Saint Etienne

Saint Etienne is a large town to the south-west of Lyon. This was our first trip out of Lyon by train where the countryside did not envelope the journey. Instead the route seemed to travel through a fairly urban landscape for much of the time.

Given the higher land and home prices in this direction, I suspect the corridor between Lyon and Saint Etienne is commuter friendly and is more desirable.

Saint Etienne however was not the prettiest French town. It felt functional and had all you could need living locally. It did not feel small either. The buildings and tower blocks appeared to stretch on for some distance.

What Saint Etienne did have to offer, and what attracted us, was a design exhibit but more about that another time.

Saint Etienne was an odd mix of very new and very old buildings. We walked around a fair bit and that was rewarding. We stumbled upon a large market on the Sunday morning and that was eye opening. A very different affair than our local markets in Lyon; many more stalls selling non-food products or packaged products.

We were approached a couple of times being asked aggressively for money. One chap even got up out of his seat in a bar and crossed a road to try his patter. While not threatening, it is unnerving to see this level of begging. It makes for an odd contrast to the glass buildings and attempts to sell the place as a design hub.