Lyon is a town I had been meaning to visit for a long time (having passed through the train station a number of times on my way to other places) and as we were so close from Annecy, we decided to take a trip there for New Years.
I unfortunately had limited time with classes starting back up and new flatmates arriving (more on that later!) but the few days I did have in France's gastronomic capital were excellent (although sadly lacking in the food department as almost everything was closed for New Years Day).
Arriving by train, we settled into our cute airbnb which was about a half hours walk from the main center. We wandered the town as twilight deepened and night fell, affording us gorgeous views of the town all lit up. Often called the City of Lights, la Fete des Lumieres held here is world famous, taking place near the beginning of December every year.
Unfortunately due to the November terrorist attacks all big events in France were cancelled for national security. It made me wonder however if this was why there were so many buildings lit up and interesting lighting going on all around the town as we wandered it. Perhaps local inhabitants decided to light up their town as much as they could regardless!
Lyon was a very historical town, and for that I really enjoyed it. It had numerous claims to fame, including the Lumiere brothers who invented the cinematographe here. Its history of course goes much further back as it was settled by Romans and became known as a Gaulish hill fort called by the very different name of Lugdunum. Lyon is also the starting point of the creation of the main Roman roads that were built throughout Gaul (all this talk of Gaul is giving me the need to shake my head and say 'these Romans are crazy' Asterix style!)
One of the positives of wandering Lyon on New Years day was that although everything was pretty much closed, I imagine it was a lot quieter than it usually would be. We wandered around the outside of Lyon cathedral (which was rather impressive) and also enjoyed the small ruins that were left behind it (all that remained of the ruins of a sixth century church that this cathedral was mostly built on top of in the twelfth century).
By far my favourite thing about Lyon however were the secret passages. During the 19th century, Lyon became famous for its silk trade which helped the city develop into an industrial town and keep these passages in use. Known as 'Trabules' they began as early as the 4th century to help inhabitants travel quickly to and from their homes down to the river for water. These later developed into passageways used primarily by the canuts (silk weavers) to get to and from their workshops quickly and to carry their fragile goods safe and dry when it rained.
Hidden behind large non-descript doors, Lonely Planet was our guide to counting house numbers before cautiously pushing on doors to see if they were unlocked - which in fact they always were, allowing us to slip off the streets and into the quiet gloom of these hidden tunnels, sometimes ending in interesting courtyards usually featuring wells, and more often than not leading us onto yet another medieval street in the old city.
These Trabules were re-purposed during World War II when Nazi Germany occupied Lyon as it was also a stronghold for the French resistance. They used the passages to help people escape the Gestapo raids and stopped the Germans from being able to have total control over the city and its people.
It was certainly an enjoyable experience exploring my way through the lesser known side of Lyon, surrounded by such history.
