Ready to explore Lyon, we woke up, bought a few groceries for an early lunch, and set out on foot. Walking through the beautiful graffitied streets, we saw many squares, cathedrals, and monuments, before arriving at our first destination, Parc de la Tête D’Or.
This urban park covers around 290 acres and features a stunning lake, rose garden, zoo, foot pathways, and bikes and boats for renting. Entrance into the park and exploration is entirely free! We, of course, had to be super tourists, and rent the most ridiculously uncomfortable bike to tour around the park.
Leaving the park, we continued walking to visit the Roman ruins. Due to it’s location and influence, Lyon was one of the most important cities during the Roman Empire rule, and grew rapidly in both size and wealth. Lyon has many Roman ruin remains including an amphitheater, theater, Odeon, and museum.
We returned to the basilique to view the inside, since we heard it was a must see, and indeed it was. Floor to ceiling mosaics, many different chapels, and a crypt. This basilique is definitely on scale with the one we saw it Monaco. It was absolutely stunning!
By this time, we were getting hungry, so we stopped for an afternoon snack: tarts and local beers, and sat down by the river.
Afterwards, we attempted to get into a few restaurants, but I guess you need reservations for most of them, or perhaps our 8:00pm dinner time was prime time! We ended up eating at another local Bouchon and had an amazing feast: another three course dinner, bottle of wine, and espressos for €70.
Course one: pate for me, lentil soup for Daniel.
Course two: pike fish for me, chicken for Daniel.
We concluded with the same local delicacy, praline cake, and an espresso.
Lyon has treated us very well and has definitely been a place that we would return. The friendliness of the people, delicious local foods, endless sites to visit, historical information, and beautiful parks and streets should make this city a must see on anyone’s list!
Out With Erin 