A NEWSLETTER FROM MJ ELITE TRAVEL

Here's a thing nobody tells you about Lyon, First name / friend: the city has two rivers, and they genuinely don't get along.

 

I don't mean that as a cute metaphor. I mean it that way because Lyon itself seems to believe it. I found that out standing in front of two bronze statues in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, and I have not stopped thinking about them since.

 

They're by the Coustou brothers, sculpted in 1721, and they used to stand outside in Place Bellecour for over two centuries before finally getting moved indoors to save them from the weather and the wear. One is the Rhône. He's cast as a mature man, muscular, weathered, a little restless even in bronze, like he's fighting to keep moving. The other is the Saône, sculpted as a young woman, soft-featured, unhurried, almost serene next to him. Two rivers, given two entirely different personalities, standing across from each other in a quiet gallery like they've been mid-argument for three hundred years.

 

And once you've seen that, you cannot walk around Lyon the same way again. Because the city actually is built on that tension. The Rhône really does move fast, and cold, and a little indifferent. The Saône really is slower, calmer, the kind of river you'd want to sit next to with a glass of wine. Lyon sits on the strip of land between the two, and depending on which bank you're standing on, you get a completely different city.

 

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I didn't go to Lyon expecting to fall for a pair of three-hundred-year-old statues, but that's the trip for you. Sometimes the smallest, quietest detail ends up being the one you can't stop thinking about.

 

This Frommers article is one of the best written on 12 reasons you shouldn't skip Lyon. After you take a look, I know Lyon will be on your radar!

 

👇 When you are ready to take the plunge, let's talk it through

YOUR EUROPE EXPERIENCE DESIGNER

 P.S. Find the statues at the Musée des Beaux-Arts if you go. They spent over two hundred years outside in Place Bellecour before finally being moved in for preservation. Give yourself ten quiet minutes there, it'll change how you see the rest of the city.

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A NEWSLETTER FROM MJ ELITE TRAVEL

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