Lyon-izing

We’ve traded the sun of the south for the journey north, and arrived in Lyon to gray skies, which have only broken once so far.  I heard one man say that the air tasted like snow.  Not yet.

 Our first full day here was Sunday, so we set out to walk from our hotel to the center and see what was happening.  On Place Carnot we found the dog and cat market, with breeders showing off their dogs – the full array of chihuahuas and yorkies and jack russells and all the other small dogs we’ve seen everywhere. 

Another side of the Place held the food market and the third side the forein – clothing and household stuff.

Further along, after a stop at the tourist office, we found the big Saint Antoine food market, running along the river, with the vertical Old Lyon in the background.   

This is a gorgeous big market, the air filled with the smell of roasting chicken (Sunday dinner!) and food stands punctuated by flower stalls selling perfect tulips.   

 

We kept going and came upon the book sellers (just like in Paris, only newer stands).  

I was disappointed that we hadn’t been there on the right weekend for the book fair in Nice, so I got my fill of browsing.  On the wall near the booksellers’ quai is one of  Lyon’s famous painted walls.

Crossing the river – the Saone on this side of town – we found the artists’s market, where people had strung up their canvases and other work despite the cold.   

And another painted wall.

 On the following day we explored a little the Croix Rousse, the old silkworkers neighborhood on the north hill of the city.  Another steep hillside, which we walked down, getting lost along the way.

Lyon is famous for the hidden passages that run through old buildings and courtyards. , the traboules, which were used by the silk weavers to transport their goods down the hills to the merchants, (and much later, to foil the Nazi occupiers during the war).   Some are accessible to the public, but it takes a bit of searching.