Partnership

Our partner in Lyon is La Verpillière | Sainte-Marie Lyon – Ecole – Collège – Lycée.

Official website:          http://www.sainte-marie-lyon.fr/wordpress/la-verpilliere-2/

Lyon is a city in east-central France, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, situated between Paris and Marseille. It is France´s third-largest city after Paris and Marseille. A UNESCO World Heritage site, Lyon has 2000 years of history imprinted on its streets. Originating as Lugdunum under the Roman Empire, it evolved into a centre of silk production and later a Haussman-style industrial city. Lyon is the place for people, who would like to try the best food and wine in France, visit historical attractions, discover healthy way of living and just get an authentic French experience!

See the video of Lyon in the air:         https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPGLiL_O7Iw

Culture

Lyon is culturally saturated. The biggest part of the culture is museums. There are a lot of them in the city. From the Gallo Roman Civilisation, to the history of the silk and textile museums, there is something for everyone. You can choose from the famous Guignol puppet museum, or the Lumière museum dedicated to cinema or the Natural History museum. When you visit these museums, you are sure in for a treat!

Very popular festival happening in Lyon every year is Fête des Lumières (Festival of Lights). A four-day event where the city's buildings are illuminated by an array of multi-media displays expresses gratitude toward Mary, mother of Jesus on December 6 to December 9 of each year. For four nights a variety of different artists light up buildings, streets, squares and parks all over the city. Over 70 light installations create a magical atmosphere. Millions of visitors both French and from abroad enjoy the friendly and joyful spirit of this unique event.

More information about the festival:             http://www.fetedeslumieres.lyon.fr/en

Popular tourist attractions

The most popular tourist attraction in Lyon is The Vieux Lyon (English: Old Lyon) is the largest Renaissance district of Lyon in the 5th arrondissement of the city. There are three distinct sections: Saint Jean, Saint Paul and Saint Georges. It is a place to discover an architectural heritage of galleries and spiral staircases in these secret passageways, as unexpected as they are unique.

Second main attraction is The Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière is a minor basilica in Lyon. The basilica, which offers guided tours and contains a Museum of Sacred Art, receives 2 million visitors annually. At certain times, members of the public may access the basilica's north tower for a spectacular 180-degree view of Lyon and its suburbs. On a clear day, Mont Blanc, the highest point in Europe, can be seen in the distance.

Interesting: The basilica has acquired the local nickname of "the upside-down elephant", because the building looks like the body of an elephant and the four towers look like its legs.

Lyon is very rich for its parks. One of the most popular parks in the city is Parc de la Tête d'Or ("Park of the Golden Head"). It is a large urban park in France with an area of approximately 117 hectares (290 acres). Located in the 6th arrondissement, it features a lake on which boating takes place during the summer months. In the central part of the park, there is a small zoo, with giraffes, elephants, deer, reptiles, primates, and other animals. There are also sports facilities, such as a velodrome, boules court, mini-golf, horse riding, and a miniature train.

Indeed, Lyon has over sixty impressive CitéCréation frescos. The most popular is Le Mur Des Canuts which is located at the Croix Rousse.

People

International connections were not well-developed here at first, making Lyonnais hospitality suffer, but are improving as well.

On a personal level, Lyonnais people are very approachable, funny, and helpful. And bear in mind, they will always help and motivate you to learn French as they will refuse to speak English with you or simply don’t know English so that you are forced to use French making it a great experience indeed.

Food

With more than a thousand eateries, the city of Lyon has one of the highest concentrations of restaurants per capita in France.

Lyon has bouchons. These are small, family-owned bistros which serve traditional, homemade food and Lyonnais specialties. There are only 20 authentic bouchons, and all of them are in Lyon. Be adventurous and try something new!

A traditional Lyonnais menu centers on meat, particularly offal. Typical foods include andouille (grilled chitterlings sausage), tripe (pig or cow’s stomach), or boudin noir (blood sausage). Other common dishes include, chicken liver salad, cerverlas, (raw pork sausages), quenelles (flour, egg and cream dumplings), or Cervelle de canut, (which means “brains of the silk-weaver” and consists of cream cheese mixed with garlic and chives.)