During our visit in Lyon (pics), France’s 3rd largest city, Paris was subjected to three days of terror which began with the attack on the offices of Charlie Hebdo, a satirical periodical.  Certainly, the people of Lyon felt the effects and we saw the signs of support for the people of Paris as well as Lyon’s Unity rally which took place at the same time as the one in Paris.

From the 15th to the 18th century, Lyon developed into the leading textile and silk weaving center of Europe.  At its peak, Lyon boasted 100,000 weaving looms.  In the medieval section of Lyon, know as Vieux Lyon and close by neighborhood of Croix Rousse, the silk weavers built passageways that would allow them to move from one workshop to another without exposing their materials to the weather.

These passageways are called traboules.  They wind their way through apartment buildings, under streets and into courtyards.  In all there are 315 traboules that link 230 streets.  Most were built by the silk weavers in the 19th century although a couple in Vieux Lyon date from Roman times.  Many of them pass through lovely courtyards and wend their way up fabulous spiral staircases.  It was quite fun locating and exploring these interesting “hidden” parts of Lyon.

We also had fun exploring French foods through open air markets as well as through Lyon’s famed indoor market Les Halles de Lyon which has over 60 purveyors of gourmet French foods.  There are the cheeses, sausages, snails, frog legs, pastries, the brioche, the pate and the quenelle.