Welcome to Lyon

Some cities hit visitors like a Broadway musical, with a dazzle of famous monuments and applauding crowds. Lyon unspools slowly, like a soft skein of the silk for which it was once famed. In only a little while, this huge, gently contented city makes itself felt; not so much in displays of architectural virtuosity, or panoramic vistas- although there are a few- but in an unexpected sense of wellbeing, a feeling that one could happily live here, make friends with the locals, spend mornings shopping at the market and afternoons strolling the wide boulevards, perhaps stopping to hear a concert in the square, or resting with a good strong coffee at a café table... and in the evening, ambling through the streets of old Lyon, in the purple dusk, idly wondering which cosy, centuries-old restaurant to choose, which dish from each delicious menu to order.

And although it is France’s largest city outside Paris, Lyon has the atmosphere of a safe, rambling old town, albeit one with world-class restaurants and chic, modern hotels. Bounded by two rivers, the Rhone and the Saone, and watched over by two hills, Fourviere and Croix-Rousse, there is a charming duality about Lyon- the old, medieval town and the new, shining streets of glamorous shops; or the gleaming food halls of polished produce at Les Halles Paul Bocuse, where Michelin starred chefs pore like mathematicians over cases of perfectly-aligned artisan cheese, and the rambunctious morning market by the river, thronged with jolly crowds, stalls loaded with produce straight from the farm. Because Lyon is the food capital of France- there are restaurants so exquisite and expensive, one visit provides a lifelong memory and cafes so cheerful and cheap you could go every morning for a pain au chocolat.

Lyon is a slow burn of a city, a gradual awareness that you don’t want to leave, a feeling that somehow, all cities should be like it; with its graceful 19th century buildings facing the wide sweep of river; its awareness of what matters- food, warmth, entertainment- and its unusual talent for preserving the past, whilst openly welcoming the future. It is a city that does stay in the heart, long after leaving- perhaps forever.