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Trip Report: 3 Days in Lyon and Annecy

Hello everyone! The (20M) study abroad student here with Lyon! I’ll admit that Lyon was the city that I was most skeptical about visiting (if you check my posting history, you’ll note that I did make a post about whether it was worth visiting), but got some good tickets, so I decided to listen to all of your advice and head there despite my initial reservations. As always, mile counts listed below for reference to the amount of cover that I needed to cover.

Day 1: Lyon

After passing the large but under-construction Place Bellecour, I made my way towards Vieux Lyon, which I had planned on exploring on my first day. Of course, I got a bit distracted by the gorgeous riverfront views, both of the cathedral atop the hill (with some strange Eiffel Tower-esque metal tower next to it) and the churches by the riverside, like the more fairytale Saint Georges church with its thin, swooping spires or the more fortress-like appearance of the Saint-Jean Baptiste de Lyon Cathedral, with its chunky towers and a lovely, floral stained glass window in the center. From there, I ended up walking the entirety of the riverfront until I had reached the bend in the river, which was my favorite part because of the spectacular views. The multi-colored homes atop the slopes stacked up together, forming a vibrant mosaic of warm reds, pastel pinks, golden yellow, amongst many other colors. From there, as the weather began to become increasingly cloudy and the colors began to fade a bit, I decided to go and hike up to the Gallo-Roman theater, which was a larger version of the amphitheater I saw in Malaga. It’s too bad that preparation for some type of event ruined the atmosphere there since there was quite a bit of noise and infrastructure (lights, trucks, etc.) lying about, but it was quite fun just to briefly explore the grassy paths amongst the ruins around the well-preserved amphitheater and just relax after a bit of a steep climb up, especially compared to the Netherlands. After resting for a bit, I wandered the verdant gardens in front of the basilica for a bit and enjoyed the beautiful views of the city, not realizing that the path up from there to the cathedral was closed, before circling back around to the basilica.

Because it started pouring, I hurried myself into the church, which was one of those fortress-esque churches but made much more elegant, with strips of detailed sculptures carved into the stone and intricately decorated arches and columns (some of which are status of people). The interiors were also very pretty and had detailed white and gold insignia decorating the arches (plus a gorgeous one inspired by the sun and flowers near the front of the cathedral) along with tons of gorgeous paintings alongside the walls and one the underside of the ceiling, mixing together bright turquoises, shimmering cold, and a smattering of other colors. If there’s one thing that I’ve noticed about the French cathedrals that I have visited so far is that they really love the yellow and blue color scheme. The crypt was a bit disappointing though. It felt more like a storage room with half-hearted and spare displays. There was a pretty but chapel next to the cathedral that was so nice and toasty that I wanted to just hang there for the rest of the day, especially since the rain had persisted. But I had more of Lyon to explore, so I decided to circle back to the Gallo-Roman museum, which seemed pretty interesting. While there were some cool exhibits, it was a bit disappointing for me how children oriented the museum was since a good portion was just filled with children’s activities. After rushing through the museum a bit, I walked down to Vieux Lyon and just wandered through the narrow streets.

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Day 1 Continued

I heard that Vieux Lyon has quite a bit of these so-called secret passages, but I’ll admit that I think I only spotted one while wandering around. I did get caught up in a bit of a long line waiting for crepes, which meant that I missed a bit of the sunset (not like there was much as a result of the overcast skies), but the walk alongside the river was beautiful. As the sky continued to dim, the lights around the main attractions flipped on (including one funny glitch that had bathed a cathedral in a bright, evil-looking green), illuminating all of the churches and major buildings, including the absolutely radiant what looked like a capital building of some sort, ending this rainy but pleasant day on a high note.

Mile Count: 13.3 miles

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Day 2: Annecy

Because Annecy is so far away from Lyon (2 hours by train), I had to force myself to wake up pretty early so that I’d have plenty of time while simultaneously not falling asleep on the train ride there since I heard that it was beautiful. I’ll admit that I thought I was going to be zipping through the mountains, but the reality was more like pretty French countryside and woods with the occasional snow-capped mountains jutting out as I approached the foothills of the Alps. After disembarking the train, I walked a bit to the Old Town and just wandered about, admiring the turbulent but still clear and turquoise colored waters of the canals and the colorful shops and homes lining the canals, decorated with pots of still-blooming flowers and lush vines (despite the chilly weather) with the occasional bush springing out from the cracks. If I ignored the more modern additions, it’d feel like the center of Annecy came straight out of a fairytale. From there, I did the very short climb up to the Annecy Castle and decided to check it out. Of course, the first thing that I did was head to the back, which has some of the best views of Annecy. Beyond the dense tangle of adobe rooftops punctured by church spires and the more modern apartments on the outskirts, I was able to get some great views of the snow-covered mountain peaks in the distance, barely shrouded in clouds, along with the more forested hills closer to Annecy. The Castle itself has an exhibition, which is quite spare compared to those in Edinburgh, though I didn’t fully get to explore it since the castle shuts down at noon. From there, I walked to the Basilique de la Visitation, which is this small but still pretty church with some cool patterned marble pillars and lovely stained glass, with even better views of the mountains on the slopes surrounding the basilica. After walking through the, admittedly, not particularly beautiful New Town of Annecy, I arrived at the waterfront, only to see some cool viewpoints blocked by a horde of sailboats.

In my quest to get some unobstructed views of the mountains, I ended up walking for about an hour alongside the Lake Annecy path towards Sevrier to take advantage of the relatively dry weather and enjoy the beautiful nature that Annecy was famous for. And it did end up being a lovely hike, taking me through small, manicured parks where I appear to once again have caught the peak of the autumn foliage, as the gusts of winds sent hundreds of golden and orange colored leaves scattering all over the lawns, to the muddier paths in front of charming cottages with overgrown foliage and mossy roofs. Of course, I got exactly what I was looking for, unobstructed views of the majestic snowy mountains with the lake’s signature turquoise waters in the foreground that were even better than I had anticipated as I began to face the mountains directly. But this serenity was disturbed by the clouds rolling in, and as the rain picked up, I was forced to turn back and head back to Annecy. With still a handful of hours before dark, I decided that after doing a part of the hike on one side of the lake, I’d go and do the other side despite the rain. Yeah… that was a bit of a mistake. The absurdly strong winds (someone walking in front of me had their umbrella break) and pelting, horizontal rain left me totally soaked and bitterly cold. I made it about 1/3 of the way through before turning back because I could barely enjoy the waterfront promenade and limited views, having to hold my umbrella in front and to the side of me like a shield. By the time that I had made it back, the sun had already started to set, and I hung out by the waterfront as the rains and winds died down briefly, allowing for rays of sunlight to peak out from behind the mountains. After the sunset, I just wandered around town and revisited all the sites as the streetlights lit up and the canals had swelled and turned into raging rivers.

Mile Count: 16.2 miles

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Day 3: Lyon

In the morning, I wanted to focus my energy on exploring the central peninsula in Lyon (Terreaux and Croix-Rousse), which I hadn’t gotten to on my first day as a result of the rains. After grabbing a quick breakfast at a pretty touristy bakery (because everything else was closed), I made my way to the riverfront facing Vieux Lyon, finding cool ancient walls that surrounded a modern looking building, so sadly it wasn't too picturesque. Still, because the weather in the morning was sunny and gorgeous (except around the cathedral), unlike the prior day and a half, the bright colors of the homes popped out so nicely, as I took photos of Lyon south of the (what I would call) Golden Gate Bridge pedestrian path. I even caught a view of a rainbow in the distance while I was walking, though the viewpoint that I had planned on taking photos of the rainbow was closed and by the time that I had found a good spot, it had disappeared. After that, I wandered the riverfront for a bit longer before randomly stumbling upon the Sunday Market, which I had totally forgotten about after reading about it in a blog a while back. It was very crowded and lively, though I didn’t buy anything there because there were quite a few things without prices, and I wasn’t in the mood to haggle in a language I’m not familiar with. Still, there was a vibrant mixture of fruits, cheeses, sausages, and tons of other foods / clothing that I’m sure is from the area. I just continued by aimlessly wandering through the Terreaux neighborhood, stumbling onto lots of small plazas, filled with fountains, smaller Sunday markets, like one dedicated to Italian cuisine, churches and palaces squeezed in between the dense buildings, and other small delights. As I wandered northwards, I eventually ran into the backside Hotel de Ville, which is this lovely but grand, beige-colored building and gray roofs that reminded me a bit of the Louvre. If you look closely, you’ll also notice lots of sculptures of heads attached to the walls and within the foliage-inspired insignia, which was this cool Easter egg. On the other side was the Opera Building, which combined the modern-arched rooftop with the old-styled walls quite nicely, blending seamlessly with the architecture of the surrounding buildings.

After a bit, I moved to the front side of the Hotel, which contained gold embellishments and a prominent clock tower and sculpture of a horse attached to the front of the rooftop. It connected with a beautiful, open plaza with timed fountains that’d shoot up jets of water in synchronized patterns. It made me feel a bit nostalgic since my hometown’s library had that a long time ago before the drought shut it down. Also in the plaza was a gorgeous, basalt-colored chariot fountain, and across from that was the Museum of Fine Arts, a pretty but sparsely decorated building on the exterior. While I wasn’t originally planning on going to the museum, it was recommended to me by users on this forum and student tickets were absurdly cheap, so I decided to give it a go. I’ll say that it’s a very charming museum, with a hodgepodge of the most random items that I did not expect to find in a museum. Of course, there were the beautiful paintings, including a seemingly famous rowboat with a lush, nature-dominated background, and cool but damaged sculptures. Funnily enough, I was looking at a painting and thought one of the churches looked extremely familiar. Turns out it was a painting of the one in Haarlem, which I had visited days prior. It’s crazy how recognizable the city is, even from a painting from the 1600s. But the museum had an Egyptian exhibit, with sarcophaguses and the like, and a strange exhibit of alien-esque ceramics (maybe something else? I couldn’t really tell). After about 3 hours, I left the museum and headed up to Croix-Rousse for the sunset. One of the best viewpoints is supposedly at the Trois-Gaule Amphitheater, and they weren’t kidding.

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Day 3 Continued

Beautiful views of the basilica atop the hill with the city in the background, but because there was still some time before the sun began setting, I decided to go further to explore. Noticing tons of crowds, I ventured to whatever destination they were heading to and landed up in a neon and bright American-styled autumn carnival, with the game booths, amusement-park attractions, and treats like cotton candy and popcorn. That was certainly a surprise! I hung out there for a bit before heading back to the viewpoint as the sun began to set. Clouds on the west side of Lyon did mean that it wasn’t as spectacular as I had expected, but still, being perched on a higher viewpoint, I could see the warm dusk glow bathing the sky behind the basilica.

Mile Count: 14.4 miles

Final Ratings:

Lyon: 8.75/10
Annecy: 8.25/10

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Overall Thoughts:

Overall, I will say that I had a wonderful time in Lyon and was grateful that I did not experience any of the major transportation hassles that I had faced in the prior weeks. I suppose the only frustration I had was finding the RhoneExpress (bright red stop) since the online map orientation is somewhat confusing. Lyon, especially around the river, is extremely picturesque, and the pastel colored homes with adobe roofs reminded me a bit of Lisbon. Even the type of travel, focused more on wandering around instead of heading to specific attractions, like I would in Paris or Edinburgh, was similar, though I did feel like there was a bit of a dearth of activities to do. One bonus of visiting Lyon is that, unlike Paris, there are tons of significant student and young traveler discounts, even for US students. I’m used to 20-30% discounts but some places went all the way up to 50-70% discounts, which is just absurd. I’m pretty sure that I saw some museum or city pass that would cost 25 euros normally being offered for 7 euros. This not only applies to museums but also the tram to the airport, which is extremely useful! Also, I feel like I’ve gotten a bit more comfortable with my “Bonjour” greeting in French and trying hard not to mumble the greeting. In Paris, they’d immediately swap to English, but here, people would respond back in French, which either means that my pronunciation has gotten a bit better (even if I wouldn’t understand their response) or just a sign of how French-language dominated Lyon was. Everyone spoke English but the English-language infrastructure was pretty weak—menus and museum captions are totally in French. In hindsight, I do wish that I had visited Lyon earlier in the year though because I feel like the city was really hurt by the time shift. An extra hour of daylight in the evenings to explore around would’ve been just so nice since the days just seem to end so quickly. It also doesn’t help that Lyon, while pretty, isn’t the most beautiful city at night, unlike Amsterdam or Paris, meaning that it’s so hard to extend the day out. Amazing early fall / late summer weather combined with the longer days probably would’ve made the days in Lyon so nice instead of the cold and windy weather that I had received, which only faded on my last day there.

As for my hostel situation, it was the quietest since Edinburgh, and people slept so early there. I guess with social hostels, I had gotten used to everyone sleeping extremely late so it was so weird seeing everyone in bed before 11 pm. I felt pretty rude rummaging through my stuff then when I had thought that no one would be asleep. I had mentioned a bit about my hostel’s location and do somewhat agree with the assertion that it’s in a bit of a suspicious neighborhood. Guillotiere - Gabriel Peri metro / plaza area is very close by, and people were not kidding that it’s a weird place with lots of men just loitering around. Even though I was just merely unnerved as male traveler, I can understand how female travelers would be fearful. It’s part of the reason why I didn’t do a ton of nightlife exploration since I had heard not-amazing things about this area. Same thing with Lyon Part-Dieu. Just really desolate and empty at night, surrounded by dark construction projects and empty offices. It stands as a major contrast to the vibrant and busy Amsterdam Centraal.

Because I had fallen a bit behind on trip reports as a result of university essays, much like my Amsterdam trip report, which I finished up in Lyon, I finished this up in Porto. Due to some class scheduling weirdness, Porto is going to be my shortest weekend trip (just 2 days!), but I’ve got some high expectations for it since it’s actually my mom’s favorite European city. See you all in a bit!

Pics: https://www.canva.com/design/DAFzx88yksA/PLMDSjXFib6GYFJst-UceQ/edit?utm_content=DAFzx88yksA&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=sharebutton

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Beautiful pictures!! Thanks for your interesting report!

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Lovely trip report AND photos. Thank you for all the detail. Hope to visit Lyon next year. Visited Annecy in 2019 but on a summer day, it’s a beautiful place but didn’t spend as much time as you did. Love seeing more of it. Thank you!

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Thank you for the report and beautiful photos

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I was in Lyon week before last, I wish I'd taken pictures as good as yours. Also wish I'd had more time so I could visit Annency -- but preferably with better weather than you had!

I thought the Roman museum in Lyon was very good, well organized and easy to visit. There were some fascinating exhibits, like the Claudian Tablets, the ancient chariot, and some wonderful mosaics. But on the lower level, at the end, it was all kids all the time. Still, gotta admire those Lego reproductions of Roman sites.

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The presqui'île of Lyon is quite pretty at night. Le Palais de la Bourse is particularly well lighted. And I suspect the recently renovated Hôtel-Dieu would be as well.

You'll find far less English spoken in Lyon than Paris. And if you head out of town and go up to southern Burgundy (Bourgogne) much, much less English will be found; except for Beaune, which whenever we were there we were almost guaranteed to hear English being spoken by folks walking along the street. Quite jarring coming from the hinterlands of Burgundy.

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Hey Solo! Really enjoyed your latest report. I have experienced only two parts of France--Paris and the Riviera, so to read and see photos about another part of the country is very informative. I actually had Lyon in my mind pictured much differently, so your photos and vivid descriptions were very educational! Loved the lake photos with the mountains.

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@Carol - Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it.

@Luv2Travel - Thanks! I can't imagine how nice Annecy would've been in summer, and good luck with your Lyon trip, if you do choose to go.

@Dick - Thank you, and I'm sure you got some great pictures (assuming the weather was a bit nicer). I agree that the museum was very well organized (just linear enough to prevent endless backtracking but not so much so that it feels constricting) with some cool exhibits, like the mosaics that you mentioned.

@Sammy - Yeah, I suppose I was a bit harsh on Lyon's nighttime atmosphere, mostly since i got a bit spoiled by Amsterdam just a handful of days before, because looking at some of my photos, it was pretty nice. I looked up the two places that you mentioned, and I think, in my rush to get to the airport, I had accidentally overlooked them.

@Pete - Thanks, and I'm glad that you found it informative! I, too, was also a bit surprised by Lyon because it seemed so different from the photos posted online, but it was still beautiful nonetheless.