon! Sounds like you had a lovely day.

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  7. Sounds like you had a wonderful time! Your pics are really lovely...they make me miss Lyon!

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  8. salut Rosa
    je me suis risqué à mettre ma dernière recette en anglais ; dis moi si c'est OK et compréhensible !!
    Lyon je l'adore alors tes photos : superbe !
    Ciao Pierre

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  9. So wonderful photos Rosa...I'd be delighted to do this trip too :)

    All the best,

    Gera

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  10. Ah, un vrai régal pour les yeux et le palais !
    J'attends la suite...

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  11. Oh my goodness, such inviting photos!

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  12. Beautiful pictures, I am so jalous. Can't wait to go overseas again.

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  13. Nice trip, I was there for about 5 years, my sister lives there.

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  14. Gorgeous photos Rosa. My dream to visit one day.

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  15. I've been to France twice, but shows what I know. I swear that I didn't know that Lyon was the third largest city. Obviously, this calls for another trip there. (I wish!)

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  16. mit TGV rücken die Städte näher. Schöne Bilder einer interessanten Stadt. Bin gespannt auf die Essberichte !
    Liebe Grüsse

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  17. J'ai pas mal traîné en France, mais je ne connais pas du tout Lyon. On m'avait dit qc'était une belle ville, tes photos ont loin de le contredire, bon week end, profites-en bien!

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  18. Une bien jolie ville que je n'ai eu la chance de visiter qu'une seule fois. Magnifiques photos comme toujours!

    Bisous et beau week-end tout en gourmandise!

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  19. très belles photos!!
    surtout que c'est là où j'habite..
    bon weekend
    bisous

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  20. I haven't been to Lyon since I discovered "gastronomy" and I so want to. It sounds and looks like you had such a lovely day. Beautiful pictures.

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  21. I would love to go Lyon and especially to eat at Bouchon, looking forward to your post about that.

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  22. Que de souvenirs tu me rappelles.

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  23. Beau temps, jolie ville, magnifiques photos :-)

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  24. je n'ai jamais visité cette ville , mais toutes les personnes de mon entourage qui l'ont fait ne m'en ont dit que du bien et tes photos sont là pour le prouver
    il va donc falloir que j'y aille !
    bon we

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  25. Beautiful photos! I was in Geneva a month ago. I thought of going to Lyon for a day trip but I preferred going to Lausanne and Montreux. And Bern! (But ofcourse not in one day!)
    Christine K

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  26. How beautiful! We had a wedding to go to near Lyon several years back. Unfortunately, it had to be postponed. Now I wish more than ever we were able to make it!

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  27. Un joli diaporama de photos avec du soleil, j'adore !!! Bon week-end Rosa !!!

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  28. GOSH!! i always want to go to lyon but never have the time, i always end up in paris :( my reason to go to lyon is more about the football club heee

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  29. J'aime beaucoup Lyon... merci pour tes photos.

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  30. j'ai des amis qui habite labas c beau tt ca merci pour ces belles photos on voyage a travers!!

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  31. Love your pictures, and you make me dream with France dear Rosa, ...maybe some day, xxgloria

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  32. c'est une très jolie ville que j'apprécie beacoup! bonne aprem. biz

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  33. J'y suis jamais alle, peut-tu le croire?

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  34. excellent photos, lovely skies, i miss looking at a blue clear sky!

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  35. Looks like a lovely day spent there. I'm looking forward to your Bouchon post.

    Paz

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  36. I love it when you take trips and you share the most beautiful pics of your travels.

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  37. You visit the best looking places!! Nice photography...thank you!

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  38. My dad who is a history buff likes to explain why Lebanon became so enmeshed with all things French. It has nothing to do with the French mandate, but everything to do with the silk industry in Lyon. In Lebanon, there was a time when raising silkworms was really big and Lyon was the number one trading partner. Just a bit of trivia.

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  39. Gorgeous photos. Looks like a fun trip!

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  40. It looks like you had a gorgeous trip - Lyon looks so beautiful :)

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  41. wow, the skies are such a brilliant blue... looks magnificent! can't wait to hear about the food.

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  42. It looks like a beautiful city. I've only seen the train station when a travel agent in New Zealand mistakenly booked us Geneva to Lyon Instead of Geneva to Paris (Lyon station).

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  43. ooh i've been there! isn't it just absolutely gorgeous! i loove almost everything about France! thanks for sharing the pics.

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  44. Une très belle ville Lyon, je rêve d'y retourner un jour.

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  45. wow!! i love all the pics!! vat a beautiful place!!

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