Lyon

With my bit of a break from classes it's been a whirlwind couple of weeks of traveling!

This week I had Wednesday and Thursday off from class so I decided to hop a train and head down to Lyon for a little trip. I arrived Wednesday around noon and checked into my hostel, and received a room with this view from my window:

I was pleasantly surprised! After stashing my backpack I went to the reception desk and asked for advice on a walk to take to show me the city on my limited time frame, and she drew me a route to take. It was a lovely walk, and took me through the city and through the major town squares and such.

However from what I had read online I felt like the walk was rather lacking some of the major points of interest in Lyon, so I stopped in to the tourist office. There they gave me a few additional ideas that lead me through exactly what I wanted to see.

First I went to the old town center and experienced a few of the various traboules. A traboule is a type of passageway that is primarily associated with Lyon. To steal a bit from Wikipedia (because I haven't done that in a while), "The layout of Vieux Lyon is such that there are very few connecting streets running perpendicular to the river. The traboules allowed workmen and craftsmen to transport clothes and other textiles through the city while remaining sheltered from inclement weather." The passageways are really interesting and I loved exploring them.

After that I decided to search out a few of the famous Lyon street murals. I wasn't quite sure what I was looking for or what to expect, but when I found them I was blown away. They were so so impressive.

After that I wandered through the streets (okay and played in a few more traboules) before climbing up to the Fourvière basilica to watch the sun set over the city. 

After that I headed to the Gallo-Roman ruins (more specifically two well-preserved theatres from the Roman city of Lugdunum). I made it 15 minutes before they closed, and though I seriously contemplated jumping the gate to explore after-hours I decided it was probably best not to get arrested in Lyon, so I went back to my hostel to eat a bit of dinner and go to bed. I woke up early the next morning and went back to the ruins to explore for a bit before catching my train.

It was a very interesting experience. I find something very intriguing about walking through structures that have so much history behind them. I loved walking through the ruins in Rome three years ago, and that's one of the reasons I was so excited to see these.

After that I headed to the train station because there was a strike (shocker!) and I wanted to make sure I was able to get home. I got home no problem, and here I am! I will post all of my pictures on my website soon, in the meantime I leave you with this little fellow: