Today we start again from the hotel but we are planning to go in a different direction. Yesterday we went through Vieux Lyon, today we are planning to cross the Saone river and go up another Lyon hill and explore the historic Croix Rousse neighborhood.
To cross the river we use a pedestrian bridge close to the hotel and then it is time to search for a place to eat breakfast. Most of the restaurants are closed in the morning so we are not sure how successful we will be. But we have to find something before the climb as we are quite hungry so we continue searching scouring the area for anything open.
And then we find a street with a few open restaurants and all of them are bustling, there really should be more breakfast restaurants in the downtown area. We find a place to sit in one of them, last table really, and then it is time to order, there are quite some interesting menu items.
We order the classics including an interesting interpretation of Eggs Benedict, everything we ordered was quite good really. Also fun to eat in a lively French cafe, a difference from the previous day at the bakery.
Refreshed it is time to go up to Croix Rousse, a Unesco protected neighborhood. But we want a specific path and that is not easy to find as we explore the possible ascent routes. At least the neighborhood at the foot of the hill has some interesting and sometimes scary murals, they can be really life like if you do not look carefully.
Finally we find the correct route and make it to the park that holds the next attraction, the ruins of the Amphitheater of the Three Gauls. This was part of the Sanctuary of the Three Gauls dedicated to the cult of Rome and Augustus celebrated by the 60 Gallic tribes when they gathered at Lugdunum.
The whole neighborhood is full of frescoes and graffiti and we enjoy the many artistic flourishes we find as we climb slowly towards the top.
Next we pass through another famous traboule, the Traboule des Voraces. It is a bit different than the previous one we visited with the initial courtyard being open to the sky before we start up the stairs via a covered passage.
It has a very famous sight of the exterior stairs visible from the traboule and we take a few photos trying to avoid other visitors before moving on.
It is just a short climb from here to the top of the hill passing lots of other frescoes and graffiti and arriving at a day market that is ongoing this weekend.
We find a geocache first and then continue on exploring the many food specialty stores available all around, both sweets and bread as well as cheese of course.
The next major attraction here and our turnaround point for the exploration is the Canuts mural painted in 1987 to pay homage to the neighborhood. It is a very famous mural painted in the trompe-l’oeil style depicting ordinary life neighborhood of Lyon, France. It is packed with intricate details and is considered one of the largest displays of public art in Europe being updated twice, in 1997 and 2013 to keep up with the times.
Returning we pass by the Maison des Canuts, a museum dedicated to the silk industry that has been the lifeblood of the neighborhood for centuries. However it is closed at lunch so we just look from outside and move on.
We continue exploring the many small shops along the way. Many sell pastille de praline, in different formats, which is a Lyon specialty but we are also interested in the many arts shops along the way with interesting paintings and sculptures for sale.
Now it is time to descend and this time we choose the main route through the neighborhood via the Grand Cote street through the Grand Cote Garden.
Grand Cote street and the surrounding area is a Unesco protected area with some beautiful views and nice buildings as we slowly descend towards the downtown area. This is quite a popular area especially as we approach our next goal, the Fine Arts Museum of Lyon.
