If you choose us to travel in Lyon, there is a high chance you meet Alex: read the portrait of one of our best guides in Lyon and its area. So today, let’s meet Alex, a tour guide since 2010 and a teacher at the University of Lyon in the training for guides. He is passionate and will introduce you to Lyon from all faces!
I used to be an Italian teacher, and then I taught French in Italy. I started to do tours when I first welcomed my former Italian students to Lyon. It became obvious that this was my real calling! I graduated from the University of Lyon training for guides and launched my company to practice full time in 2005. My first company provides interactive tours, and I created a second one to specialize in food tours. I still teach today, but now in the training for guides.
Since travelers are not allowed to fly across the borders, I definitely miss my guests from foreign countries. I do miss in particular the American travelers, their warmth and smile, their thirst to discover France. As a tour guide used to speak, wearing masks isn’t a real problem when you speak but it is true that emotions have to be shared in a different way, maybe more with your body language than what expected. But as professional guides, we are doing everything possible to feel safe during the tour. Nevertheless, I confess I miss kissing cheeks, even with the guests!
To me, the best spot is the square next to basilica Notre-Dame de Fourvière. Located on top of the hill, you have the best panorama ever to see the whole city, and even understand it through the way it developed spatially. And if you are lucky you can see the Mont Blanc, not so far away, it’s amazing from up there.
There is! Confluence district. Usually travelers tend to opt for well-known and touristic neighborhoods, and it is totally understandable to choose areas that are to be seen, especially for a first trip. But I have to admit that the district named Confluence, right in the south of downtown Lyon’s “Presqu’île” is an amazing neighborhood. It is a brand new area that has been under construction from industrial wasteland for a couple of decades, and there you can see contemporary architecture while walking along the river Saône: it’s an incredible mix of buildings with impressive shapes, colors, textures, in between air, earth, and water!
The ability not to be boring while still trying to keep a certain level of quality. The capacity to adapt your knowledge to any kind of person you have in your group without reciting the same speech no matter who you meet. That is what’s interesting in being a guide: the diversity of the people you meet, the variety of their interests and culture that allow professional guides, with their goodwill, to adapt in both substance and form. That’s what I try to teach my students: even if you are talking about the same things, you cannot provide the same tour to everyone.
I have not one but many sweet teeth so definitely I’d say the praline, local confectionery made with almond and sugar, you will find it everywhere and that’s what’s interesting: eat it plain, inside a brioche, in a typical desert called ‘tarte aux pralines’ (with cream and a sweet short crust pastry).
Of course, I must mention the Chartreuse liqueur, made one hour away from Lyon. This is such an incredible product, full of aromas of herbs, spices, and strong: 55%! At home I have a collection of old Chartreuse, I am so fond of it that I include Chartreuse liqueur tasting in one of my food tours!
I am an emotional person, and tours can be so full of unexpected meetings with memorable people. June 21, 2019, my birthday. A 2-hour tour of Vieux-Lyon neighborhood with singers from a Los Angeles choir. I did not know it was a choir, they did not know it was my birthday. They understood quickly what was going on when colleagues of mine and shopkeepers I meet every day in Rue du Boeuf started to wave and sing quickly “happy birthday” to me. And then the choir started to sing (choir way, not your parents’ way!). Twice. I cried. Best memory ever, essence of this job: connecting and sharing with people, not spreading your own culture.
The tour I am proud to have created: “Lyon & restaurant”. The guest can discover the city during a 3-hour panoramic tour of Lyon and enjoy the main districts (Fourvière and its basilica, Vieux-Lyon and its traboules passageways, and the Presqu’ile city center with the landmarks everyone has to see), and the guide stays with the group to share a meal in a typical restaurant named ‘bouchon’. We enjoy the food and take time to talk together while trying the Lyonnais specialties and famous dishes. Food is a very exceptional way to share time, exchange and connect. Yum!
I hope you enjoyed reading the portrait of Alex, one of our best guide in Lyon. If you ever travel with us, you might encounter Alex for one or many of your tours. Do not hesitate to contact us or check our sample itineraries 100% customizable directly on our website.
If you enjoyed this portrait of one of our local insiders, I recommend you to check out another portrait. Read the portrait of Sarah: a real specialist of Normandy.
