Food & Le Foot In Lively Lyon

Europe » France » Rhône-Alpes » Lyon
June 21st 2016

Published: July 30th 2016

Edit Blog Post

Delek Delek

Vieux Lyon

Taken from the banks of the Saone.

In Marseille, I had reached a crossroads.
Originally, I was going to stick to the Mediterranean, following the southern coast of France along the French Riviera to Italy - but that was going to be too expensive. I considered going directly to Italy and Turin - but by now I had become travel-weary and really just wanted to stop somewhere to regroup for a few days, preferably for free.
And thus I thought about going to Zurich where I have a friend - my mate Corb who I visited in Basel four years ago. So Zurich was the closest place I could get to for some much needed, cheap R&R - therefore, I decided to head north, stopping in Lyon en route.

Finding reasonably-priced accommodation in Lyon was a struggle thanks to Euro 2016 - but the tournament was part of the reason why I wanted to stay in France. Who knows, I might get to go and watch Romania play Albania, which was being played in Lyon during my stay.
And after accommodation, finding reasonably-priced transport was the next challenge.
I had a range of option and the cheapest by far was Megabus - five hours on a bus for just 7€. It was a 35€ saving on the

Ceiling Inside La Basilique Notre Dame de Fouviere

Impressive.

train!

So. My first Megabus ride on the Ryanair of buses.
I had always seen the Megabus coaches in the UK but I had money back then so I never took them. Until now.
And thankfully, it wasn't like Ryanair. The bus was comfortable enough and the ride smooth enough - it was worth not paying three times the price to go with other bus companies because they would definitely not have been three times as good! A new love affair may have started here...

I had always wanted to go to Lyon. Watching Champions League football in the mid-00s, Olympique Lyonnais put the city on the map for me and I had only heard good things about the place since.
On arrival, I checked into my quite-nice hostel (only opened a few days apparently), got some dinner and then went straight to the fan zone for France vs Switzerland.
With the home team in action, the queues to get in were horrendous and didn't get in until just before half-time. Not that I really missed much - both teams had pretty much already qualified for the next round so there was little intensity both on the pitch

Rue Saint-Jean

Main pedestrian street in Vieux Lyon, which is lined with bars, cafes, restaurants and sweet shops.

and in the crowd.
In the fan zone, this resulted in a party atmosphere which was epitomised by a bunch of English blokes pogo-ing up and down to Gala's "Freed From Desire", a classic 90s dance hit - and something I thought I'd never see English football fans jump up and down to.
They were creating quite the stir and soon enough, loads of the local French joined in and you had a heaving crowd going nights to Freed From Desire.
Except that it wasn't Freed From Desire they were all singing - the words had been changed to "Vardy's on fire / Your defence is terrified!" (Jamie Vardy being the prolific rags-to-riches Leicester City and England striker). Absolutely hilarious. You have to love football fans sometimes.
The Yaya/Kolo Toure chant got an airing too.
As for the game itself, it perhaps rather unsurprisingly finished 0-0, the chants being the highlight of the match although Paul Pogba and Dmitri Payet ("Payet's on fire / Your defence is terrified!") both hit the bar for France.

Like most French cities, Lyon is beautiful.
Established at the confluence of the Rivers Rhone and Saone, the city has its fair share of grand

Place des Terraux

One of Lyon's grand squares. The building pictured is the town hall.

squares, neoclassical buildings, wide pedestrian boulevards and green spaces. The riverside walks, particularly along the Rhone, are really nice too.
Vieux Lyon, the old town with its cobblestone streets, bars and cafes, is very pleasant to walk around although I was perhaps a little disappointed by the architecture in there. I was expecting the buildings to be perhaps a bit like the ones in the old town of Bilbao.

A tough hike up to Fouviere gives you an amazing panorama over the city, although it was a shame that the mini-Eiffel Tower up there - Tour Metallique - wasn't open, as it would have afforded even better views.
Unlike the Cathedrale St Jean in the old town below, the Basilique Notre Dame de Fouviere was spectacularly impressive on the inside. Like the basilica of almost the same name also on top a hill in Marseille, the interior evoked the Church Of Our Saviour On Spilt Blood in St Petersburg, except with a Gothic rather than an Orthodox architectural theme. The ceilings and the way the light filtered into the church through the stained glassed windows was impressive. There were some decent paintings in there too, as well as an accessible crypt. All in all, very similar to the

Rue de la Republique

Wide pedestrian boulevard that leads to Lyon's main square of Place Bellecour.

basilica in Marseille.

Walking around town it seemed like there were kids and teenagers everywhere. Also, it seemed that full football club tracksuits are all the rage right now. Lyon definitely felt like it had a student vibe to it, with a bit of youth culture - a bit 'cool', if you will.
And there were plenty of youngsters out at the fan zone that evening for England vs Slovakia. The English yobbos were out in force too, with some funny chanting ("Vardy's On Fire"), some annoying chanting ("Please Don't Take Me Home" - what a droner that one is. If only they knew that I wasn't going home anytime soon, wherever home is...) and some offensive chanting ("Seven German Bombers In The Air"). Not quite as many people were here as there was for the France game the previous night, but the result was the same; 0-0 after England dominated and outshot the Slovakians without being able to break down their defence and score. With Wales winning their match against Russia convincingly, it means England now qualify second from their group and will have a tougher path in the knockout stage en route to the final.
So it's

Les Halles de Lyon

Indoor market full of rather upmarket bistros and various "mongers" where you can experience Lyon's famed gastronomy.

not been your typical backpacker experience here in Lyon - just a lot of English yobbos.

Perhaps more than anything else, Lyon is known as a centre for gastronomy.
A good way to sample the local cuisine is a visit to the modern glass building that houses Lyon's indoor market - Les Halles de Lyon.
Inside are charcuteries (delicatessens), poissoneries (seafood stalls), patisseries (cake shops that had some of the best-presented cakes and desserts that I have ever seen), fromageries (cheese shops, of course) and loads of bistros serving local cuisine, oysters, wine and lunch.
One of the things that you have to do here apparently is to have lunch at the market, so I decided to treat myself. I got the "Lyon Speciality" which turned out to be gratin andouillette. I've had andouillette sausage before - a sausage made from pig intestine - but this baked pig intestine in bechamel sauce was much nicer. The pungency of the intesetine isn't so strong in a gratin and it was a bit sweet. Either way, it was delicious.
I'm not normally a person that goes in for cheese but when I was offered some local Saint-Marcellin, I thought I'd give

View Across The City

Looking northwards from Vieux Lyon.

it a go.
It was quite possibly the best cheese I have ever had. A strong-but-not-too-strong flavour, a little sweet and with the gooiest, most spreadable texture I have ever seen. Well worth the extra 7€. Where I would complain about having to spend US$20 in Cuba for accommodation, here I had just laid down 20€ for lunch. Worth every penny, mind.

As is customary for any city with a big football team, I went to check out the city's football stadium.
Unbeknown to me, Olympique Lyonnais had moved to a brand new stadium, the Stade des Lumieres, six months previously and this was the stadium hosting Lyon's Euro 2016 matches. Which was why I was so shocked when I rocked up to the old Stade de Gerland and found that I could just walk right into the stadium, into the stands, even onto the pitch if I wanted. At the time, I was actually really concerned about the lack of security, especially given the recent terrorist attacked in France and the tension around security. If you wanted to plant a bomb in here, it could've been done easily. If only all terrorists were as stupid as me -

Musee des Confluences & Pont Raymond Barre

The slick and sleek Musee des Confluences in the background as cyclist cross the Pont Raymond Barre.

then you'd have people blowing up empty stadiums.
Nevertheless, the Stade de Gerland was where Olympique Lyon played all of their matches when I watched them on TV back in the noughties so it was still cool to see something I had always seen on TV in the flesh. The stadium is pretty old, which is probably why they built a new one, but with its beige arches it still had old-school charm.
If old school charm isn't your thing however, then Lyon has sleek, modern architecture too.
The Musee de Confluence - a science and humanitarian museum set on the confluence of the Rhone and the Saone - is perhaps the city's best example; a shiny glass and metallic beast.

I then visited the Parc de Tete d'Or, Lyon's version of Central/Hyde Park.
It has a lake for pleasure boating, a botanical garden, a deer park and even a zoo.
The zoo was impressive; you could get pretty close-up views of the resident lions - something I didn't get in Kruger Park - as well as a leopard. And it was all completely free! I thought that was pretty amazing.
The rosary was beautifully landscaped too - apparently done

Parc de la Tete d'Or

The rose garden in Lyon's version of Central/Hyde Park.

in the 1860s.
The park was a great place to chill out and relax - which many Lyonnaises were doing on a warm, beautiful day.

It was balmy that particular evening too - perfect for the outdoor concerts taking place in seemingly every park and square in the city. People were all out and about, drinking, socialising and letting their hair down. Everyone seemed to be in a great mood.
Nowhere was this joy reflected more than in the neighbourhood of Croix Rousse. A hilltop suburb just north of the city centre, it seemed to have a degree of separation from the rest of the city and there seemed to be a real community spirit here, as demonstrated by the fetes and soirees all over the suburb.
With its hilly, narrow streets, Croix Rousse has a certain charm to it although architecturally it is unspectacular.

The last thing I needed to do to round off my Lyonnais experience was to eat at a local bouchon - small local restaurants/bistros serving local fare. Most have set menus and I found one of the cheaper ones in Vieux Lyon for 20€. So yeah, I was splashing out on food again

Quenelle

A souffle dumpling in lobster sauce - a dish typical of Lyon.

but it was my last night in France's gourmet capital so it had to be done. Plus, this place was showing the football too (a slightly surprising 2-1 win for Croatia over Spain). Perfect.
My starter was amazing - soft white cheese with parsley, olive oil and garlic, perfect spread on roasted potatoes or bread.
I then had quenelles - souffle dumplings served in lobster sauce. Souffles are usually eaten sweet so for the second time today, I had sweet food usually eaten savoury and savoury food usually eaten sweet. It was nice but not amazing - I could've done with more sauce. For dessert I had Saint-Marcellin again - although this time it wasn't gooey and was served with a walnut salad. In terms of both the mains and the cheese, I thought that my lunch was better - but then again I had paid for four courses in the evening in a very touristy restaurant.

It turned out there was a reason why there were so many fetes and soirees in Croix Rousse earlier that evening - a SXSW-style music festival had started allowing artists to play anywhere and everywhere that night. My attention was caught by

Fete

Couples dancing at this neighbourhood fete in Croix Rousse.

a live band playing The Pixies' "Where Is My Mind" in the old town. A crowd had gathered to party with them in a square as they thrashed out classics like Oasis's "Supersonic", Blur's "Song 2" and Jet's "Are You Gonna Be My Girl". The band were all really old too - they were all silver tops. The mainly local, teenage/student crowd were lapping it up. There were artists playing all over town and it seemed the whole of Lyon were out in the streets that night. Add to this the drunken English yobbos singing about not wanting to go home and Turkish fans celebrating victory in their football match at evening and it was ayhem on the streets of Lyon.
Like my entire stay in France however, I regretted not being able to make any friends. Like the fan zone on the first night, the atmosphere was in the city was amazing and it would have been so awesome to have company for dinner, a few drinks, to watch some music and to cruise around the streets having a laugh - like everyone else seemed to be. For that night, it sucked being alone.
Although my hostel was nice,

Spanish Guitarist

One of loads of artists playing on the streets of Lyon as part of a music festival. This guy was awesome.

it was a big one, meaning that it is harder to meet people as everything is so impersonal and because everyone already seemed to be in their own social groups. It was more short-term holidaymakers and football fans rather than backpackers here in Lyon. I guess that is just the way that this particular cookie crumbled.

Nevertheless I liked lively Lyon - the city has much to offer.
But France was proving to be expensive and I needed to stop blowing my budget; so I was looking forward to my next destination - Zurich, right?

A la prochaine,
Derek

Additional photos below

Photos: 25, Displayed: 25