The end of Lyon's island has been under intense construction for a couple of years. It used to be the old ports and the city elected to revamp/redo the whole thing. This is what we saw--a Modern French City. All this along the river.
Going to be cinemas, shopping, etc. (I believe)
Across the canal
River boats the whole way along. It's charming to walk along the river.
There are several night clubs and restaurants sprouting up, including the Two Michelin Star restaurant Nicolas Le bec
Kinda smarmy photo of Monsieur Le Bec
What you eat chez Monsieur Le Bec!
Odd contrast across the river, old ramparts and gates to old castles that no longer exist.
A few manor houses scattered about.
The Sucrerie, an old sugar warehouse that housed a super cool museum of modern art over the last 10 years or so. I am very sad that it will no longer exist. It was one of my favorite places to go.
In truth, I find it lacking in soul. I prefer the old architecture, warm, full of life, with many ancient tales to be told. Visiting Lyon's Modern City was interesting, impressive even.
Voila! Gros bisous d'architecture moderne et a demain!
Love, Charley
Lyon looks like an interesting place to live. I think I could see myself there. Like you I prefer the older architecture however that orange building with the - I don't know- bullet hole through it is intriguing.
ReplyDeleteI knew the Charlemagne area before it started to become "trendy" as that's where the ice rink is ;-)
ReplyDeleteIt's actually pretty expensive down there now and not to my taste either. The problem with the area is that the transport links are not good enough to attract the right sort of customers and retailers just yet. It's going to be a gamble for anyone that bought there as the prices from Nexity etc where real high.
As for Le Bec, well I hear he is suffering as they're not getting the customers they expected as yet and of course the retail area is huge! I went to his restaurant in the centre the other day "le bec et taka" and it was fantastic - they're doing lunch menus for 40 Euros!! Great value for money!!!
@ Patty, yes, indeed, the orange bullet hole building is intriguing. Bien sur, the people that work in the building all look rather hip and groovy .... and, YES!, Lyon is a terribly interesting place to live!!
ReplyDelete@Piglet, I heard that le Bec is having a rough go of it as well. I agree, anyone who invested down there took a big gamble. For the life of me, I still don't understand why they didn't revamp le quarter a la San Francisco where they took all the old crappy, gross port buildings and made super chic lofts out of them. That worked like a charm, still keeping the "charm".
Sigh, and then don't get me started on one of my all time favorite museums, Le Sucriere, being torn down ....GRRRR.