There are two main sections that I visited during our trip to Lyon. We stayed at the Grand Hotel des Terreaux. It was in a really good location - close to a number of restaurants but also to the Pentes de la Croix Rousse. They have the coolest pool setup where it’s kind of next to the breakfast area but also kind of in the breakfast area? It’s wild. The only downside of the hotel is that it didn’t have a restaurant in the hotel, though they did have a lovely bar. Biggest piece of advice if you’re going to be visiting during the Christmas season and on the weekend - make dinner reservations early! Possibly make reservations for lunch, too. All the restaurants in our section of the city were packed for dinner. These are very small restaurants with maybe 10-20 tables and so we had to wander for quite a while to actually get dinner Saturday night. We made a reservation Sunday night, which was great. And we could barely find a place to have lunch on Sunday because a number of restaurants weren’t open but the rest were really busy. It also didn’t help that the weather was actually really lovely so I think everyone was out. Sunday night we ended up at Bouchon Comptoir Brunet which was absolutely excellent. We had lunch that day at Restaurant Un, Deux, Trois - absolutely tiny and they were able to fit us in since their sister restaurant next door was full. The food was amazing, so if you can get in, enjoy!

The Christmas market was really fun but also really packed. The vin chaud was fantastic - I think I might like vin chaud better than mulled wine or Gluwein. They all taste a little different from each other and the French Christmas markets had a number of kinds. Both the original red and the white were delicious.

On things to see and do in Lyon, of course heading up the funicular to the Basilique Notre-Dame de Fuorviere is a must. The basilica is quite impressive, though more modern. The view from the platform is really impressive, and there’s a super cute cafe (Pignol Fuorviere) with excellent pastries if you want to stop and grab breakfast. It’s an easy walk from there to the Roman museum and the theaters. It’s interesting since we learned in Cyprus that Greek theaters tended to go for the view, but Roman theaters tended towards just being in town, but this theater has an amazing view. But this makes sense because the town itself was mostly located on top of the hill since the town was a fortified hilltop town with the amphitheater across the river (but of course, we all remember that amphitheaters were always located outside of the city.)

The Roman museum is excellent and highly recommended. Not all of the information has been translated, but that is very evidently remnants from the older version of the museum. The more recently done exhibits were bilingual and had a lot of interactive elements. It’s interesting how frequently in the past couple of years I have found museums that are in the process of completely overhauling their exhibits to modernize them. I am really happy to see this because this makes the information more accessible and makes museums more interesting for visitors. These changes are necessary to keep museums alive. The museum itself has some really cool artifacts. Some lovely mosaics (of course, though there were some motifs that were very similar to what we saw in Cyprus which was interesting,) sculptures, and other artifacts. One of the coolest artifacts is the Lyon tablet, which is a bronze tablet inscribed with a speech by Claudius. Another really interesting and historically important artifact is the Gallic Coligny calendar, which has the largest collection of Gallic words yet discovered. It’s written in Roman characters, but the words are Gallic. So cool!

The theaters are really nice to see, though not as well preserved as others we’ve visited. You can go through those ruins to take the road down into the lower town, which is where much of the Medieval city is located. It’s so much fun to wander through these tiny streets, and to go through the Escalier - small passageways and stairs that run between some of the buildings. Keep an eye out for the signs to find the entrances. We found the one we were looking for by seeing a pile of tourists coming out, so that made it easier. They are also marked on maps, so you can find them.

The other Roman site to visit is the amphitheater which you can see on the other side of the river from the Roman theaters. It’s a bit of a walk and you can’t go in, but it is well preserved and nice to visit. There’s a cute restaurant called Brasserie Sathonay where we had lunch the first day that I’d highly recommend. Very cute and less busy than more touristy locations.

I would definitely go back to Lyon, but I’d make reservations well ahead around Christmas. It was quite lovely and fun to wander. The history makes it an excellent spot to visit as an archaeology fan.