LYON: 1-V-09

Our drive from Troyes was long, but we saw such beautiful scenery. Dijon was a big city and difficult to navigate, Beaune SO pretty, Macon, Belleville (as in Les Triplets de Belleville), Villefranche sur Saône, etc. We had a rest stop at Hôtel de la Poste in St. Seine-l’Abbaye. What a beautiful resort, even though a coffee and tea took us back 5.60 euros! We arrived in Lyon tired from our travelling day, but had to negotiate our way through this big city. We decided then and there that we prefer small towns to big cities!




The restored old quarter of Vieux Lyon is an atmospheric warren of cobbled streets, covered passageways (traboules), Renaissance palaces, first-class restaurants, lively bistros (bouchons), and bohemian stores. It is also the site of the Roman city of Lugdunum, the commercial and military capital of Gaul founded by Julius Caesar in 44 BC. We toured the Basilique Notre-Dame de Fourvière and really appreciated the spectacular view of the city from this perspective, overlooking all the terracotta red rooftops. The basilica itself is a riot of turrets and crenelations, marble and mosaic. This gaudy mock-Byzantine creation has become one of the symbols of the city.



Lyon is considered the gastronomical heart of France and all the great chefs in France come from this region. They take great pride in using every part of an animal to cook, but I can’t say that Karl appreciated his first bite of appetizer in “Les Trois Cochons” since it turned out to be dried pork intestines. Just a wee bit rubbery!

We met a lovely couple there who were visiting from Paris and we talked about “Bécassine”, a comic strip Breton character who is simple and comes to work in the big city. This name is now synonymous with someone who is not too swift, very simple minded. Not too complimentary.