"Around the corner" from Genève: Lyon

Visitors to Genève but also locals from Genève should consider to visit once Lyon for a few days. It's really not that far: around 1,5 hour by TGV train. And Lyon is just a really nice and romantic city. According to many it's France's "gastronomic capital" and a great city for shopping or for the less fortunate window-shopping. And we shouldn't forget the city's beautiful historic center, listed by UNESCO as a world heritage site. I will share here a few of the highlights from my last trip to Lyon.

Near the train station we find les Halles de Lyon - Paul Bocuse. This indoor market exists since 1859 and is renamed after it's renovation in 2006 after Lyon's most famous chef. Today there are 58 enterprises gathered in this market. On this market we find simply the best of the best of Lyon's gastronomy.  It's the best food market I ever visited in my life. The high quality and the freshness of the products is astonishing and some of the stand owners are even decorated with the prestigious MOF title (it stands for Meilleur Ouvrier de France and we can recognize the wearers by their tricolour collars. For the French it's a very very important title, I can recommend a really good, funny and nerve-breaking documentary on this subject about the concourse for the MOF title in pastry : the Kings of pastry).

A big part of the market exists of stands that sell ready made products. Again the quality is amazing, some of these dishes wouldn't misfit in one star restaurants. I think my favorite stand is the one where they sell amuses, for around 2 euro 50 you can buy here amuses like verrine de tartare de saumon or crème brûlée de foie gras de canard, also they sell at this stand many different kinds of house smoked salmon. We just couldn't resist  and at 9 o'clock in the morning we were already tasting the salmon tartare. A tip is to take a picnic basket to the market, buy the things you like and look for and a nice spot along the Rhône to eat all you have purchased.

At another stand of the market we find a really nice backery with a wide choice of pastry. You can pick something to your choice and after you can directly eat this with a coffee on a terrasse next to the stand. To conclude: if somebody would ask  me to describe food heaven, this market will fit well the description.

If you're looking for a place to sleep in Lyon, I can recommend a Chambre d'Hôte called Le chambre d'Hugo. We went here already twice. The room is central in Lyon`s center, big and very nice decorated. The owners are very helpful and sympathetic, but also discrete. The best anyway is the breakfast they serve in the dinning room: it's just huge, tasty and there is simply everything you'll like.

the breakfast 

To finish this post I would like to discuss one of the restaurants we visited. In Lyon there is a really wide choice of gastronomic restaurants, without exaggerating on almost every corner there is a restaurant. The restaurant we visited last time deserves a recommendation. It`s called la table de Suzanne (39, Rue Auguste Comte, Lyon) and is very near the chambre d`hôte I talked about before. It`s may be not super haute cuisine, but it comes near and the ambiance is very relaxed and welcoming. The kitchen is run by a young chef who is ambitious, but has still to improve on some points. The starter was  almost perfect langoustines on a sort of cold salad of ratatouille vegtables. The main dish of boeuf filet with baked foie gras was very tasty , but too heavy due to the big piece of foie grais and the green peas purée. The dessert was again delicious an à la minute baked lemoncake (too good)  with home made ice cream and fresh strawberries marinated in verveine.