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A City Greeter is a volunteer who provides a guided tour for French
and foreign visitors to Lyon keen to discover the city
in a more intimate manner.
I have been a City Greeter for two years now,
since the start of the City Greeter programme in Lyon.
I retired at this time
and as I was often abroad touring the world,
I met many new people and discovered all kinds of countries.
I wanted to do the same as those foreigners I met on my travels:
to help visitors discover the country they love.
My finest memories of my travels
are those of the occasions when I met people,
locals with whom I walked for a while
and who helped me to discover some great sites
and places I would never have seen alone.
This inspired me to provide the same service for visitors to Lyon.
You are contacted by the tourist office by e-mail,
along with details of the number of people, their nationality, ages
and interests
to check our availability, and based on this we then meet up with the visitors.
I arrived in Lyon seven years ago.
I liked the city
and this is something I wish to pass on to others in turn.
I completely adapt to the visitor,
depending on what he or she would like to see
which may be a particular aspect of life in Lyon,
through its markets or its architecture for example.
I don't provide a complete "master class" on the city
but I try to show them what I love most about Lyon.
As I see it, this is the best way to discover a city
and to get plenty of information about the best places to visit.
The key role of the City Greeter is to help others to love Lyon
and to make them keen to come back again.