A Historical View

One of my favourite characteristics of Lyon is it's location and it's geography. This might sound dull or tedious, but it holds the key to the history of the city, and continues to provide interest for people even today.

The town is located two hours south of Paris by TGV, and two rivers cut through the heart of the city, the Rhone and the Saône splitting it into three main sections with two hills. To the west of the city is the old town known as Vieux Lyon, the old medieval centre dominated by the Basilique de Notre-Dame de Fourvière on top of the hill. This is the main tourist attraction of the city, but despite the flocks of visitors it is worth ambling along the narrow, quaint Renaissance alleyways, through the different squares and up to the Cathedrale de Saint Jean. To the north is the Croix-Rousse district. Also rich in history, this is where the silk workers, or canuts, revolted in 1831, 1834 and 1848 against poor pay and deteriorating working and living conditions. It is now a calmer, residential area with a bohemian feel, except on those busy Sunday market mornings when the locals, and any tourists who dare, hustle and bustle amongst the stalls along the main Boulevard de la Croix-Rousse. I was lucky enough to live in this district for 4 months, with a view of the Basilica from my bedroom and of the Amphitheatre of the Three Gauls from my living room.

A quirk of these two arrondissements is the traboules or hidden interior passages of buildings. These covered walkways that join buildings together were constructed in Vieux Lyon for ease of access to the banks of the Saône for water, and in Croix-Rousse they served the canuts as a way of transporting their goods quickly to the river and also protecting their handicraft from the elements. Their hidden and confusing nature enabled the local resistance during the Second World War to pass arms and messages, hide people and sabotage the occupying Germans. The traboules number about 500 in Lyon, and many are open to the public to wander between; an afternoon outing that I would highly recommend.

A Year Abroad

It's been a long time since I've paid any attention to this blog, and I apologise for the neglect. Many things have changed since my last post, most noticeably that I've been living and studying in both France and Spain. There have been major developments in my social and private life as well, leading to regular trips across Europe. New towns and countries have been visited, traditions discovered and tasted (often quite literally), my linguistic skills have been put to the test, and I've even started learning some words of a new language. It would be too much for me to condense everything from about seven months' worth of living abroad into a few short paragraphs, but I hope over the next few posts on this blog to give you a bit of a flavour of what I have been experiencing, discovering, unearthing and enjoying recently.

My time in France began in September 2012, and its beginning was inauspicious. I'd heard horror stories of foreign students struggling to find accommodation and still sleeping on friend's floors two months into their stay. My bold and possibly conceited attitude of believing I'd arrive and easily find accommodation within two weeks was quickly proven to be misplaced. Five weeks after stepping off the TGV at Lyon Part-Dieu train station, I was finally able to unpack my suitcase for one last time after having slept in a hotel, a youth hostel, a friend's rented room in a student residence and another apartment in the 3rd Arrondissement.

The trials and tribulations of five unsettling weeks of settling into a new city whilst juggling university studies in a foreign language had taken their toll on me, and I spent a few days recovering from a nasty cold and sore throat. However, that wasn't to get me down, and the whole experience helped me to make a great group of friends, uncover many interesting parts of Lyon, drastically improve my level of French and even meet the girl of my dreams.