This blog will make you travel to the wonderful city of Lyon in France. I will take you through a journey to make you discover its unique touristic attractions as well as what makes Lyon a city, not like the others.

First of all, let us start with an introduction to the city itself. Lyon is the third biggest city in France with around 530,000 inhabitants. It is located in the south-east of France at the confluence of the River Rhône and the River Saône. It is a really ancient city built in 43 B.C. by the Romans and is also called “capital of Gaul” – Gaul being the old name for current French territory. Thanks to its 2,000 years of history, Lyon has been registered on the UNESCO list of world heritage sites. It is a gastronomic capital, a cultural and historical centre as well as a student city. Lyon is a big agglomeration, which attracts a fair amount of tourists each year. Indeed, the number of overnight stays in 2017 –the most up-to-date information available at this time – was almost of 5,000,000 and the number of visitors of museums and diverse touristic attractions was over 2,700,000. 10,3 million passengers have been as well counted in the Saint-Exupéry Lyon Airport. Lyon is well known as an interesting city to visit for domestic but as well as international tourists.

So what makes Lyon such an attracting city? Why are so many tourists coming from all over the world to visit it? Well, if you have in mind of visiting it or if you are just curious to know what makes Lyon such a unique city, this blog is for you.

This place is my absolute favourite and I would highly recommend everyone coming to Lyon to take the time to visit Fourviere!

The Fourviere Hill is the oldest neighbourhood of Lyon. Indeed, the Romans built Lyon -called at the time Lugdunum – on this hill. It is located on the west part of the Lyon. The name Fourviere comes from the Latin Forum Vetus which means “old Forum”.  The Roman Forum was a public square, which was used most of the time as a marketplace and was considered as the heart of the city. Nowadays, one of the most iconic buildings of Lyon has replaced it: the Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourviere. The erection work started in 1872 and the church was inaugurated in 1896. However, the inside artwork will only be finished after the Second World War. It is dedicated to the Virgin Mary to thank her for having saved the city from the plague in 1643. The basilica is 86 meters long and 35 meters wide. Its height at the top of the tower is 48 meters. Settled on top of the hill, the basilica can be seen from numerous different places in Lyon and has become one of the symbols of the city. A 3-meter high bronze statue of Jean-Paul II has been erected in 2011 in front of the basilica to remember its venue in 1986 and the blessing he gave to the city.  Each year, over 2,5 millions of visitors visit the Fourviere Basilica. Fourviere Hill benefits as well of a magnificent viewpoint on the whole city, where most tourists go to admire the beauty of Lyon and take pictures after visiting the Basilica.

It is an important tradition for many people from Lyon and if you are lucky enough to visit Lyon during the festival, the memory of it will always stay with you!

The “Fête des Lumières” – Festival of Lights in English – is one of the biggest local events. It takes place every year in Lyon to express gratitude towards the Virgin Mary The first festival took place on the 8th of December 1852 but was really different from what it is nowadays. The story of how the first festival happened is really unique and original. Every September 8 – on the anniversary of the Nativity of Mary – the inhabitants used to thank her for saving the city from plague by a procession from the Cathedral of Saint-Jean to the Chapel of Saint-Thomas, then to the Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourviere after its erection. In 1852, it was decided to inaugurate the statue of the Virgin Mary on top of the Fourviere Hill on the same day. However, it did not go as planned because of meteorological reasons. The river Saône was in spate and the inauguration got postponed to the 8th of December. However, on that day, a storm struck the city and the authority made the decision to cancel it once again. A few hours later as night fell and the rain stopped, the people of Lyon who were waiting for this moment for three long months decided to light up their windows with lumignons – a type of candle – and celebrated all over the city. The new tradition to light up the whole city on that day was born and remains up to now.

Nowadays, around the 8th of December and for four continuous days, the people of Lyon light lumignons at their windows and visual and interactive shows light up the whole city. Each year, the facades of Lyon’s most iconic monuments are the centre of amazing light and sound showcases. During four evenings, the squares, building, parks of the city display light shows to commemorate in the initiative of December 8, 1852. Each year over 1,7 million visitors including 100,000 people coming from abroad come to Lyon to enjoy this unique festival.

Nowadays, many of them are closed but the ones that remain open are really interesting to visit. It is one of the most original and mysterious aspects of Lyon’s architecture and identity!

“Traboules” is a typical word from Lyon. It is used to describe covered passageways only used by pedestrians to go quickly from one street to another by going underneath the habitations and using small hallways, staircases, and courts. It is believed that there are over 400 traboules in Lyon and especially in the old Vieux-Lyon and la Croix-Rousse districts. It is not really known when the first traboules were built but it is believed it was during the 4th century. The ones located in Vieux-Lyon were used at the time to go quicker to the river to fetch water. The ones located in la Croix-Rousse had another purpose. They were used by the canuts – the silk workers from Lyon – who were living on top of the hill, to get quicker down the hill to sell their good. Moreover, few traboules played an important role during the German occupation in France. The resistance fighters were using them to escape and lose German soldiers as most traboules were unknown to them.

The Parc de la Tête d’Or is a pretty great place to relax and enjoy some family time!

The “Parc de la Tête d’Or” – called Park of the Golden Head in English – is the largest and most famous urban park in Lyon.  It is located on the side of the river Rhône and is covering a land area of 105 hectares.  There are seven different entries to access it but the most outstanding one is called the gate of the Rhône’s Children. If you enter the park via this gate, you soon find a wonderful lake of 16 hectares. The park is really appreciated by the inhabitants of Lyon but as well by tourists as it is a really impressive and relaxing green space in the middle of the city. People can visit there one of the biggest botanical gardens in Europe and the first in France with around 15,000 plants listed over 8 hectares, 1,400 of which considered as threatened. Visitors can also enjoy the free zoological garden inside the park and see over 400 animals – 149 mammals, 122 birds, 71 reptiles and 100 red-eared sliders. Half of these animals are for a partnership with European breeding programs. Indeed, the zoo is a member of the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria which is aiming to help endangered species breed safely.